{"id":252,"date":"2006-12-19T21:13:23","date_gmt":"2006-12-19T21:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/166.62.41.2\/~holaamericanews\/2006\/12\/19\/carmen-truly-a-gem-in-the-community\/"},"modified":"2022-07-16T11:16:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T16:16:53","slug":"carmen-truly-a-gem-in-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/carmen-truly-a-gem-in-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmen truly a gem in the community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the Qua\"carmen\"<\/a>d City Latino community there are many who make a living tending to this segment by providing service and products in a way that only those who know and live and\/or work with this community can.\u00a0 In Moline\u2019s Floreciente Neighborhood many business owners have been doing just that for years, serving the community while contributing tax dollars that are used to keep up the neighborhood, providing jobs to the people who live there, and even teaching others about business.\u00a0 Carmen Fuentes is one of those business owners how with her headstrong demeanor opened up Carmen\u2019s Jewelry over 13 years ago in what some might consider not a safe part of town.\u00a0 But Carmen knows the people of the neighborhood, and they know how hard she worked to start her business, and the personal struggles that she\u2019s surpassed that have made her the strong role model she is for many of the people of the Floreciente Neighborhood and beyond.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recently she was getting ready for the holidays and planning her visit to family in Mexico on January when all her plans suddenly changed as a gun was pulled out and pointed at her.\u00a0 It was about noon on Saturday, Dec. 2nd when a man opened the glass door into the small jewelry store and approached the display case in front of him.\u00a0 He asked to see the rings.\u00a0 A moment later the door opened once again, and three other guys walked in, that is when gun came out and the robbery began.\u00a0 She was struck with the gun but not seriously injured; her employee was held at knifepoint after one of the assailants jumped over a display case.\u00a0 The robbers are still on the loose and are suspected of committing other similar robberies across the Midwest.\u00a0 The traumatizing experience left Carmen with no idea as to what to do, and with practically no jewelry to sell.\u00a0 She says she was in a \u201climbo\u201d and didn\u2019t know what to do.\u00a0 After two weeks, Camen\u2019s Jewelry opened its doors once again.\u00a0 Her motivation for the re-opening was the people who she serves.\u00a0 \u201cThe responsibility that I had to my clients, the things on hold, the repairs, the love I have to this business,\u201d Carmen said.\u00a0 \u201cI couldn\u2019t close this; I put in a lot of work to this.\u00a0 It\u2019s been almost 15 years and it took me a year to open to close down just like that.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I\u2019m not the type that will give up easily.\u201d\u00a0 Her pain was multiplied because those who robbed her were also Hispanic, like her.\u00a0 She says that the damage that they do hurts all Hispanics.\u00a0 \u201cBecause with the way things are now with the immigrants and all the raids that have been done, then these people who are Latinos come along and cause harm, well they harm everyone, not just materialistically,\u201d Carmen explains.\u00a0 \u201cOf course it\u2019s not people from here.\u00a0 It\u2019s people from other parts because here in my community I feel safe.\u00a0 The people are good, I am very happy to be here in Floreciente [Neighborhood].\u201dWith her \u201cMexican valor\u201d she managed to pick herself up to take care of those who depended on her for their Christmas gifts this season.\u00a0 She has been welcoming people with a warm hug and a little inspiration for all of us to take this holiday season.\u00a0 \u201cI consider everything as part of the process of my life.\u00a0 I don\u2019t consider it a failure.\u00a0 Like experiences, some are good, some are not that good\u2026Grow [personal growth] even if we don\u2019t want to, and be happy.\u201dThat is the kind of attention that has made Carmen truly a gem in the community.<\/p>\n

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In the Quad City Latino community there are many who make a living tending to this segment by providing service and products in a way that only those who know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t