Chatsworth Coach Puts Homeless Residents To Work

CHATSWORTH, CA — Kiko Garcia has lived in Chatsworth for 16 years, and he began noticing more and more trash on the side of the road. He also noticed more and more homeless people.

One day two years ago, Garcia — a baseball coach at Pasadena High School and personal fitness trainer — began picking up the trash by himself, and he asked homeless men nearby to help him for some money.

This kill-two-birds-with-one-stone approach worked well, and soon the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council offered to contribute funds to Garcia’s initiative. Now, Garcia manages a nonprofit called Jobs for the Homeless, where he gives gift and gas cards to homeless residents in exchange for weekly street cleanings, tree removals and other community beautification projects.

“They say, ‘Thank you for doing this — it gives us something to look forward to,’” said Garcia about the two homeless men, Mark and Travis, with whom he currently works. Garcia said Mark and Travis live in their cars in Northridge, and like many homeless people choose not to stay in shelters because they feel they are at greater risk of being robbed or assaulted there.

Though Garcia doesn’t have the complete story on how they both became homeless, he knows that Mark used to be an educator with the Los Angeles Unified School District, while Travis worked in sales.

“They all have their own story of why they’re there — some are by choice, and some are not by choice,” Garcia said. “The biggest thing not talked about is the mental illness side of things … this will never be cured unless we go to the problem.”

Garcia said that he sometimes tries to help the two men achieve a more stable situation, but they seem content with their current arrangement, which includes other odd jobs throughout the week.

“I’ll set them up with interviews, but they always have some kind of excuse,” he said. “You can lead a horse to water, but can’t make them drink it. All you can do is help them. Sometimes for these guys, that means sitting down and talking; sometimes it’s a hug, sometimes it’s an ‘attaboy.’”

Garcia applies for grants and fundraises so he can afford to pay these two men each week, though he noted that he always pays them in gift cards to avoid money being used for any unscrupulous purposes. He’s sold 40-packs of water bottles for $40 and gotten grants to purchase power tools to make fallen trees and branches easier to pick up.

Garcia has also founded the KG Sports Training Foundation, which provides personal training services to children who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it. Just as he did with Mark and Travis, Garcia also used his time training underprivileged families to check in with them.

“You try to find out what’s going on at home,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a big brother, sometimes it’s Dad …. I try to find out what their dream is and how they can achieve it.”