Hero with Autism Feeds 105 Families & Mailed Over $8,200 in Grocery Cards During Pandemic

Esteban Barriga sending grocery cards to support the disabled community

Maribel Rueda is 49 years old and is the president of Autism Geniuses of the World (AGW) with her son Esteban Barriga, who is 23 years old. He was diagnosed with autism when he was only two years old, but now he’s the Co-Founder of Autism Geniuses of the World and attends the Barry Price Center in Newton. 

According to Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts has more than 108,667 cases of coronavirus and 8,060 deaths. Coronavirus has made it extremely difficult for a lot of people with special needs that need special diets of fruits, vegetables and proteins to stand in a food bank line because of the limitations they have.

Barriga decided to step up to support the special needs communities that have been affected by COVID-19. With the support of his mother, they made a supermarket gift card donation campaign known as “AGW Food Drive” to be able to help give food for the Massachusetts special needs communities that have been affected by the coronavirus.

"We were on a mission to feed as many disabled families as we could. In return, we received touching messages and videos from all the families who received the grocery cards,” said Rueda to PR.

The mother-son duo decided to gather $25 grocery cards from local supermarkets to send them to those families who have a person with special needs living with them. Those families in Massachusetts that have a disabled person at home will get $25, $50, or $100 Stop & Shop grocery cards sent personally by Barriga with a message of hope.

"I just got Esteban's letter and card, to most people it may mean nothing but to me, it brightens up my day. We can now buy food for a month" said a mother from Cambridge Massachusetts to PR.