Señora Guadalupe Garcia is well known around Point Reyes Station for her tamales. For just $2.50 apiece, her handmade tamales have fed locals, out-of-towners and tourists until recently. Lupe suffered a stroke in early October and has been at home in recovery ever since. Now, her friends are seeking donations to help cover the costs of medicine, treatment, food, living expenses and transportation to doctor visits. “She is an indomitable person with an extraordinary life,” Mark Switzer, a frequent customer, said. “The family doesn’t have the resources that I would have. She needs our help.” Sra. Garcia is known for her generosity: She always gave away tamales to people who were hungry and didn’t have money or were facing other problems, her daughter Claudia said. Claudia would tell her mother that she shouldn’t be giving her tamales away, as the stand earned a slim profit, but her mother could never help it. The two are a team. “She cooks the meat and I shred it,” Claudia said. “I put the tamales on the leaf, and she folds it. It’s a lot of work but we enjoy it.” Sra. Garcia has never been the type to sit at home and let the day pass, but since her stroke, she has been asking every day to get up and make tamales, Claudia said. Yet she needs rest. “Something like this can be very devastating for an underserved family, but people in the community care about Lupe,” friend Rebecca Porrata said. “She can recover, she is just going to need some help: treatments, medicine, occasional transportation.” Ms. Porrata reflected on how Sra. Garcia’s tamales would feed her own family on difficult days. “On some Fridays I would have too much work and Lupe’s tamales would save me,” she said. The joy Sra. Garcia gets from cooking tamales will be one part of her recovery once she able to stand, speak and use her hands again. She learned the recipe from watching her mother do it; now, she does not use measuring cups. She’s done it so many times, the process for her is as natural as breathing. Tax-deductible donations can be made by check payable to West Marin Community Services, P.O. Box 1093, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956; non-tax-deductible donations can be made to Wells Fargo account 6569199281 or mailed to Guadalupe Garcia, P.O. Box 1222, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956.