Michaela Garcia

“For my entire life, I had wanted to go somewhere else to experience new things. I was born and raised here in Bay City, so I felt an unspoken expectation that I was going to stay here after graduation. But when you're an 18-year-old, you don’t want to listen to anything that anybody's telling you: you want to do your own thing. I lived here, I went to college here, and I graduated thinking, ‘This is it. I'm done and I'm leaving.’

I got a job and moved to Metro Detroit. I loved the diversity there—all the different kinds of people and cultures you would run into day to day. But for me, I felt it lacked the close sense of community I was looking for and I started to feel like, ‘What am I doing here?’

It never hurts to ask questions and reevaluate your situation: ‘What do I actually want to do? Where do I want to be? What are my values? Do I want to stay here with my family? Do I want to go off on my own? Do I want to plant roots somewhere and help the community thrive?’ and that's what I started to do.

I experienced awesome things there, but I definitely realized who I am as a person and what my values are in life. I wanted to move back to Bay City to be close to family, and be in the environment that Bay City has right now. I feel like it's just booming and it feels good to be a part of it because that’s something I wanted in the first place: to be involved in and uplift a community. I look around now and feel so lucky to be here. I’m lucky that this place is my home, because a lot of people don't have what we have.

I'm thankful that I moved away. I feel like if I were to stay here the entire time and not have had those experiences in Metro Detroit and Detroit, I would not like it here as much.

I have a lot of family and friends in the community, and moving back made me realize that I need to hold on to those people as hard as I can.

When I lived in Metro Detroit, I worked at what’s called The Jenna Kast Believe in Miracles Foundation where we granted second wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. So, if they got a first wish, and then they relapsed or had a recurrence in their illness, we did a second wish, which was really cool. It definitely opened my eyes to the nonprofit world and made me realize this is something I want to be in for the rest of my life.

I had just graduated from Northwood and I was looking for a job. This was in 2021 when there really wasn't anything out there, especially for a new graduate with no experience. I found that job and it made me realize that the nonprofit world was where I was meant to be. I loved doing something good for others and it made me realize this is my purpose in life and I want to continue to do it forever.

I especially liked working with the children that I did. Make A Wish stops at 18 years old, but we served people until age 21. So, I would get kids who were in their 20s and a couple years younger than me that are going through all of this. It just made me really thankful and grateful for my life.

I loved my job, but started looking for positions outside of Metro Detroit. I was on the Hey, Bay City! job board looking through all of the marketing jobs that were available. There were four at the time and I really wanted this one at United Way, because it just seemed perfect – and it is.

It's nice to serve your community. You see the people that are in need in your own community that you don't really realize were there before, and when you see that their real-life experiences are this hard, you just want to give them that extra hand. Along with it being within my marketing degree, it just seemed perfect, then I met the staff. After that I really wanted to work here because we all kind of just mixed and blended together. Nicole Luczak and I work really well together and I'm really thankful to have her as my boss.”

—Michaela Garcia, United Way of Bay County