Belen Hernandez hit rock bottom in her early 30s. Down and out in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Hernandez and her partner, Henry Verdin, both drug addicts, were living hand to mouth when they were located by a family member under a bridge where they were staying. It was 2017.
The family member, Salvador “Chava” Thomas, “helped us get sober,” Hernandez said, but it was a long road ahead. Once they got clean, she and Verdin were ready to go to work in the movie security industry — in minimum wage jobs. But Hernandez had to quit after her newborn son began demonstrating developmental delays and was diagnosed with autism.
