Esperanza shelter board chairman comes ‘full circle’
Zubia stayed at facility with his mother more than 20 years ago; now he spends 40 hours a week volunteering
More than 20 years later, memories of living with his mother in the Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families still come floating back to Marcos Zubia.
Now 30 and chairman of the shelter’s board of directors, Zubia offered a recent tour of the facility to a group of potential donors. The shelter manager chose to show the group Room No. 8, the same room where he and his mother stayed for three months when he was 7 years old.
“I’ve been in the shelter many times and, of course, seen that room before,” he said in a recent interview. But that time, he said, “it felt like a surreal moment, where I just felt like … my past and my present came together. It was really emotional, overwhelming. It kind of felt like a ‘full circle’ kind of moment.”
Zubia and his mother had been riding in a car with his father, who had been drinking heavily — part of a pattern of abuse. It was pouring rain. Still, his mother had decided they’d had enough of the man’s behavior. When the vehicle came to a brief stop, she and her son fled to the shelter.
Zubia had long been an advocate for the organization and served as a volunteer. But for years, he didn’t tell anyone that he had once been a client. He felt ashamed, he said. With
the help of former shelter Director Marsie Silvestro, he began speaking about his experiences and realized there was nothing to be ashamed about. He has been passing that on to others.
After Silvestro retired earlier this
year, Zubia served as interim director for several months while the organization sought a new leader. Because of his tireless efforts to serve the domestic violence shelter, as well as other volunteer work, Zubia has been named one of The New Mexican’s 10 Who Made a Difference for 2017.
“Marcos basically saved the agency with his hard work — when there was no one there to run it and care for the 20-plus employees, plus the residents of the shelter,” said Janie Alderman, a fellow board member who nominated Zubia for the award.
“We always ask him if he has time to sleep,” she said.
Zubia, a vice president and financial sales manager at First Citizens Bank, sometimes spends 40 hours a week volunteering with the shelter. He also has helped Capital High School with its financial literacy class — he and his wife, Donna Sanchez-Zubia, were both graduates of the school — and participates in fundraisers for other nonprofits, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the American Cancer Society.
“Because he is so well-known and liked in the community, he has procured many grants and donations for Esperanza,” Alderman said.
“One of his main projects is to redo the playground at the shelter. He has gotten just about everything needed for the project donated, and the work will start later this fall.”
Zubia credits his mother, Gloria Zubia, a housekeeper at La Fonda for about 40 years, for inspiring him to give back and be a strong role model for his son, 4-year-old Dominic. She did “what she had to do to ensure that I went to school and we had food on the table,” he said. “… My mom is my hero.”
Despite the challenges Marcos Zubia has faced during his first year as the organization’s board chairman — among them the leadership turnover and necessary cuts to the shelter’s $1.6 million budget — “I love being in a leadership role and being able to help shape and move the agency forward,” he said. “I am thrilled to be a part of Esperanza shelter because of what it does for the community.”
Zubia said he hopes to help expand the shelter’s services soon and its image in the community.
“The first thing people know about Esperanza shelter is that it is a shelter for women of domestic abuse,” he said. “But what they don’t know is that it is a shelter for families of domestic abuse — men, women, children. … It’s open to everybody.”
Zubia also pointed to the shelter’s longstanding 52-week program for domestic violence offenders. “We have groups for them, counseling sessions for them,” an effort aimed at helping to break a cycle of violence.
Another challenge facing the shelter is that cases have become increasingly complex, often involving substance abuse disorders or other behavioral health issues.
“The client of yesterday is not the client of today,” Zubia said. “Even five years ago, the clients coming in were really solely dealing with domestic abuse. The clients we see today have multiple traumas going on in their lives. Some are suffering from drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex trafficking” or immigration issues.
Zubia said his goal is to help the shelter evolve so it can better address the multitude of issues. “My vision, and the board sees it this way, too, is: How can we make our shelter where it’s all inclusive?” he said.
He envisions a capital campaign that would enable the organization to add separate areas to the shelter for clients struggling with alcohol or drug abuse. Or, Zubia said, perhaps the organization will be able to build a new, more encompassing emergency shelter.
“We have big plans,” he said.