WHY I GIVE
NICO SANTOS
VANGUARD | SPRING 2020
I
was 15 and lost in the San Francisco airport. My brother and I had f lown alone from the Philippines to the United States, and we had missed our connecting f light to Portland, where we were going to live with my father. In the pre-internet era, we were two teenagers clueless as how to rebook a f light, so we called our aunt who lived in the Bay Area. She left work, drove to the airport, fed us, bought me the cutest teal San Francisco sweatshirt, and got us on a f light to Oregon. “This is what we do,” she said. “We have to look after each other.” As immigrants, we’re no strangers to hardship. My big Filipino family is constantly checking in, making sure everyone has what they need. We all came to this country to pursue our dreams, so we lift each other up whenever we can. When I moved to Los Angeles a little over a decade ago to pursue stand-up comedy, all I had was pocket change and a dream. Literally. I was broke, unemployed, and the only reason I wasn’t homeless was because my cousin let me crash on her couch in Altadena while I f igured things out. My millions of other cousins made sure I was fed. My uncle lent me his old, beat up Chrysler Sebring.
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When the Center asked me to be a The key fob was broken so, every time I manually unlocked the driver’s side door, part of their Hearts of Gold concert to the alarm would sound which meant I celebrate their historic 50th anniversary, I jumped at the opportunity because had to crawl through the passenger side to avoid the stares of people thinking I we are a family. We know struggle. We all have to look out for each other. It is was stealing my car. incumbent upon those It was a struggle of us who have the to f ind a job and a means to lend what place to call my own. help they can to enThe challenges of life sure that everyone has felt insurmountable. the chance to pursue To make things even their dreams. Every harder, I couldn’t little bit helps. Our breathe. The L.A. air community survives caused my asthma to and thrives only if f lare up, and I was out of ref ills on my inhaler. Without health we have each other’s backs. I’m proud to support the Center which, since 1969, insurance or the cash to cover a doctor’s visit, my uncle suggested I research slid- has helped the most vulnerable members ing scale clinics—and that’s how I dis- of the LGBT community: youth, seniors, immigrants, and people living with HIV. covered the Los Angeles LGBT Center. During my f irst years as a struggling Through the Center’s clinic, I got stand-up comedian, the Center allowed free STD screenings and primary care me to breathe. Because of their help and that was affordable for a restaurant host the help of my big Filipino family and making $10 an hour...though, come to think of it, I might still owe the Center my big queer chosen family, I have the career I always dreamed of and am now money. I’m pretty sure I skipped out on my last payment. We can call it even, in a position to give back—to help others breathe. right? Santos stars as Mateo in NBC’s #1 comedy, Superstore.
