We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rubi Garcia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rubi below.
Rubi , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I think I became resilient when I became a mom. Both of my boys Andy and Aiden are on the Autism spectrum and being on this journey with them has really showed me what I can do. From advocating and starting a non-profit for special abilities families has really shown that I can go above and beyond and how much I enjoy what I do.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Back in 2022, I started a 501C3 non profit called the Andy and Aiden Safety Group in honor of my son’s Andy and Aiden and all of the special abilities families. During this time so much in the world was changing and I was concerned about the safety of my children. I wondered if in an emergency situation, would they know to call 911? Would they be scared to interact with law enforcement? When they got older would they know to cross the street? So many questions, so many concerns, so I took it to the Garden Grove Police Department and met with their community liaison and expressed my concerns and came up with the idea of having safety events. The idea behind the Andy & Aiden Safety Group is to bring safety events to special ability families. These events would contain stations with different safety topics and law enforcement would go through the safety topic of the station. This would create visibility and engagement between the families and law-enforcement, which in essence brings communities together. All of our events are called Communities Come Together because we believe in bringing everyone together, growing, and learning together. The idea was for each individual and family to learn a safety event and a sensory friendly environment, and at the end of completing the stations receiving a reinforcer. We have been received by open arms by the community and this is what makes us our board push for more events in each city. We have now serviced 3 cities: Garden Grove, CA, Westminster, CA, and Irvine, CA and we plan to serve more!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would say, looking back at my journey, both in the nonprofit, and also in my personal life, the three things that come to mind are heart, research, and brainstorm. I say heart because I believe that everything you do in life should come from the heart and with lots of love. Everything I do is for the community is done with my whole heart. Research and learn other ways that individuals see the world. Research, how they understand and communicate in order to explain safety topics to them so that they can understand because not everything is as it seems. Brainstorm, it’s ok not to have all the answers or solutions right away. Brainstorm with your team, board, family in order to move forward on plans, developing goals and ideas. Brainstorming is where it all begins, so pay attention to your thoughts and others, and talk them out. Out of brainstorming, comes great ideas!
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
I owe my parents a lot of my work ethic and the way I do things. They came to this country from Mexico to provide us a good life and to ensure our future was good. When I became a mother to children on the spectrum it made me think of all of obstacles my parents must have gone through to give us a great life and knew that I would carry on that mentality for my boys. In developing the non profit, I did the same. They came here for us to stand up and live the good life not just for us but for everyone.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: andy_and_aiden_safety_group
- Facebook: Andy and Aiden Safety Group
