In 2013, when he was hired as CEO, he quickly saw how much the center was needed.

“Once you start getting involved, you see the relevance, importance, and uniqueness of it,” Garcia says. “The Cristo Rey campus is a safety net organization that provides basic needs and services.”

About a year ago, Cristo Rey became one of two campuses under the umbrella of Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton Counties (CCIEC), along with the St. Vincent campus. Both facilities offer essential services to anyone who needs them, but particularly those who are underserved, low income, or homeless. The Cristo Rey campus offers a community kitchen and day shelter, a food pantry, a personal needs pantry, and a community closet.

“We help the poor and vulnerable every day,” Garcia says. “If you come to our campus on High Street, you may not be impressed by the landscaping or the building. But you will be impressed by the love and dignity that is part of who we are.”

Serving those in need, as Christ calls us to, does not mean picking and choosing who deserves our help, Garcia says, in spite of the fact that safety net services are always increasing in demand.

“Everyone deserves to be seen, loved, and treated with dignity,” he says.

CCIEC’s Cristo Rey campus also offers specialized counseling and therapy for substance use disorder. Their cornerstone, though, is its medical clinic, which was revamped and refocused in its Catholic identity in the last few years. Both lay people and members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma provide primary care to people who otherwise may not be able to see a doctor — 80 percent of the clinic’s patients use Medicare and Medicaid, Garcia says.

“They’ve helped elevate the level of care that the practice operates at,” he says, emphasizing the importance of offering excellent medical care to everyone. “We run a primary care office and patients see the same provider every time. We’re trying to get people healthy.”

Sister Mary Nika Schaumber, a Sister of Mercy of Alma whose focus at Cristo Rey is to help maintain its Catholic identity, says the renaissance of CCIEC’s Cristo Rey campus and what it offers is due to God’s presence there.

“It’s beautiful to go into the chapel and see the poor sitting there,” she says. “They know the presence of the Lord.”

Garcia, she says, has a heart for the poor and that “to whatever is asked, he strives to respond.”

Recently, Sister Mary Nika says, a man named Roger, who has been coming to Cristo Rey since the 1980s for meals, to receive services, and to volunteer, learned he has a very aggressive form of cancer and a terminal prognosis.

“I went to see him and we talked about Jesus and I asked, ‘Would you like to be baptized?’”

Roger said yes, and Father Vincent Richardson, who says Mass at the campus chapel and is on CCIEC’s Board of Directors, came to the hospital and gave Roger the sacraments of initiation.

“I have never seen Roger so peaceful,” Sr. Mary Nika says. “It was the most beautiful experience. He kept saying, ‘Amen!’ He really wanted the Lord. He’s telling everybody: ‘I was baptized and now I’m going to see Jesus.’”

Offering the presence of Christ to those who come through the Cristo Rey Community Center is essential, according to Sister Mary Nika and Garcia. The center’s church was recently renovated;130-year-old pews were obtained from a Catholic church in the Chicago area and high-resolution images used to create “stained-glass window films” featuring the corporal works of mercy. Mass is offered there weekly.

The St. Vincent campus also offers help to refugees, something it’s done for almost 50 years. Since the start of the new administration in Washington, D.C., Garcia says, federal funding that was essential for the refugee resettlement program has stopped, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who need help adjusting to life in the United States.

“We have a moral obligation to help people who are already vetted by our government and new to our country,” he says. “They still need us.”

Adoption and foster care services, an immigration law practice, and a soon-to-open children’s home are also part of the St. Vincent operation. Recently, a dental care practice opened there that will specialize in serving veterans and children.

Sister Mary Nika says knowing every person is loved by God drives CCIEC’s staff and volunteers.

“We know the dignity of the human person created in God’s image and likeness,” she says, adding that the center’s goal is “to allow people to come to know Christ and to come to know their own dignity and value, despite whatever they’ve gone through or are going through. They are still loved by God. By being who we are, we are hopefully leading people back to Christ.”