One Man Gives His Thanks by Giving to Others

There was a minor crisis at La Casa Garcia last Friday afternoon. It seems that the people who had agreed to contribute a half-dozen portable potties had to renege; the potties they planned to deliver to Frank Garcia on Thanksgiving Day were unexpectedly committed for a construction site. Since sanitary regulations frown on entertaining 5,000 people sans potties, replacements would have to be found. No problem. Jeanne Sleeper, Garcia’s vice president for potties and sundry other things, would get on it right away.

Garcia, meanwhile, was in the kitchen of his Anaheim restaurant talking with the Board of Advisors of the Salvation Army about Thanksgiving. Each member was required to bring a turkey to the meeting. And did.

In short, things were humming along for the second annual We Give Thanks free Thanksgiving dinner that drew 3,000 lonely and hungry Orange Countians last year and that is expected to bring 5,000 this year.

One of the diners last year was an elderly man who had been thrown out of his apartment for non-payment of rent and was living on the street. He was too proud to tell his married children, who lived in Los Angeles, and they were desperately looking for him. They found him at Frank Garcia’s Thanksgiving dinner. There was a tearful reunion that ended with the whole family’s eating dinner and then piling the man’s belongings in the family car so the kids could take him home with them.

There was the woman who arrived alone in a Mercedes. She parked her splendid car, got into the buffet line, sat down with a group of people who lived in a world totally different from hers, and enjoyed an hour of laughter and animated conversation over roast turkey. Then she looked up at Frank Garcia and told him: “This has been the best day I’ve spent in a long time. I can afford to buy my dinner anywhere I choose, but I had no one to eat with, and I was lonely and depressed. I thank you, and now I want to help. What can I do?”

Garcia hesitantly told her that he had all the volunteers he needed except for the dish washing. She took off her jewelry and happily washed dishes the rest of the afternoon in the cluttered kitchen of the restaurant.

There were many similar stories, and there will probably be more this year, since Garcia expects 2,000 more people.

It’s hard to talk about Frank Garcia and his Thanksgiving bounty without spouting numbers: 350 turkeys; 14 bushel boxes of fresh fruit; six 33-gallon containers of mashed potatoes. That sort of thing. But the essence of Frank Garcia--and of the dozens of friends and business associates who join him to make this event work--is his heart. Garcia understands the joy and deep satisfaction of sharing--and the real meaning of Thanksgiving.

Frank had a lot of early on-the-job training. His father raised a family on his meager wages as a gas station attendant in the tiny south Texas town of Bishop. Frank started washing dishes in a local restaurant at the age of 13, and two years later he became the cook. He took that skill with him when he hitchhiked out of Texas to stay with a brother in Compton when he was 17. No employer believed that he could cook, so Frank again worked his way up from dishwasher, this time in a Gardena restaurant.

“I learned everything in a few years,” he told me over a splendid lunch at La Casa Garcia. “I watched and listened to people who were very good in this business. I only had four years of school, but I knew how to listen and to soak up information.”

He soaked it up so well that by his mid-20s, he was helping a large restaurant chain open new kitchens in Orange County. The company appreciated his contributions enough to back him in a restaurant of his own. He learned the problems of owning a restaurant the hard way, winning some and losing some, until he opened a “hole-in-the-wall” in Anaheim four blocks from his present location. There, he applied all the lessons he had learned.

Within four years, Frank had made enough money to open La Casa Garcia near the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Chapman Avenue, a spot that he had long coveted. The highly successful 6-year-old restaurant is now a fixture in the community.

But Frank didn’t rest on that success. He joined Los Amigos, a group of Latino businessmen dedicated to offering young people alternatives to gangs and to helping people of every age who are in trouble. Members bring such people to Los Amigos meetings, and other members volunteer a helping hand. It was in this environment that the We Give Thanks dinner was born.

Frank and several of his friends had been talking the week before about how good business had been and speculating on how they might share the bounty. It was near Thanksgiving time, and Frank said he thought every person should have a good plate of food and good company on Thanksgiving Day. He repeated this to fellow Los Amigos members, and they said, “Frank, that’s your project for this week.” And so he took it on.

But Frank--who clearly enjoys his own cooking--also thinks big, and he was committed to feeding several thousand people before he had any indication of help. But then it started pouring in--contributions of food and money from dozens of businesses and individuals, and more volunteers than Frank could use to carve and serve and wash dishes and help with arrangements. Three thousand people came and ate and enjoyed. And suddenly Frank found he had started a tradition.

He doesn’t mind that. “It’s already taken on a life of its own,” he told me. “There are 6,000 restaurants in Orange County, and I’m willing to help any one of them that wants to do the same thing. This is the main day of the year to give thanks to God for our freedom and our families--and to get together to enjoy them both.”

This Thursday, Frank will offer dinner free between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the parking area in front of his restaurant. No one will be turned away, no credentials checked. “We’re open,” says Frank, “to anyone who needs a plate or friend. We don’t put a label on people.”

Although support is again running high--virtually all of the volunteers want to come back--there are a few soft spots. Garcia is still short about 150 turkeys for the crowd he expects. And he needs 60 gallons of milk and some folding tables. Cash donations are used to buy things that aren’t donated, such as a gravy base. Frank didn’t have one last year and had to spend many precious last-minute hours making 160 gallons of the stuff from scratch.

“If I run out of food,” Frank told me with conviction, “I’ll clean out my refrigerators and feed people rice and beans. I figure I’ve got enough on hand for a couple thousand people.”

What, I asked him, if it rains?

“Last year, I went home at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to take a shower and get ready,” Frank said rolling his eyes heavenward, “and as I left, I said, ‘God, it’s up to you, now.’ This year, I’m going to put him in charge three hours earlier. I’m not worried.”

To tell you the truth, I’m not either.