Memorial Project For Marlen Ochoa Gives Out Free Supplies In Chinatown In Effort To Stop Anti-Asian Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Acts of kindness to stop violence were on display in Chinatown on Saturday.
People gave out free diapers, PPE, and hot lunches – all to stop anti-Asian violence.
The effort was put together by the Memorial Project for Marlen Ochoa.
Marlen Ochoa Lopez was the pregnant woman who was murdered in 2019 by people who promised to give her free baby clothes.
"We believe that people who commit violent acts, if they had kindness in their heart, they wouldn't cause harm to other people," said Julie Contreras of United Giving Hope. "So today, the Marlen And Jadiel Memorial Project is planting a seed of kindness here in Chinatown."
This was the second time in a month the Ochoa Memorial Project has held a free diaper drive for families.
Marlen Ochoa Lopez, who was just 19 years old, was lured to a home on the Southwest Side of Chicago in April 2019, told she could pick up free baby items. But she was strangled, and her unborn son Yovanny Jadiel Lopez was cut from her womb, before her body was dumped in a trash container.
Yovanny died two months later.
Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree, are charged with first-degree murder. Clarisa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, is charged with concealing a homicide.
Prosecutors have said Clarisa tried to pass Yovanny off as her own baby.
