It is great to watch a kid grow into a wonderful adult and I'm not sure that we had much to do with it. We got to know Camilo Vasquez when he was in the same high school class as our boys. He became much like another son as he hung out at the house so much. We tried to encourage him to go to school and then college. He called me Mom, as he still does today.
Camilo came from a working class family but finally joined the military in an attempt to make a better life. He did try to go to college but life got in his way and as many kids, it wasn't his priority. We lost track of Camilo over time, he married and started his own family, had his own troubles but finally worked thru them.
In the Spring, just when we had decided to start working at the farmers markets in Bakersfield I found Camilo on Facebook. I asked him if he knew of anyone that might need a job working the markets, at that time we only would need someone 2 times a week. He asked his brother but when his brother said no Camilo decided that he really needed the extra work so would take the offer; he and his wife were working several part time jobs to survive.
Camilo has been working with us for several months now. When we expanded into other farmers markets Camilo was working them, now he manages our work in those markets. When we decided to move all of the roasting and processing of the almonds to Bakersfield we put Camilo in charge. An example of his work ethic is a few weeks ago when the almonds shipped late and he was so concerned about getting the product out that he sorted then roasted almonds the entire night. Camilo now has 3 people working for him.
It is important to let people know when they are going great work. Too often we don't say anything about the good, but when someone does something bad the word is spread among many. Hence, here I want to praise someone who took a chance and changed. I'm so proud of this “kind of” adopted son.
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