A benefit car wash and raffle is scheduled for Sunday to raise money for 9-month-old Ricardo Gonzalez, who needs a new heart.
The event will take place from noon to dusk in the parking lot of the former Casa Bella building, 1644 Highway 395, Minden.
"We're going to call it, 'Have a Heart, Save a Heart,'" said event organizer and family friend Dina Lathrop.
Lathrop is the wife of Chad Lathrop, who owns Minden-based Lathrop Stoneworks. Ricardo's father, Louis Rivera, has worked for Lathrop as a tile setter since 2005.
"We want to help with the medical bills," said Chad Lathrop. "Louis wants to continue working, but he really needs to be with his kids right now."
Lathrop said the family doesn't have health insurance.
"I'm trying to put myself in their shoes, if it was my kid," he said. "I'm hoping the community can pull together for them."
Ricardo, or "Little Ricky," as he's called by the nurses, was born with an underdeveloped heart, a condition known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He's had three surgical procedures and has spent his first months of life between Renown Region Medical Center in Reno and Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas. Next week, he'll be transferred to Stanford University to await a heart transplant.
"He has such a personality," said Dina Lathrop. "He's a little fighter."
Ricardo's family visited The Record-Courier on Wednesday: Father Louis, mother Antonia Gonzalez, and brothers Roy, 16, and Johnathan, 12.
"The doctors said that a heart donor could take a week or it could take years - we don't know," said Roy Gonzalez, who's a junior at Douglas High School. "We can just pray and keep our hopes up."
Chad Lathrop said Sunday's event is the first step in what he hopes will become an effort to help sustain the family and get Ricardo a new heart.
The car wash will help raise donations, and participants will also be able to purchase raffle tickets, the proceeds of which will go toward Ricardo's medical costs.
Lathrop said many local businesses have stepped up and donated items as prizes for the raffle, including 200 square feet of tile flooring from Tile Outlet in Carson City, a year-long membership from Johnson Lane Fitness, a case of wine from Tahoe Ridge Winery, wine holders from Marcus Ashley Fine Art Gallery, products from Alpen Sierra Mountain Roasted Coffee and a vanity sink from Lathrop Stoneworks.
Tickets will be sold for a week and can be purchased at the event or at 2222 Park Place, suite 3-C, in Minden. Monetary donations can be made to Wells Fargo account No. 1253309866. For more information, call (775) 315-2025.
