Antonio volunteers turn up for heat and love for ‘Cano’

Photo by John Waters. Joanna Lucero (left) is joined with Dr. Mugabe Walker and his daughter Reagan at the barbecue. Lucero offered, ‘This whole group, we’re all volunteers, all the food, all the time is donated. We have a large group of us, Stephanie, AnnMarie, Paula, Friday Health Plan is helping. We’re here to do anything we can to help one of our local residents get back on his feet. And to serve good food, of course.’”

About a dozen Antonio residents volunteered cooking and serving hamburgers on Saturday, Jan. 22, for Dominic “Cano” Espinoza who lost his home in a fire on Jan. 13.

Between flipping burgers and filling bags of food to go, Cano’s niece, Paula Espinoza said of her uncle, “His house burned and he’s very eccentric, the house is very old. His castle is known worldwide. Our community always gathers when a tragedy like this happens.”

Speaking about the generosity residents of Antonito offer, Deanne Salazar said, “We’ve been doing this kind of community work for about 15 years. We started when a mom died and there were three little girls. We helped pay for the funeral and the headstone.”

Ella Quintana said, “This is like one big family event. This is a great community.