By Alejandro Barlow
Wilmington’s newest honorary mayor is a marine who prizes community and teamwork. He had to raise money for his preferred charities to get elevated to the ceremonial office. More importantly, he had to out-fundraise his rivals to become Wilmington’s Honorary Mayor.
On Sept. 26, Erick R Ojeda Garcia was elevated to honorary mayor of Wilmington and will serve as the Grand Marshal of the Wilmington Christmas Parade and float number 22 in the San Pedro Christmas Parade.
He was a recruiter for the Marine Corps, a role he volunteered for, and helped to recruit 49 people in two years ― a feat he was awarded for. He said one recruit was changing his mind every week and never committed until one day the recruit decided to join. Ojeda Garcia helped the recruit lose weight before joining and later became a recruit himself who often mentions Ojeda Garcia to recruits as his reason for joining.
He regularly talks with the recruiter he mentored into the position as well as other people he has helped both in and out of the Marine Corps. He said with his photobooth company, OMGee Pix LLC, he connects with the people who use his services on a deeper level than just the photo booth person at the event. Diez mentioned she first met Ojeda Garcia at one of the events that used his company and said he learned what people did and actually cared during the conversations and did want to learn.
Ojeda Garcia chose the Wilmington Rotary Club as his charity organization of choice to support during his run for honorary mayor. During his campaign, he raised nearly $30,000, the second-highest candidate was Alejandra Rodriguez who raised $14,100 for her charity of choice.
Wilmington’s Chamber of Commerce CEO, Monica Diez said of the record, “He is the highest grossing,” in the 70-year history of the Wilmington Honorary Mayor title.
Diez explained that achieving the Honorary Mayor is more of a status symbol for some people and is not utilized. Being Honorary Mayor they have the option to sit in board meetings and meet with business owners in the community at any meetings during the two-year term. The term is a volunteer term and is what each honorary mayor makes it to be.
“You can get involved to the degree of what you’re willing to do, so if you want to do a toy drive, you can do that,” Diez said. “ You can do a million things, sometimes people win and just take it as a title and that’s about it. At the end of the day, it’s not something to undermine. They did raise money for a worthy cause and that’s really the point of it all.”
Ojeda Garcia said he chose the Wilmington Rotary Club as his charity of choice because he was already a member and was pushed to run for honorary mayor by the other Rotary members. He said he always wants to give back and help his community and has done so with every organization he has been with. The Wilmington Rotary Club helps the most people and organizations rather than just one specific cause. He says he always pushes to help in education, youth, military, and local businesses and says the Rotary Club aligns with his goals.
The event that held the tickets for the fundraiser to choose the honorary mayor had so many tickets that there was a need for a second drum. Ojeda Garcia said that between the four candidates, they raised a little over 60,000 tickets and each ticket was roughly a dollar each. He said when it was said he raised close to $30,000 he was amazed and said that it felt even greater that as a team they raised over $60,000 for Wilmington.
Rotary Club helps every organization or person who asks for help or connects them with resources that can better help. He said the organizations did get the money that was fundraised for them but 30 percent went to the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.
“Some of my fondest memories first coming to this country was me and my mom walking home from school and throwing me into trash cans and I would throw cans and bottles back, it was the funnest game ever,” Ojeda Garcia Said. “To me, it was a game, and all this so that at the end of the week we could afford an ice cream or a sweet treat outside of the rent that we had to pay. I remember that and those hardships and being there as some of the things I remember that keep me grounded because I come from nothing. No matter how low or hard I fall I can always get back up because I come from nothing.”
Ojeda Garcia Says this drives him to help others and serves as a reminder of where he came from. He teaches his nieces gratitude for what they have, and never be afraid to give to others. He regularly takes them to volunteer opportunities and distributes food to the homeless.