Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Murguia.
Hi Angela, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Angela Murguia. I am the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of our nonprofit called The Circle Monterey County, Inc. I was born and raised in Salinas, Ca. My story of giving back to my community started almost 16 years ago. I was diagnosed with the big “C” word… yup, Cancer. I was 32 years old when I got the diagnosis, a wife and mother of 5. Devastated as you can imagine. There were so many uncertainties about the future. I did research, got second opinions and the ultimate decision was to have a surgery. On October 1, 2010, I went in for surgery. Back then I was young and not into all these extra supplemental insurance policies. Spending the extra $35 was not in the budget with such a big family to raise. But the year prior, something deep down told me to enroll in the cancer policy. I had passed on that policy for years. But I enrolled and let it be. Best decision I ever made. I spent 3 days in the hospital; I had a few complications while recovering at home. As I lay in bed recovering, worrying about the future, worrying how I would pay for my medical bills and living expenses while I was off work, praying that I would beat this disease and get through the toughest trial of my life. Later that day, my daughter brought in the mail for me to review. In that big pile of mail was an envelope that changed my life. A check for $10,000 from my cancer policy. Part of my prayers were answered, I would be able to still pay my household bills, feed my family, and pay my medical bills, while I recovered.
A few weeks passed, I was healing and I got the best call ever. The cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes and I was officially, cancer free. I was BLESSED! And I was blessed financially with extra money, because of one decision I made to enroll in that supplemental cancer policy 11 months prior to my diagnosis. That’s when my journey of giving back started.
One day after my husband got home from work in November, I told him we needed to go to the grocery store. This is when his role of my wildest ideas began as well. We went to the store and purchased 20 turkeys. He was confused, how could we possibly do this and still feed our tribe. I explained to him we are okay; we have extra and we are going to donate these turkeys to the Food Bank so that families who may be facing the same uncertainties that we did can have a Thanksgiving meal. He smiled and said OKAY. We loaded up the back of our truck and that was our first load of paying it forward.
That following week I was reading the local paper and seen an article spotlighting the Salvation Army’s adopt a family for the holidays program, we adopted our first family from our local Salvation Army for Christmas. Ironically, it was a young couple with a toddler and another baby on the way. The dad’s name was Daniel and so was their son’s. My husband and son’s name is also Daniel. That was another sign we were meant to do what we had started.
A few weeks passed, I was watching Tv one evening and before the local news came on, they had several volunteers on telephones taking donations to help local families with Christmas, Project Santa. The next morning, I called the organization to find out where I can help and how I could adopt a child’s Christmas wish list. I recruited everyone that would listen to me, co-workers, friends, family and that’s when our annual Adopt a Child for Christmas started. We participated in Project Santa for 14 years, till the originating nonprofit retired.
In 2018, a local warming shelter here in Salinas was looking for jackets for the cold rainy season. That is the year our group The Circle started. A group of friends and family came together, and we hosted our first Breakfast with Santa and provided each child in this warming shelter with a gift for Christmas. Seeing the smiles and happiness in those kids’ faces as Santa handed them a gift was priceless. These kids experienced hard times at such a young age and as a group, a community, for one moment, changed that for them. We’ve been carrying on this tradition since then.
I strongly believe the big man above always gives us signs. He puts you in places where he needs you to be. Three years ago, I was using the bathroom at a local Pilot gas station, and I heard this young voice say, “can you sleep in the backseat with me tonight because I was cold last night.” This shook me to my core. I exited the stall and proceeded to wash my hands. There stood a mother and her two daughters, a teenager and a young girl. They had just showered at the Pilot and were brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed, like you and I do, but they were in a gas station bathroom. My heart was in pieces. I kindly interrupted their routine and asked the mother if I could buy them something for dinner at Subway. It was connected to the gas station. The mother said, “no, thank you”. Something told me not to give up. I explained to her that I had a local community group and I had gift cards to give out. The youngest daughter looked up at her mom as said, “mom please let her help us”. The mom looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, okay! I told them I would be waiting outside for them when they were done. We walked over to Subway and they placed their orders. As we waited for the sandwiches to be made the mother explained they were homeless living in their car after leaving an abusive relationship. She door dashed while the girls were at school for income. She hadn’t asked for help from an agency because she was afraid of losing her girls. The teenager shared that she doesn’t go to school sometimes because they don’t have enough money for the showers and she doesn’t want anyone to say she stinks. The mom said, with tears rolling down her face, that she had prayed earlier that evening that she would find a way to feed the girls that night, because she only had saltine crackers and peanut butter, and there stood this angel in the bathroom asking to buy them sandwiches. My heart was aching. I was exactly where I was supposed to be that evening. I provided the mom with enough gift cards for a few days of meals, and this is where the idea of setting up our first hygiene closet at local high school began. Everyone has always told me I should start a nonprofit, but I always just wanted to give freely from the heart. That’s how I got here, after many years of being a community group, the encouragement and support from my family, we are proud to say we are officially a 501c3 nonprofit corporation.