“I don’t give up on people,” says Frank Martinez. He’s talking about how he manages employees at in his successful and expanding business, Martinez Underground, Inc., that services major public works pipelines. “People go through things! I listen. People may not be what they appear, when they’re not at their best. I’m patient and allow people their space.” What about when you have to let an employee go? “People typically let themselves go, so I don’t have to.”

“I don’t know where I would be if people had given up on me at my lowest point in life.”

When Frank first arrived at Joshua Station, he had given up on himself. “I had lost everything – my livelihood, my children, every last bit of hope and confidence. I simply lay on my bed day after day in the dark, wishing for a heart attack. I absolutely thought my life would end that way.”

Little by little, community members and staff coaxed him out of the darkness. “Work is my therapy,” Frank says. “It began with them putting me to work.” Washing dishes. Pulling weeds. Tinkering with cars. A little tile job. Then tiling the entire building, after submitting a contract proposal to Joshua Station. Tile by tile, the confidence grew. It gave him the confidence also for his work of parenting.

Frank’s eyes are always out for others who are faltering. “Don’t give up! Look for people who will help you heal and regain your confidence—as I found at Joshua Station.”