"One was my angel, one was my hero."
Angelita Rovero founded Wish Upon an Angel, a foundation that grants wishes to terminally ill children, and the college professor explained to E! News that she created the organization in honor of two young boys: First, there was Mario, a five-year-old boy who died due to complications following a bone marrow transplant surgery Angie advocated for in the late '90s. And she later met Kyle, another young child Angie organized bone marrow drives for after he was diagnosed with leukemia and brain cancer. Angie recalled, "I'm thinking, what does one do?"
Kyle's mom had asked Angie to help the bed-ridden Kyle meet some of his favorite celebrities, including George Lopez, Steve Perry and Chester Bennington. And while he wasn't on the wish list, actor Danny Trejo answered the call anyway, visiting him and getting actively involved in Angie's non-profit, which she founded after Kyle's death in 2011.
"For me, I owe, it's that simple," Trejo told E! News. "The good lord took me out of a very bad situation and gave me the rest of my life to prove that I was worthy."
After the Coronavirus pandemic hit, Wish Upon an Angel expanded the foundation's reach to help the elderly at a local community center in the San Fernando Valley.
"We are a small non-profit," Angie said, "but we're a small non-profit with a very big heart trying to do good into the community."