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Vince showed me the power of gratitude

I’m grateful to call Vince Carpio my father. He taught me how to be grateful, not just through his words, but through his actions. When I was a child, my father took my sister and I to enjoy music played in the park by a man who had no arms, yet beautifully played the guitar with his feet. As we watched, my father asked us, how grateful are we to have ears to listen to the music played by the man who is able to use his feet? I grew up observing my father practicing gratitude for what he had and giving back to our schools, church, and community to share the thanks. On my hardest days, it’s the attitude of gratitude that has forever changed my life and inspires me to be thankful everyday. – Natalie Carpio

Whenever the right decision is the hard decision, the first person I turn to is my father, Vince Carpio. Whenever there is an injustice, even when it is the hard thing to do, he always speaks his mind. When I was a child, he often shared stories about his involvement in the civil rights movement. One particular story that struck me was a time that Ronald Reagan visited a factory where my father worked while Reagan was on the campaign trail. After Reagan gave his speech, they opened it up to questions from the audience. All of the questions came from management until my father, a factory worker, raised his hand. When they did not call on him, he called out “Mr. Reagan! I have a question.” Reagan turned to him, smiled, and invited him to speak. He asked the future President how he intended to support Chicano people. It was a risky question to ask in a business where there were no Latinos in management and it was not expected for a factory worker to be so vocal in the presence of a Presidential candidate. By asking the question, he could have put his job at risk. But, in fact, it sparked a conversation at his job about Chicanos, company leadership, and how to diversify the company. His ability to ask the tough questions, even when it might mean upsetting somebody with power over him, has taught me the value of integrity, even in the face of great odds. – Genevieve Carpio