Leticia Cervantes has always considered herself a social person and motivated her clients and friends to live healthier lifestyles as a fitness and wellness coach in the Bay Area.
The 52-year-old hosted exercise classes, created nutritional programs and sold dietary supplements as an independent distributor for Herbalife, the nutritional supplement company.
“I love to talk to people,” said Cervantes in Spanish.
But in March 2020, she said, her life drastically changed after her 28-year-old daughter, Carmen Herrera, died in Los Angeles. She left behind four children: 7-month-old twins, and two boys ages 7 and 9 at the time.
What am I going to do?” she recalled asking herself at the time. “All I thought about and worried about were finances, because how was I going to raise them by myself
The father of the 7-year-old took custody of the boy after Herrera died, and Cervantes is raising her three other grandchildren on her own in San Mateo, she said.
“What am I going to do?” she recalled asking herself at the time. “All I thought about and worried about were finances, because how was I going to raise them by myself?”
The financial worries consumed Cervantes so much that she couldn’t properly grieve the death of her daughter, she said. On top of that, her sorrow affected her ability to work, and she has taken on fewer clients recently.
“I wasn’t able to help and motivate people anymore,” she said, choking back tears.
She said the oldest grandson has been in therapy and that all of her family members, including her other two grandchildren, are trying to get back on their feet.
“I am their grandmother, I love them, but I could never take their mother’s place,” she said.
Cervantes said this year has been especially difficult because one of the twins developed intense headaches and had to go to the emergency room twice. With no car or money for a babysitter, Cervantes said, those emergency room trips and other medical appointments made it difficult for her to pay the bills and the rent for her two-bedroom apartment.
She first asked the Samaritan House, a San Mateo nonprofit that helps families in need avoid crisis, for help to pay the light bill.
Her case manager, Julio Campos, connected her to The Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund, a charitable fund that provides housing and food assistance to families in the Bay Area. The administrative costs are covered by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund and The Chronicle, and all donations go directly to those in need.
I am very grateful,” she said. “There are people who really need the help. It prevents us from becoming homeless and helps us move forward.
Season of Sharing covered Cervantes’ rent for the month of June this year.
“I am very grateful,” she said. “There are people who really need the help. It prevents us from becoming homeless and helps us move forward.”
While it has been difficult for Cervantes to adjust to becoming her grandchildren’s guardian, she said things are slowly improving for them.
The twins have started going to a day care program, allowing Cervantes to resume in-person classes with her clients. She’s on a hunt for a larger apartment and is on a waiting list for a low-income housing program. And she said she’s starting to feel more like her old self — hoping to one day inspire people with her story.
But for now, she said, her main priorities are her grandchildren’s health and providing housing.
“The most important thing is to see my grandchildren happy,” she said. “I want them to be happy and never have to worry about their living situation.”
Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores