Laredo Times

A Laredo resident has been going above and beyond to help his community during the COVID-19 pandemic, KGNS reports.

The news agency reported that Rick Rodriguez, who is an Instacart shopper, will pick up items needed by community members while he is in stores.

"I start working on some of these orders that I get paid for, but at the same time I am shopping on the side," Rodriguez told the news agency. "If I find something I pay them on my own and I can have them."

Rodriguez will post in the COVID-19 LRD Support group on Facebook to find out what essential items people need, and then he will take the items he has purchased to those people, the news agency reported.

"I am buying them, but not to keep for myself, but to give to people," Rodriguez told the news agency. "Like a pregnant woman or someone with a baby, single mothers that can't go out to the store."

Rodriguez has helped many throughout the community, the news agency reported. KGNS posted in the Facebook group asking who all Rodriguez had helped and received many comments from community members – from a woman in McAllen whose elderly parents in Laredo needed help, to another woman who said Rodriguez had left hand sanitizer and Lysol at her door because she and her mother could not go out and risk exposure.

While some people do pay Rodriguez for the items, he mostly just pays for them out of pocket to help those who are low on funds, according to the news agency. Rodriguez told the news agency he hoped he could inspire others to pay it forward, but that he did not need or want recognition for what he had done.

"I am here to bring people hope, to show there is kindness here in our city," Rodriguez told the news agency. "There are people like me and I am sure there are more like me."