Rocio Villalobos 
MCALLEN – It all started four-and-a-half years ago when six-year-old Emily Aguirre saw a homeless man on the streets.
“I kept asking all these questions like, ‘where does he eat?,’ ‘where does he sleep?,’ ‘what does he do?,’ ‘where is his mom?,’ ‘where is his dad?,’ ‘where does he go to the bathroom?,’” said Emily Aguirre, founder of Emily’s meals.
As a result, her family decided to do something. And that something was feeding 40 homeless people in McAllen for 40 days during lent.
Now 11, Emily and her family have continued their efforts and have been able to expand their outreach, which is known today as Emily’s Meals.
“It feels really good because when we started this we didn’t even know it was gonna be this big,” she said. “The community that wants to help is so big now and it feels really good to have started something.”
And just this month, the Aguirre family was named Disney’s first-ever Points of Light Volunteer Family of the Year.
Emily tells us her reaction when her family received the news.
“My face was just like (shocked) because I was so excited, and that was so exhilarating because all my classmates were there and my sister’s volleyball friends,” she said. “It was so amazing.”
Emily adds all this would not have been possible without the help of volunteers.
“Over a thousand people, since day one. Over a thousand people have helped us so I want to say thank you to those who have helped,” Emily said.
When she grows up, Emily wants to become a doctor so she can continue to help people. She also plans to keep Emily’s meals going and to one day provide shelter.
“I want to have a place, like a plot of land, where you can have several little homes so they can sleep in there,” she said.
With the $10,000 prize money the Aguirre family received from Disney, they are throwing a picnic where the homeless can receive medical care, clothes and food.
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