When Hope Meets the World
A few weeks ago I ran into La Fonda Ambassador and Board Chairman Emerita, Jenny Kimball, when I paused my afternoon walk to loiter on her garden wall. Kimball fussed at me about my bad headshot for this very column, and I fussed about being tired of writing about myself. Kimball introduced me to the La Fonda Foundation, the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Nonprofit Business of the Year, which builds pathways to stability for hourly wage hospitality workers and their families, and to Leticia Bernal, Executive Director. Bernal introduced me to Juan Rodriguez, his mother Gabriela Villegas Marquez, and his sister Gabriela Stephania.
Sitting across a conference room table in the La Fonda Foundation office, Marquez’s gaze felt familiar to me. It felt like looking in a mirror and seeing the vulnerability of putting all that you love, your work, your hopes, your children, into the world and praying it will meet them.
In 2008, when Marquez’s husband was injured at work in Santa Fe and asked his family to come to America to care for him, they did. Marquez left Chihuahua, Mexico, with her two young sons (eleven-year-old Tony and seven-year-old Juan) to come to America.
Within six months, Marquez was certified to teach in New Mexico. Her three bachelor’s degrees, fifteen years of teaching experience, and steadfast heart went into service in our public schools.
The family experienced both joy and tragedy in New Mexico. In 2010 they welcomed baby Gabriela Stephania, but in 2015 they tragically lost Tony at only 18 in a car accident.
In 2024 Marquez became a single parent, and in December with bills outpacing income, Juan, now 23 and 5 years into a successful career in hospitality, walked back into the La Fonda where he’d started as a host at La Plazuela, looking for Leticia Bernal and the La Fonda Foundation. He asked for help.
La Fonda met Juan’s request with concrete support. His family received a hardship grant and was accepted into the Family Services Program, connecting them with resources for long-term stability and upward mobility.
Six months later, sitting in that same foundation office, Juan smiles charmingly as he describes his work at Bishop’s Lodge as front office supervisor where he is surrounded by competent and fun colleagues and the dynamic complexities of hospitality. Everyone’s smiles widen when he describes the naturalization ceremony where he became an American citizen two weeks ago. It’s easy to imagine his joyful spirit infusing his music; his second album is about to drop. Fifteen-year-old Gabriela Stephania radiates her own light as she talks about her dreams of caring for others in healthcare, inspired by the doctors who helped Tony.
When I look at Marquez, I see what felt familiar about her gaze, and now that I know more, I see more: the courage to put everything you love into the world, knowing for sure that sometimes your heart will be broken beyond repair, and sometimes the world will meet you. She teaches 3rd grade at El Camino Real Elementary School and is completing her master’s degree to become a principal in the Santa Fe public schools, continuing to work and serve, continuing to meet the hopes and dreams of other mothers and children.
This is what authentic support looks like: not charity, but partnership.
Sometimes the world meets you with love and support. Sometimes we get to be the world that meets hopes and dreams with love and support.
On July 21st, the La Fonda Foundation is hosting a legal aid clinic which will support 72 people in our community. They’re raising $10,000 to fund this clinic. Please contribute https://www.lafondafoundation.org/give
Juan Rodriguez is in the top 10 artists competing to play at the Global Citizens Festival in Central Park. Please vote for him https://tophitmaker.org/2025/juan
This column ran in the Santa Fe New Mexican on June 24, 2025, under Business Different.
