Father deployed overseas calls on Las Cruces community for daughter’s birthday parade

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Corporal Nicholas Herrera is a member of the New Mexico National Guard and for the last several months, he's been away from his family while on assignment in Africa.

Not only has he missed the birth of third child, but this weekend, he will miss his daughter's fifth birthday.

"It's been a struggle a lot of stuff has changed. i missed my daughter's birth. we just had a daughter in april that i was supposed to come home for. that was tough, a lot of pain," Herrera said.

So he called on the Las Cruces community, through a social media post, asking people to help him throw a birthday parade for soon-to-be five-year-old Ella Shai.

"It will give her something to look back on and something for us to look back on."

The parade is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. A group of participants are planning to meet nearby, at Noah's Ark Learning Center, at 10:40 a.m. That's located at 5605 Bataan Memorial Highway in Las Cruces.

Herrera says a drive-by parade is a simple act of kindness that sends a strong message that the Las Cruces community cares.