The Lighthouse Foundation food pantry's manager was once on the other side
The 43rd annual KDKA-TV Turkey Fund is underway. Every Wednesday from now until Thanksgiving, we'll share stories about why your donations to the Turkey Fund are so important.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Your generous donations to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund help so many people in the Pittsburgh area have a warm Thanksgiving meal. Steve Garcia was one of those people back in 2019.
As the manager of The Lighthouse Foundation food pantry in Valencia, Garcia works closely with both volunteers and clients.
"We have such good volunteers. They actually care about people. And the people that are coming here, they're just unbelievable. The clients are our friends and with the volunteers, we're like a big family," said Garcia.
But just five short years ago, Garcia was on the other side.
"Unfortunately I had a down period of time and I went to go visit one of my friends," he said. "And every time I'd visit him I'd open his refrigerator door and there was food in there. And I'm like, 'How do you have food? I don't have food. You have food.' You know what I mean? I didn't want to go to the food bank. I was embarrassed. I was scared. I did not want to do it."
That's when his friend told him about The Lighthouse.
"So he invited me to go with him as a buddy system and it worked fine. I get there. I'm not nervous. I'm looking around. I don't really care. And I came to the realization that I'm there with all these other people who are potentially my neighbors. Nobody cares why you're here," said Garcia.
Eventually, he worked up the courage to go alone, thanks in large part to the volunteers he met there who helped him. And then, he had an idea.
"I said to myself, 'Is there anything I can do? Is there any skill set that I have that I can offer to them?'" Garcia said. "And there was. They had a computer class that didn't have an instructor. So, I went ahead and I took over the computer class."
He used his background in wireless technology to lead that class for three years.
"And then one day, there was an opening that I had heard of for the food pantry manager," said Garcia.
He applied and got the job.
Today, Garcia makes no bones about his story.
"Seven years ago, I had a glitch in my life and everything had to change," he said.
He shares it as a way to try to break the stigma surrounding food insecurity.
Garcia said, "You never go to college and say, 'I'm going to go the food pantry.' You never go to work as a carpenter and say, 'I'm going to go to the food pantry.'"
He also says he makes sure people know The Lighthouse is a no judgment zone.
"It is totally OK to ask for help. There's nothing wrong with that. All we care about is 'are you hungry?' We give you food. We don't care why you're here. You may see your neighbors. You may see your teachers out here. All kinds of people. All different walks of life. PhDs, master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, people with sixth grade education. It's not what you think. The demographic of people that need food is everybody," said Garcia.
He says they've seen a lot of new people coming in this year. Their numbers are up by about 15 to 20 percent.
"Some of the months, like July, it was just unusual. We did twice as much as we did the year before," Garcia said.
And while the work is demanding, Garcia says it's also the ultimate reward.
"It's so rewarding. It's unbelievable. I joke with people 'Do you love your job?' They say, 'nah, I hate my job.' You know, I actually love my job. Not like it. I love my job. To be able to go out there and give them something that they need and in the background knowing I've been there before. It's changed me in many ways," said Garcia.
And now is your chance to help by making a donation to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund. Go to any PNC Bank, and they'll match all donations of $50 or more. Or you can donate digitally by texting "KDTURKEY" to 50155 or by going to kdka.com/turkeyfund.
We're also still accepting checks, just like Turkey Fund creator Al Julius did. You can mail them to P.O. Box Thanks, Pittsburgh, PA 15230. And from all of us at KDKA-TV: thank you!
