A North Texas mother's son was killed in combat, now she's making sure his legacy never dies. She's this week's KRLD Difference Maker.
In 2006, Cynthia Garcia got news no parent wants to hear. Her son Adam had been shot in combat in Iraq. Cynthia and her husband and daughter went to Landstuhl, Germany to be by Adam's side. The family stayed at a Fisher House.
"There's a Fisher home on the Veteran's Hospital grounds, where families can stay so they can easily get back and forth to see their hospitalized veteran or soldier," Cynthia said.
While there, they would tell their daughter Danielle to go sit in a corner and read or color while they spoke to doctors about Adam's situation, but Danielle said there were no books or coloring books for her to use.
Adam and the Garcias were flown back to Bethesda, Maryland, where Adam died from his injuries. Cynthia made a promise to her son.
"One of the promises that I had made to him was that I would never let his name be forgotten," Cynthia said. "So we started this nonprofit so his name and legacy will continue living."
It's called Adams Army of Angels. They help military families in various ways. Thinking back to their personal experience, they remembered there wasn't much at the Fisher house to keep kids distracted while parents dealt with doctors and their injured soldiers so Cynthia's daughter Danielle had an idea.
"She said, 'Wouldn't it be neat if these homes had something for kids, like in a corner?' And that's where we, 12 years after Adam's death, we created Adam's Corner at the Fisher House here in Dallas," Cynthia said.
The Fisher House gave them a 10ft by 10 ft corner to put a rug, shelves, books, puzzles, games crayons and coloring books for kids and called it Adam's Corner.
There are 8 Adam's corners now at Fisher Homes across the country and 14 more will be added this year.
"If we can help parents go deal with adult stuff while their child is at Adam's Corner being entertained, that's a tremendous help," Cynthia said. "It's amazing and it's unbelievable. It just brings me so much joy to see little kids use Adam's Corner at the Fisher Home, you know? His name is there. His name is living."
We're proud to call Cynthia Garcia and Adam's Army of Angels this weeks KRLD Difference Makers.
If you would like to help, donate or volunteer to be one of the Adam's Angels, email Cynthia at adamgarcia8528@att.net.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.
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