Sandia engineer shares story of how small acts of kindness changed her life

Amanda Hawkins was about to start first grade and had her eyes set on a very specific pair of shoes.

“They were flat high-top leather booties, and they had these flower cutouts with metal grommets,” Amanda, a Sandia quality engineer, said. “I saw them in a Kmart back-to-school catalog and remember circling them, wishing that I could get them, while knowing it was unlikely.”

Amanda grew up in Albuquerque’s South Valley and was the oldest of six. Her parents split up when she was 5 years old, and when her mother met her stepfather, Amanda said he brought a new set of problems into the home.

“I was exposed to a lot of things as a child,” Amanda said. “My mom was there, but she wasn’t focused on working or raising children, so I was often the parent figure in the home.”

There were many times when her mother couldn’t afford the rent or utilities, so young Amanda would write letters to local leadership asking for help.

“Gov. Bruce King arranged to have our rent taken care of one month, and another time, Sen. Pete Domenici took care of our utilities,” Amanda said.

The new shoes

Amanda and her siblings lived much of their childhood in survival mode, and getting new shoes to kick off the school year didn’t quite make the list of priorities.

But a month or two after Amanda started first grade, she and a group of other students were pulled from class to go buy new shoes.

“It was the first time I got the exact shoes I wanted,” Amanda said. “Brand-new shoes in their brand-new box, I’ll never forget how those shoes made me feel. I was so happy.”

Throughout the years, Amanda and her siblings were the recipients of other charitable programs aimed at helping underserved communities, specifically children.

There were free shoes, trips to Storehouse New Mexico to get clothes and groceries, free turkeys for Thanksgiving and new coats in the winter. Things that seemed like basic staples for some, were reminders to Amanda and her siblings that someone out there was looking out for them.

Real-life angels

There was one specific Christmas as a child that Amanda said changed her life.

“One year, my mom had to return our gifts so she could pay rent that month. I figured we weren’t having Christmas,” Amanda said. “But on Christmas Eve, there was a knock on the door. It was Joy Junction with bags of wrapped presents for my brothers, sisters and me.”

“They had come in some kind of SUV, and it was snowing really hard, so when they drove away, it looked like the car just disappeared. My siblings were convinced it was Santa, but to me, it felt like real-life angels. It was this magical moment for us where we felt loved and cared for by strangers.”

Amanda explains that experiences like these — the shoes, the Christmas — fueled her drive to break the cycle in her own family.

“It felt like there was somebody or something bigger out there in this world, in my own community, local businesses and organizations like Sandia, funding these efforts that helped kids like me,” Amanda said. “I wanted to be part of that when I grew up.”

And Amanda did just that.

In her more than 20 years with Sandia, Amanda has been active in the various efforts the Labs has to give back, both to kids and communities in need. Additionally, she and her children volunteer their time helping other charitable groups including Roadrunner Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and United Way.

“As someone who directly benefited from the kinds of efforts Sandia sponsors, I know firsthand how much it means. It’s important to me to always be able to give back and inspire that same kind of hope that I felt as a kid, I’m proof that that hope can go a long way.”

A history of giving

Sandia has a long history of charitable giving, and as community relations specialist Katrina Wagner explains, that culture of giving is ingrained into who we are at the Labs.

“Sandians are incredibly generous. If you say you need school supplies, they’ll show up the next day with 5,000 boxes of crayons,” Katrina said.

Sandia is currently in the midst of its annual Stuff the Bus School Supply Drive in New Mexico, which kicked off on July 22 and runs through Aug. 9. California just wrapped up its own Operation Backpack on July 25.

“The goal is to make sure students have the school supplies they need to succeed this coming school year,” Katrina said. “So, we’re stuffing the bus with cash and school supplies. The monetary donations will go to Albuquerque Public Schools’ School Supply Barn, and a set amount will be put aside to purchase backpacks for high school students of military families stationed at Kirtland.”

In 2023, Stuff the Bus raised around $8,000.

Sandia organizes various annual campaigns throughout the year, including the Hearts and Soles Shoe Drive, similar to the one that helped Amanda get those special leather booties, Take a Turkey to Work Day, holiday gift drives, the Read to Me Book Drive and Sandia Gives, which is organized in partnership with the United Way of Central New Mexico and United Way Bay Area.

Additionally, Katrina notes there have been various one-off efforts.

“We might see a news story somewhere or learn of a new need, which prompts us to get the ball rolling to come together and get something in motion. The great thing about Sandia is that when asked, Sandians really show up,” Katrina said. “Earlier this year, we hosted a coat drive. Last year, we had a wildly successful formal wear drive to help kids attending prom that spring. It was the first time we had done something like that, and we had 350 formal wear items donated, including formal dresses, blazers, dress pants and shirts, shoes and ties. Two years ago, we put together the Together We Rise campaign to help those impacted by the fires in Northern New Mexico.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020 and various industries were forced to lay off workers, Roadrunner Food Bank saw a huge spike in people experiencing sudden food insecurity. Sandia put together a drive to raise $15,000 in 15 days.

“Within an hour, we met our goal, and we ended up raising over $100,000,” Katrina said.

As Amanda’s story reminds us, the way we show up matters, and as Katrina notes, Sandia has long been committed to coming together to do just that.