“Thank You for Being God’s Hand!”

Niyah Garcia and her siblings are being raised by their grandparents. 

Niyah says, “When I talk about my grandparents, I take them as my real parents. They’ve had that place in my heart for as long as I can remember. They’ve just always been there for me. They showed me that they loved me because they didn’t give up.”

Niyah’s grandparents, Tim and Juanita, both work to support themselves and their five grandchildren.

“I love my grandkids, and I wanted to keep our family together,” says Juanita. “They were in a situation where I had to step in and take care of them, and I did.”

“My grandkids are a Godsend,” shares Tim. “They’re a blessing because they have helped me grow in my faith, helped me grow as a man. They’ve helped me grow in love. I grew up in foster care and I didn’t have a family. They’re everything to me.”  

Even with a dual income, sometimes their paychecks didn’t stretch far enough to cover all the bills and pay for groceries.

“There is a lot of challenges that goes with having a big family and not being able to feed them,” said Juanita. 

“There were times when we didn’t have anything on the table,” Tim shared. “We had the refrigerator, but the light was off, you know, the cupboards were bare. That’s frustrating when you have a family. You feel like a failure.” 

Then they started getting groceries from Dayspring Church, a partner of Operation Blessing.

“It’s just completely changed our lives,” said Juanita. “I’m not worried my kids are not gonna eat. It’s much easier now for us.”

“It’s been a blessing,” said Tim. “It put a smile on my wife’s face. She would go in there and cook the food that we had. She would feed the kids and they would sit there and we would talk and laugh, you know, and it made everything alright. God has been good to us through Operation Blessing.” 

Now, Tim has a higher-paying job, and he and Juanita rarely need help with food. They say they’re thankful to the Operation Blessing partners who provided for their family when they needed it most.

Niyah says, “I just wanna say a big thank you, because it makes such a big impact, and it may seem like a small thing, but it helps so greatly. We’re very grateful.”

“Thank you for being God’s hand on earth, here in Texas, here in Grand Prairie,” says Tim. “You have been Jesus’ face right here, and I know, because He’s allowed me to witness it firsthand. It fed my family when we didn’t have anything. Right when I wanted to give up- we wanted to give up- you were there.”