Saturday, September 29, 2018

The Power of Positivity | Brain Games


See firsthand how positive and negative reinforcement can affect a player’s game on the court.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Join Us For Our Monthly Community Clean Up On Saturday!

 
When: Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 9am 

Where: Starbucks Downtown Fairfield 700 Jefferson St Corner of Jefferson & Texas (map)

Description: We meet every last Saturday of each month (weather permitting). We clean up different locations and neighborhoods. Please join us. All are welcome

At the Matt Garcia Foundation we don’t want to complain about this, we want to create solutions to problems. It is with this spirit that we began our Monthly Community Clean Ups.

On the last Saturday of every month, volunteers get together and clean up a neighborhood in Fairfield. We pick up trash, work on landscaping paint windows, fix fences – all in an effort to improve our community. This is another example of community coming together to help make a difference.

The Matt Garcia Foundation Dream Team, is all about stepping up and stepping out of ourselves to serve others and our communities to be a part of the solution. Matt would say ” if you see a piece of garbage on the ground, please just pick it up” How simple is that! So, that is what we do.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

The Matt Garcia Foundation's 9th Annual Golf Tournament is Less Than a Month Away - Register Today!


Ninth Annual Golf Tournament – October 15, 2018

The Matt Garcia Foundation on is pleased to announce one of our most exciting events of the year. Our 9th Annual Golf Tournament is an opportunity to ensure that the impactful youth and community programs that we support throughout the year will continue. Our late city councilman, Matt Garcia, was a young man with a vision. With the help of generous individuals and companies such as yours, our foundation on has been able to raise the essential funds needed in “Keeping the Dream Alive.”

Step up to Support the DREAM, Sponsorship Available.

For Additional Support – Email Volunteer Board Members:
Susie Young – Susie@ffinest.org
Vince – Vince@ffinest.org

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE FOR MORE INFORMATION
AND REGISTRATION DETAILS

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Connor Ellison's Story - Donate Life California


Congenital hepatic fibrosis has kept Connor Ellison from playing tackle football, but it hasnt kept him from being a football player.

Right now nearly 20,000 Californians wait for an organ transplant. That's 21 percent of the 94,000 people waiting across our country. Tragically, one third of them will die - waiting.

Now, Donate Life California allows you to express your commitment to becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor. The Registry guarantees your plans will be carried out when you die.

CLICK HERE for more information about becoming an organ donor.


Monday, September 17, 2018

What Comes After Tragedy? Forgiveness | Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix


On one awful night in 1995, Ples Felix's 14-year-old grandson murdered Azim Khamisa's son in a gang initiation fueled by drugs, alcohol and a false sense of belonging. The deadly encounter sent Khamisa and Felix down paths of deep meditation, to forgive and to be forgiven -- and in an act of bravery and reconciliation, the two men met and forged a lasting bond. Together, they've used their story as an outline for a better, more merciful society, where victims of tragedy can grow and heal. Prepare to be moved by their unimaginable story. "Peace is possible," Khamisa says. "How do I know that? Because I am at peace."

Friday, September 14, 2018

Why the "Wrong Side of the Tracks" is Usually the East Side of Cities | Stephen DeBerry


What do communities on the social, economic and environmental margins have in common? For one thing, they tend to be on the east sides of cities. In this short talk about a surprising insight, anthropologist and venture capitalist Stephen DeBerry explains how both environmental and man-made factors have led to disparity by design in cities from East Palo Alto, California to East Jerusalem and beyond -- and suggests some elegant solutions to fix it.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Our 9th Annual Golf Tournament is October 15th!


Ninth Annual Golf Tournament – October 15, 2018

The Matt Garcia Foundation on is pleased to announce one of our most exciting events of the year. Our 9th Annual Golf Tournament is an opportunity to ensure that the impactful youth and community programs that we support throughout the year will continue. Our late city councilman, Matt Garcia, was a young man with a vision. With the help of generous individuals and companies such as yours, our foundation on has been able to raise the essential funds needed in “Keeping the Dream Alive.”

Step up to Support the DREAM, Sponsorship Available.

For Additional Support – Email Volunteer Board Members:
Susie Young – Susie@ffinest.org
Vince – Vince@ffinest.org

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE FOR MORE INFORMATION
AND REGISTRATION DETAILS

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Support The Matt Garcia Foundation Through AmazonSmile!

Click the logo above to start shopping!

You can help support The Matt Garcia Foundation by shopping through AmazonSmile.

  • Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to The Matt Garcia Foundation whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
  • AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same Amazon Prime benefits.
  • Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Legacy of Matt Garcia Still Touches Lives

Members of the Fairfield High School Pipe and Drums perform during a 10th anniversary celebration of the Life and Legacy of Matt Garcia at the Downtown Theatre in Fairfield, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)


FAIRFIELD — The death of Matt Garcia 10 years ago this weekend, which ended the dream of one young man, became an inspiration for hundreds of others to keep his dream alive and to follow their own.

More than 300 people came out Saturday to celebrate the life of Matt Garcia at the Downtown Theatre in Fairfield. The event included a screening of “The Life and Legacy of Matt Garcia,” along with a formal ceremony of remembrance.

Matt Garcia, the youngest city councilman elected in the state of California in November 2007, was just 22 years old when he was shot in Cordelia on Sept. 1, 2008, but that wasn’t the end of his story.

“Matt’s dream involved supporting the youth and creating places for them to go and things for them to do; changing a culture of violence and crime in the city through youth involvement. By uniting a community all people will have a sense of belonging and responsibility to the city of Fairfield,” said Tony Wade, a presenter.

Decorating the walls in the lobby were copies of letters from the recipients of his donated organs. Also decorating the area were pieces of artwork made from guns, bullets and residue from weapons given to the police and re-purposed for Art for Peace.

The Solano County Gun Buyback program, which helped make that happen, was sponsored by the Matt Garcia Foundation, an organization created and dedicated to creating peace and helping the youth in Solano County.

He touched even more lives, some in ways that were unexpected.

Jessica Samra of Fairfield didn’t know Garcia.

“I was skeptical about him being so young and running for office,” she said. “But then I heard about how every time he met someone things would turn around. I voted for him.”

Engulfed by the grief of the end of her marriage, she started volunteering with the Matt Garcia Foundation.

“How could I feel so bad for myself? It wasn’t like I lost a son,” she said.

Samra has volunteered for five years, helping others and cleaning up the community to make it better for everyone.

“I can follow in his footsteps,” she said. “I can plug in and give back to the community. I’m grateful for the foundation being here.”

Garcia’s aunt, Debbie Cudmore, remembers a young man who did everything that he said he would do.

“He was bigger than life,” she said. “I am so proud of him.”

She remembers him putting his mind to something and just doing it.

His biological father, Matt Garcia, remembers his son as a dreamer.

“He always had a vision of what he wanted to be,” he said. “He ran for City Council because he wanted to be on the City Council.

“His message was so good it changed people’s lives,” he said. “It saved people from becoming gang members.”

The Matt Garcia Foundation was established to carry out Garcia’s dream. Those dreams have grown and evolved over the 10 years since his death to include so much more than he might have ever imagined.

People gather with trash bags and gloves to clean up the downtown area on the last Saturday of the month for what has become the Monthly Community Clean-Ups. In addition, more organizations have been created to better the community, including Allan Witt Park Little League Project, Fairfield PAL – The Matt Garcia Youth Center, The Matt Garcia Learning Center School which later became the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy, The Matt Garcia Home for Women and Children, Matty’s Yankees – Fairfield Pacific Little League and S.O.A.P. – Save Our Activities Programs.

Garcia’s stepfather, Raymond Courtemanche, said he hopes that people take his message of life, light and love and make Fairfield and the world better because of it.

“I hope people take a stand and create a creative, supportive environment,” he said.

His mother, Teresa Courtemanche, said it feels like yesterday when she last saw him. She believes she grew up with him when at 19 years old she became his mother.

“I wish he was still here,” she said. “I learned about love, dedication, commitment and perseverance because of him.”

His parents plan to keep the dream alive.

“This is what keeps our family going, knowing the dream is alive and well.”

Article Source: Daily Republic

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Matt Garcia's Life & Legacy Premiere is TODAY - Stream it LIVE on Our Facebook Event Page!!


**THIS EVENT WILL STREAM LIVE ON OUR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.**


Ten years ago on September 1, 2008, tragedy struck when one single bullet took the life of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. The Matt Garcia Foundation was created to keep Matt’s dream alive. To create a safe place for our youth, change the culture of violence through youth involvement, and create unity within Fairfield's community.

Join us for an evening to remember Matt, his dream, and how we as a community can continue to keep his dream alive. Doors open at 4:00pm and the program will begin at 4:30pm.

We are currently sold out of tickets, but please join us via Facebook and spread the word!