Latina Influencer Raises Funds for Houseless Honduran Family

Influencer Victoria Vanna made news this month when she started a GoFundMe for a houseless family of four she found sleeping under Interstate 610 in Houston. In a Tiktok video that has since gone viral, Vanna shares the experiences of this family—a mother and three children from Honduras—and asks for support in helping rebuild their life. After finding them together in freezing weather, Vanna quickly got them to a hotel room as well as food to keep warm. After posting their story on Instagram, Glam House Hair Salon in Houston reached out to provide the mother and children with hair cuts and hair care free of charge. The family was also received clothing donations from the community as well as Christmas presents.  “I think everyone forgets that it’s a luxury to be able to even have a home or a roof over your head, nonetheless be able to get your hair done,” she told the local Fox news station in Houston.

Wendy Artiaga had immigrated from Honduras with her family as a result of the violence in her homeland that led to the death of her husband and two other sons. The Office of the National Human Rights Commissioner in Honduras received 286 reports of human rights violations between December 2022 and September 2023 alone. Because it’s under the state of exception (essentially martial law), the use of militarized forces has led to human rights violations such as deaths in state custody, Vox reported. Artiaga and her family are not alone in migrating from their homeland as a result of the violence. Honduras is essentially tied with Guatemala as the second country of origin of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2020s thus far. U.S. border authorities have encountered Hondurans immigrated 662,470 times and at the same time the U.S., Mexico, and other countries have returned Hondurans to their country 236,176 times. Refugees are often left without much help or resources in the U.S. and it was the sight of a young boy seemingly alone that triggered Vanna to want to help.

“I saw a little boy and I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him. I asked him if he was alone and that’s when I saw the rest of them come out.”

The video, which has garnered 708,000 views and over 1800 comments since being uploaded December 30, has done its part in gathering support and donations online and within the local community to help the family. In almost three weeks and with nearly 1000 donations, the community has come together to raise almost $18,000 for the family.

They are working toward finding temporary housing as well as getting back on their feet with the support they’ve received and with a cleaning business to help them have income. Vanna shared, “It’s just so cool to watch the community, how everyone comes together to help this beautiful family.”

In a recent update on TikTok, Vanna shared that they were able to find housing for the family for a year with utilities paid for. Artiaga has also started her cleaning business Cleanings by Wendy to slowly rebuild for herself and her family.