South Texas Vo-Tech<\/a>, where she attends night classes. The equipment \u2014 including gloves, class projects and a grinder \u2014 was purchased through financial aid. She said the grinder alone is the most expensive tool required for the program.<\/p>\n\u201cI feel like they must have been watching me to know what was in the bag,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The student is about halfway through the school\u2019s 10-month welding program. She said her interest in welding began years ago while she was in high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a class next to ours where they were doing welding, and that kind of sparked my interest,\u201d she said. \u201cI looked it up and did my research. I have a thing for building stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
She admitted she initially doubted herself before enrolling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really pursued it until now because I didn\u2019t think I could do it,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I was like, I\u2019m going to give it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work, she said, has been challenging \u2014 but rewarding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be easy, but it\u2019s definitely hard,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only does it satisfy me with the building part, it\u2019s also good to set you up in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she hopes to eventually pursue underwater welding.<\/p>\n
The theft briefly made her question whether she could continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, I\u2019ve kind of been going through it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen that happened, it really got me down. A part of me didn\u2019t want to continue because it\u2019s like, what can I do? I don\u2019t have my equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, she said she\u2019s determined to finish the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to see it through,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t start something and not finish it. I\u2019m trying to provide a future for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her aunt, Destiny Pineda, said the loss was especially painful because of how passionate her niece is about welding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how my niece\u2019s drive was when she was doing it,\u201d Pineda said. \u201cShe would talk about it \u2014 the way she talked about it \u2014 her spirit just lit up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pineda shared what happened in a Facebook post, hoping someone might be able to help. She said the response was overwhelming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot of different people saying, \u2018Oh, I got this,\u2019 \u2018I graduated, what does she need?\u2019\u201d Pineda said. \u201cY\u2019all came through, and y\u2019all helped out in a way that almost had me in tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people offered tools they no longer needed, while others offered to replace the most expensive equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI even had an individual ask about an Amazon wish list so they could order the grinder,\u201d Pineda said, adding that the person said they were giving back because they once needed help themselves.<\/p>\n
Despite the theft, Pineda said she holds forgiveness in her heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod says a closed mouth don\u2019t get fed,\u201d she said. \u201cWho knows what they were going through and why they needed it \u2014 but don\u2019t take from someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Pineda, the support reinforced her faith in others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that came through, it let me know that no matter the darkness, there\u2019s still light,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we just have to hold onto that light.\u201d<\/p>\n
The student said she plans to file a police report and meet with school officials Monday to discuss her options. She\u2019s also checking local pawn shops in hopes of recovering the stolen equipment.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to help financially support the student, Destiny shared her niece’s Cash App: $trulykhaotic. Pineda also welcomes the public to reach out to her on Facebook messenger<\/a> to share any leads or resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a welding student\u2019s equipment was stolen at a bus stop, welders and community members began offering help…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":522133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-522132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-san-antonio","10":"tag-sanantonio","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115909004992692615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}