EVERYDAY HERO

It's hard to miss Maria Mellado, especially considering everything she's involved with in Mt. Pleasant. From IowaWins to Rotary to the community garden, Mellado can always be seen giving a helping hand.

'It's good because when you help out, you're also helping yourself. What comes out, comes back. You feel you are contributing something,” she said.

Mellado, who grew up in Chile, has been in Mt. Pleasant for 20 years. As an immigrant, Mellado is especially passionate about helping and representing Hispanic and Latino communities. Currently, Mellado volunteers and serves as a council member of the local League of United Latin American Citizens.

Through LULAC, Mellado helps promote education and civic engagement among Latino Americans.

'Many of the first gen, don't get much involved, usually, and so it's good to try to encourage them to participate and be represented,” she said.

As a growing part of the country's population and in Iowa, Mellado said she hopes to see Latinos better represented on city committees and boards.

'Maybe doing this, the second generation will have more participation,” she said of the future.

As someone who has been a newcomer herself, Mellado said she is passionate about being an advocate for other immigrants.

'When you're a newcomer, you don't know anybody, you don't know how the system works so you need somebody to guide you and to talk for you when you cannot,” she said.

During the pandemic especially, Mellado has helped coordinate relief and distribute resources to local residents. The Mt. Pleasant resident organized a food distribution in collaboration with Vegan Outreach through Hy-Vee.

Mellado added following the ICE raid in Mt. Pleasant in 2018, she's felt fostering conversations among the community is important.

'Doing this was needed. When you start talking, you get to know people - it starts changing views and misconceptions,” she said.

– Ashley Duong