An Old Friendship Brings New Blessings
Top row: Romarico Mendoza, Ramsey Jay, Jr., Loida Barga Mendoza, Milagros Pangilinan, Francisca Mendoza, Mary Fagnano, Marietta Pugal, Jay Fagnano, Abdon Pugal, Karen Taguinod, Joe LaBrie Bottom Row: Jouse Najera, Matthew Stein, Mike Stein, Nestor Mendoza, Jesse Mendoza
The story of this photo taken April 24, 2021 began in 1993. I was pregnant with Nick and Mike Stein was a marketing director for Warner Bros. We worked together on some advertising projects and when Mike joined a new company and moved to Del Mar, CA, we stayed in touch. When Mike became a dad, I always loved reading his posts about fatherhood. I watched his son, Matt, grow up on Facebook. Once in while, when business took me to San Diego, Mike and I would have lunch. We shared our faith, the joys of parenthood, and the importance of living with purpose. Nick was going to be leaving for college soon and I was feeling there was something “more” I should be doing with my life.
Mike followed Nick growing up on Facebook, too, and saw so many parallels with what he was looking forward to experiencing with Matt. Mike was a Trojan- Nick wanted to go to USC, Matt was excited about being a Trojan, too. Mike saw Nick playing baseball and Jay coaching him, he saw the posts when we went mountain biking in Whistler, and when Nick took up snowboarding. It was everything Mike and Matt eventually started enjoying together as well as father son talks about faith along with the encouragement Mike gave Matt to be the young man of character that he is today. Matt was about seven years old When we lost Nick.
Mike has supported Jay and me with his empathy and prayers and he’s supported Thrive in Joy—including during our most recent March Gladness fundraiser where he and some friends all played the brackets. After the fundraiser was over and I posted the good news that we’d hit our goal to fund Tia Tatiana preschool in the Dominican Republic for the next school year, Mike called me up and told me about his friend Abdon whom he’d met in Bible study. Mike said that Abdon and his wife, Marietta, are on the board of a Foundation and he suggested we apply to the Foundation for a grant.
Mike also shared that Jay and I had a connection with Abdon and Marietta that no parent wants to have. Ten years ago, Abdon and Marietta’s 20 year-old son, AJ, was murdered. We are parents who share the devastation of losing a child.
With my heart full of empathy for Marietta and Abdon, I followed Mike’s request and immediately began work on the grant and submitted it within the week. Since we first made the commitment in January 2019 to do everything possible support the new location for Tia Tatiana’s preschool in the Dominican Republic, I felt this could be the answer to our prayers to ensure funding for the preschool was covered through 2023.
Two weeks later we received an emailed letter from Marietta that told us our grant request was approved!
But as the story continues….Marietta’s next email to me said she would like to bring LB Charitable Foundation’s Board to meet us and personally present us with the check. What a blessing it was to be surrounded by so much love. We added another table to extend the dining table and shared a meal together. Ramsey Jay, Jr., who consults with us, was able to be there along with Joe LaBrie, our Board Chair, who early in his career taught high school in the Philippines. Joe’s stories brought back memories of their home country for many of LB Charitable Foundation’s Board Members. Thrive in Joy Board Member and Director of Dominican Republic Programs, Josue Najera, was able to share stories of his friendship with Nick going back to Little League, along with his passion for helping to serve the vulnerable children in the Dominican Republic who he has come to know through joining us on three mission trips.
Marietta and Abdon are kindred souls with Jay and me. We talked about how our faith is what gets us through every day and how keeping our sons’ light shining gives us purpose. We often think, in these miraculous situations where we can bless those in need, of how bittersweet it is. If AJ and Nick were with us, we probably wouldn’t be here together.
Our faith tells us not to question God but that doesn’t mean we understand. What we do see is that a friendship between Mike and I nearly 28 years ago, and a baseball equipment drive that Nick did for kids in the Dominican Republic 15 years ago, is now blessing the lives of 90 preschoolers living in poverty 3,146 miles away, thanks to the LB Charitable Foundation’s generosity. With our mission to make trips to the DR twice a year, these most vulnerable little children will have a chance to break the cycle of poverty in their lives as they, hopefully, continue at Tia Tatiana school through high school. Our prayer is that some day…thanks to receiving good nutrition, an education, and spiritual guidance at this young age, these children will know God’s love and will pass it on to others in order to bring about lasting change in their community.