Garcias Gives Back to Guatemalan Town

Children in Aldea Shanshul, Guatemala (above), are happy to receive donated sports uniforms from residents in Pacific Palisades.
Photo: Jorge Garcias
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Children in Aldea Shanshul, Guatemala (above), are happy to receive donated sports uniforms from residents in Pacific Palisades.
Photo: Jorge Garcias

Anyone who has ever had a child in YMCA or AYSO soccer knows that after one season, most uniforms are still in good shape, but will be replaced by new ones the next season. It seems a shame to throw them out, but what can be done with them?
Jorge Garcias, a security supervisor at Palisades Charter High School, collects uniforms and shoes that have been turned in at the Palisades Chamber of Commerce and ships them to Aldea Shanshul, the small town where he grew up in Guatemala. “It is a poor community, so whatever they get they appreciate,” he said. “Even if the shirt is ripped, they still want it.”
“Most of the kids play soccer barefoot,” Garcias added. “If they also get shoes in my shipment they are so happy.”
There are about 120 houses in Aldea Shanshul, where “everyone knows everyone,” Garcias said. Two of his sisters, Dina and Laura, still live in the community and take extra uniforms and other donated goods to two adjacent towns.
At 15, Garcias was recruited to play semi-professional soccer. His father was sick and had no help on the farm, but urged him to go nonetheless. “He told me it was my choice, but I stayed with my dad,” Garcias said. “It took about six months for him to recuperate and I lost my chance [to play soccer].”
A civil war raged in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996, and by 1989 Garcias was serving in the reserve army. “They asked me to do things I didn’t want to do, like keeping people from their town or preventing them from getting food.”
For more than two decades, Human Rights Watch reported on the conflict and described extraordinarily cruel actions by the armed forces, “mostly against armed civilians.” Garcias asked for political asylum to the United States and, once it was granted, moved to Los Angeles because he had relatives living here.
After working in construction for three months, Garcias enrolled in adult school. His uncle, an employee at Tra di Noi, an Italian restaurant in Malibu, got Garcias a job as a dishwasher. Straight from morning classes, Garcias went to the restaurant and was eventually promoted to sous chef. Upon finishing school, he found a second part-time job at Palisades High, where he has now worked fulltime for nine years.
Eventually, his brother Luis moved to the U.S. and their parents now travel between the two countries.
Garcias works hard to help his native town. In addition to shipping kids’ clothing (plus team t-shirts from various PaliHi coaches and staff members), he includes rice, sugar and coffee that he buys at Costco, along with whatever school supplies he can round up.
“Some of the kids have to work on farms in order to pay for pencils, paper and books,” he said. “They want to go to school.”
Garcias, 36, visits his hometown about once a year and ships boxes clothing and supplies three times a year—at a cost of about $250 per box. He thanked AYSO Regional Commissioner Debbie Held for absorbing some of these costs, and he reciprocates by lining the soccer fields at the VA, Paul Revere and PaliHi.
“I always make time for the AYSO because I appreciate what they do,” said Garcias, who works at the high school three days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. He lives in Reseda with his wife Ruth, their young son Diego and his 15-year-old daughter Vivian.
Used soccer uniforms, cleats and tennis shoes are accepted at the Chamber office on Antioch Street. To assist Garcias with shipping costs, call him at PaliHi at (310) 230-6623.