By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

Elias Hernandez has long worked with young people, but says his advice is good for all ages.

“If you’re good enough to do something, you will overcome your problems,” he said.

For years Hernandez has supported education, athletics and cultural pride. He’s currently active with Southeast Texas Hispanic Educational and Cultural Center, the growing group that presents Mercado Days in downtown Port Arthur.

“We have grown tremendously,” Hernandez said, and touted the group’s scholarship support that allows dozens of local Hispanic students to attend college.

”We tell them to dream big. What we’re trying to do is just encourage them. I feel great and I know the people on our scholarship committees feel great about it,” he said.

His daughter, Sabrina Vrooman, said that as child, she repeatedly heard the same Spanish phrase from her father: “Querrer es Poder.”

“To want it is to be able to do it,” is what Vrooman says her father meant.

“He taught us to always work hard and to help others if we have the ability and means to do it,” Vrooman said when the Port Arthur Evening Sertoma Club presented Hernandez with the Service to Mankind Award this year.

“I’ve been active all my life and I enjoy kids,” Hernandez said.

Albert Culver nominated Hernandez as a Citizen of the Year for his leadership roles.

“Over the many years he has shown his ability to get the big job done,” Culver said. “His work has been focused on making our city a better place and our schools more efficient in today’s multicultural environment. His love for our community has always been his No. 1 priority.”

Hernandez was born inside the Gulf Refinery worker’s camp and later worked them himself before starting a TV repair business.

He’s semi retired from the family tortilla business, Hernandez & Solis Inc., or Don Elias Food Products. The company’s chips, made from the Memorial Drive factory, supply Mexican restaurants all the way to Florida.