At one point, Carlos Garcia owned a flour tortilla and tamale business and an auto salvage yard. He's been a shoe designer, a landlord and a real-estate developer. Starting in 1983, he owned Don Juan's Auto, a paint and body shop off Rufina Street, and operated it until he sold the shop three weeks ago.

He's also a philanthropist. After graduating from The University of New Mexico, he started going back to his native Ciudad Juárez to donate blankets to the homeless and to orphanages.

His efforts materialized into Amigo Fiel Inc., a nonprofit that distributes 800,000 gifts for children throughout Mexico. He teamed up with Samaritan's Purse and opened a warehouse in Colorado, where partners from San Diego, Dallas and North Carolina send the toys, books, shoes and hygiene products that children in Mexico receive each Christmas. Many of his resources, though, focus on Amigo Fiel's two after-school programs in Juárez, which serve 140 orphaned and low-income children. The program offers help with homework, activities, dinner and snacks. The two facilities — one was donated by the local government — have showers and a playground. Many children arrive at Amigo Fiel in the morning to shower and eat breakfast before heading to school.

"I go back to Mexico to help some of the kids who had the same needs I had," Garcia said during a recent interview. He is a self-described "black sheep of the family," one of seven children who took to the streets of Juárez. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol at an early age. When Garcia arrived in Santa Fe 32 years ago as a 16-year-old, attending school felt like living in a cage, he said. But here he had no friends who would hit the streets with him.

So he attended Santa Fe High School, where a Spanish teacher at the time, Charlie Lopez, took Garcia under his wing.

"He would bring an extra hamburger for me, and while he graded papers, he taught me English," Garcia said with a wide smile. At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe in 1981, he was recognized as Boy of the Year. And after graduating from high school, he received a scholarship to attend New Mexico State University. Within a year, he transferred to The University of New Mexico and majored in international marketing and business management.

"All of the sudden, I found out that the U.S. was rewarding me for my good behavior," Garcia said.

During a relapse of his drug addiction, he found God, he said. He left the drugs and promised God, his amigo fiel — faithful friend — that he would devote part of his life to helping needy children. That was 18 years ago.

Garcia's own children, Santiago, Olga and Bianca Garcia, admit they don't know much of their father's past. All they know is the loving, multitasking go-getter who shows impeccable work ethic, they said. As adults, they strive to duplicate their father's kindness and quality of work.

When Garcia's family emigrated from Juárez some three decades ago, they left with much shame; the landlord couldn't afford to keep them any longer because they were two and a half years behind on rent. They also owed the local grocery store one year's worth of groceries.

"We were living in very poor conditions, so it was out of necessity that we came to the U.S.," Garcia said. "I'm happy to say that not only did we (find) a better life here, but I'm happy to say that we paid (the landlord and the grocer) all back. It was $3,500 then."