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has defiantly not been easy to manage my personal life and manage a charity organization. I work full-time at my job that pays the bills and manage the organization in the evening. Everything we do is self-funded and through donations. We are 100% volunteer based. No one gets a paycheck. Our “yes” people as I call them, help us make everything happen. We have amazon wish lists that our supporters can shop off of to help supply our hygiene stations, and our special projects during the year. We start months before the holiday season begins to recruit as many Elves, as we call ourselves for our annual adopt a child’s wish list. The more the merrier. The need in our community is huge! Even with all the larger businesses and other nonprofit organizations that provide help during the holiday seasons there are families that don’t qualify or are too embarrassed to ask for help or assistance. The unnoticed ones. Most importantly, there are not enough funds to help everyone. This is where it’s hard. Getting turned down from companies for donations, or getting no responses is tuff. I’m learning you’ll hear a lot of No’s before you hear a yes. I am learning something new every day about how to effectively run a nonprofit. Eventually, we’ll need to raise enough funding or get a grant to secure a business location for our nonprofit. A space where our community can come to us to get their basic needs and feel a sense of hope that their community cares. And understanding that every no or any obstacle does not define the story, the mission, the leadership to my team. I keep showing up and make as much as an impact in one’s life that’s possible.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our mission with the nonprofit is to empower futures and inspire hope to our youth, veterans, unhoused and our community by providing free basic essential needs. I am proud of my team and the kindness we are able to spread through our projects. We have a hygiene project, period project, backpack/School Supply project and our famous Christmas projects. For our Hygiene project, we have three hygiene stations set up. We have one at the Veterans Transition Center in Marina, CA. We started this one in January of this year. This shelf is set up in their food pantry. Veterans can shop the pantry for food and shop our shelf for hygiene, laundry and cleaning supplies for free. We stock this shelf bi-weekly. Our second location, and our first one, is located at one of our local high schools called Alisal High School. This has been thriving for three years now. This Hygiene closet is stocked with Hygiene, snacks, and gently used and new clothing. Our goal here is make this area a fun space, not a space that you only go to if you’re poor. Bullying is real and if we can break that cycle of someone getting made fun of because of body odor or boost one’s confidence then that’s what we’ll do. If a student needs a deodorant after PE class go get one, if a young female starts that time of the month on campus, go get supplies and an extra change of clothes if needed. If you need some oral care on campus or at home, come on in. Not every family struggling is poor. You may have two income households that need a little extra help putting more food on the table or extra gas in the car. So, by us providing free hygiene to their kids, they are able to do so. That’s our main focus. We want to help everyone; we don’t run off income base. Our newest station is at Valley Health Associates. This program helps At Risk youth. We wanted to create some drawers that these kids can get snacks and free hygiene during their counseling sessions. Why not create security while they are focusing on substance abuse or mental health.
Our Period Project, we distribute period kits that consist of an inspirational bag, feminine products, feminine wipes to foster programs, teen moms and unhoused females, and for any young lady that may need supplies. Let’s help end period poverty.
Our Backpack/School Supply project, we held our first backpack drive this year. We collaborated with Aztec Legacy car club, Fosters Freeze Restaurant, Salinas Retro Roses, and Cali Coast Cruisers. Together we were able to provide 400 backpacks with school supplies to local kids here in our community and contribute school supplies to another nonprofit.
Our Christmas projects, we have two! The first project is, we host an annual pajama drive. This year will be our 3rd year. We collaborate with Daniel Vargas, manager at Fosters Freeze in Salinas, CA. We decorate the Fosters Freeze parking lot with Christmas decorations, offer a Free picture with Santa with every pajama donation, have our youth volunteers dress up in holiday costumes to parade around the parking lot and just make it a festive event. We distribute each pair of pajamas in gifts to local shelters and during Fosters Freeze’s Toy Give away. Last year we brought warmth to over 300 kids during the Christmas season. Why it matters: Many individuals and families lack basic necessities. A simple pair of pajamas can offer warmth, security, and a sense of care. Our goal this year is to bring warmth to 400 kids.
Our most special act of kindness during the Christmas season, and our second project during the holidays is we adopt a local shelter in Salinas that provides services to unhoused families and individuals. Going back to our roots of how our group started. Formally, the Salinas Warming shelter that would only set up during the cold rainy season. Now has a permanent location and is called the Share Center. We host Breakfast with Santa. The shelters common area is decorated with Christmas arches, table settings, Mrs. Claus and all her elves make the Christmas spirt come alive for a few hours. After breakfast, Santa gives each child a sack full of gifts. These gifts were purchased by our magical elves we recruit every year. Each elf shops the child’s wish list and brings Christmas magic to that child’s life. Each adult is given a gift bag with a beanie, socks, gloves, a personal hygiene item, a $10 gift card (if we have them) and some goodies. Everyone gets the magic of Holiday kindness in the shelter.
Our goal is to make a meaningful impact and brighten lives throughout the whole year, not just during certain seasons. But we do what we can.
I think what sets us apart from others is that we don’t focus on how many assets a family or individual has to be able to help. I don’t care about someone’s bank account. If you’re in need and BRAVE enough to ask for it, come see us! Families and Individuals shouldn’t have to choose between basic essential needs, like food or gas, and other necessities; I want to change that reality for them.
We hope to share the importance of giving back and the meaningful impact of Kindness. Inspire and encourage others, teach them that One simple act of kindness can change a whole life.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something surprising is that on top of the big list of things that I mentioned above, I also dress up as Mrs. Claus and join other nonprofit organizations with their Christmas festivities. I am a volunteer for other organizations as well, giving back is just not about our mission as an organization, it’s about making a difference every chance you get. Together we can spread kindness and happiness as a team because as I always say…… “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thecirclemc.org
- Instagram: thecircle_montereycounty
- Facebook: The Circle-Monterey County
- Other: TikTok: the.circle.mc
