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The Day They Gave The Grocery Store Away

by Leonard Granger  
11/09/2011 / Christian Living

When I saw in the Dixon Tribune, where the Hometown market was closing on Friday the day the paper was published, that morning I headed for the market. Most of the store was empty of all perishable, meat, vegs, and frozen items, but still the store had plenty of merchandise left on the shelves. . A sign said all items 50% OFF as store is closing TODAY.

I have been supplying fishing tackle, rod and reel combos, and all the needs of the fisherman to Hometown for over 30 years, and got to know Richard and Dennis Garcia as best of friends. Their mother was a dialysis patient in Vacaville as was my wife and we met there every so often, delivering or picking up our loved one.

I could fill this page full of wonderful stories about these two brothers and how they helped Dixon over the years in a most generous way. They were there to help in all the community projects and I would like to tell just one, I was involved with.

In 1958, my wife and I were the community leaders for the Tremont 4-H Club, and that year we had the Petting Zoo responsibility at the Dixon May Fair. Just a month or so before the fair the old structure being used collapsed and something had to be done. With the help of John Campbell, Manager of Fair with the materials and Dixon retired teacher, John Koelher as designer and his encouragement that we could do this in time for the opening of the Dixon May Fair. we gave it our best and poured the foundation. 4-H club members and parents, 3 union carpenters from Vallejo joined us on Saturday and the building was completed that day. However, the two generous brothers from Hometown Market, heard what was going on and they sent water and lots of food all day to us working on this community project. I was the gopher and we all really appreciated Hometown Market owners Richard and Dennis Garcia that day, as did the community over the years in numerous other projects.

Well, as I went into the store, I was met by two happy smiling brothers, and I asked if they wanted me to buy back some of the fishing tackle? No they said, we gave it all to the Dixon Boat Club as many were store customers and we want to give back to the community.

What I saw happen while I was in the store, I will never forget the rest of my life. These two brothers were actually giving the store away and happy and laughing while doing it.

A homeless man came into the store with a bicycle towing a cart and he went up and down the store isles as Richard filled up the cart with all kinds of canned goods, juices, and etc. Nobody was manning the checkout register and Richard said today shoplifting is welcomed. He said Len, I know you have a church garden, so let us go into the back store room and get all the produce baskets to carry garden items. That was just the beginning, I had my 9 passenger van with me and the brothers proceeded to fill it with everything, from candy to cases of light bulbs, as they were so happy knowing it was going to be donated to a church. I took over 200 paperback books to the Friends of the Dixon Library and they were happy to get the Hometown donation. They had made donations to several food closets with the perishable items and were selling some large items to other store owners.

I hope they collected enough money that day to take a well deserved vacation. I gave them a donation for all the hundreds of items and would have loved to give them more but they would not accept it.

Yes, this is a day I will never forget. two brothers Richard and Dennis Garcia who will go down in the history of Dixon as the brothers who gave their store back to the Dixon Community. We as a community should have a monument for these great men who have brought Dixon together so many times in their generous giving lifestyle.

Leonard Granger

No Copyright. Website TipTopWebsite.com/LensLines
Christian Newspaper Writer in California
[email protected]

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