He’ll ask people to close their eyes for five seconds and absorb the darkness. Then he’ll say to imagine they were born blind, never to know colors or what even a tree looks like. Finally, he’ll tell them to open their eyes to take in the world around them and consider how lucky they are to have all that they currently possess.  Valencia resident Neil Salem doesn’t take for granted the good fortune of having such a loving family and the safe, giving community that he gets to call home. On Christmas Day, he and some friends tried to pay it forward by visiting three homeless encampments in the San Fernando Valley, bringing food, water and clothing to those in need.  “Normally on Christmas Day, we go to church, and I celebrate with my family,” Salem said in a telephone interview. “It’s a good day. But it was a better day to go and help somebody.”  Neil Salem prepares to help the homeless on Christmas Day in San Fernando Valley. Photo courtesy of Tim Gobi Salem, 52, who comes from the West Asian country of Jordan, grew up poor and accustomed to working 18 hours a day to survive, with no religious freedom, unable to worship as he pleased. His family moved to the United States for their religious freedom, for the American Dream.  Salem landed in America in 1987. He’s been in the Santa Clarita Valley since 1991. It’s his home, he said, which he enjoys with his wife and their three kids. And he loves it. He owns Canyon Muffler on Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country and refers to his customers as his friends. That’s just the way he sees people.  In Jordan, if you get married, he said, 300 people, including random folks from the village, will show up at the wedding and celebrate. If someone dies, he added, everyone in the village — enemies included — show up and will walk with the mourners.   Some years back, Salem met Canyon Country resident Tim Gobi. Gobi was a customer at Canyon Muffler — a friend, as Salem put it. Gobi, who owns and operates Gobi Entertainment Production, a multimedia production house that, among offering other services, produces TV commercials, asked if Salem would be interested in a TV spot for his muffler shop.  “So, I gave him the opportunity to do this,” Salem said. “I love small businesses. This is one of my weaknesses. I always spend my money on mom-and-pop shops. I support, always, local and small businesses so they get the opportunity to uplift. The big guys have a corporation behind them. Small people like us — we have to work hard to make a living.”  Canyon Muffler owner Neil Salem speaks with a customer outside his auto repair business on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Canyon Country. Katherine Quezada/The Signal Gobi made the commercial for Canyon Muffler, and since then, he and Salem have become close friends.   According to Gobi, Salem was following him on social media and saw that he’d been very active in helping the homeless. Gobi, who’s also the founder, song writer and lead vocalist of the local band KingsXecutioner, said he uses proceeds from his band to buy fresh food for the homeless. He’s been doing that for years. He’ll pick up various items, including sliced meats and cheeses from delis in the area, prepare sandwiches and put together lunches, and then drive it downtown or to the San Fernando Valley to homeless people.  Tim Gobi, left, chats with service deli clerk Angie Escobedo at the Staters Brothers Markets deli in Santa Clarita on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Gobi regularly uses proceeds from his band to buy sliced meats and cheeses, prepare sandwiches, and bring them to the homeless. Dan Watson/The Signal “He (Salem) called me one day and wanted to write me a check, out of pocket, for $1,000,” Gobi said. “Then he instructed me to pick five different individuals and give them $200 each. These recipients have all been brought to tears with knees buckling and quivering voices.”  Gobi said he looked for people who were not addicts. He didn’t want to feed someone’s alcohol or drug habit. He found four people to help out, but he still needed a fifth person.  On Christmas Day, as part of the work he and the others did to feed the homeless, they gave the last $200 of Salem’s original $1,000 to someone they considered a worthy beneficiary.   “Her name’s Irene,” Gobi said. “Now Irene — she’s a young gal — she got into a tiny house and then got COVID and got kicked out of it and lost her nursing school.”  Gobi met her in what’s known by the homeless population as “the trenches,” which is a homeless encampment at Devonshire Street underneath Interstate 405 in the San Fernando Valley. Gobi watched as this woman had saved food not just for herself, but for others who were living in the encampment. Here was someone who was in no position to help others, but she did it anyway.  She was more than thrilled to receive Salem’s generosity. She told Gobi and Salem what she planned to do with the money: She’d go to The Home Depot to purchase the necessary materials to build up her tent for the upcoming rain season, so that water doesn’t get in.  Neil Salem shares a hug with Irene, who Salem gifted $200, on Christmas Day in San Fernando Valley. Photo courtesy of Tim Gobi “It’s heartbreaking to see this on Christmas,” Salem said. “People have warm houses. And these people, unfortunately, are sitting in the middle of the riverbed.”  Salem spoke about how these people couldn’t wake up Christmas morning to open gifts with family. So many of those they met had no family at all. Just for them to be able to talk with others was special, he said.  Gobi added that many people just want simple conversation.  “Because nobody cares about them,” he said. “I’ve had people say, ‘People think we’re invisible.’ I’ve seen people lying on the streets, and people just walk right over them like they don’t exist. These are human beings.”  Over the years of helping the homeless, Gobi has come across former judges, lawyers, teachers — all different, “broken people.” He said the one common factor: usually alcohol.  He talked about how many just made bad life decisions.  “You go home, and you appreciate drywall, you appreciate carpeting, you appreciate your heating, air conditioning, running water, toilets, toilet water,” Gobi said. “All of a sudden you start feeling guilty: ‘How come these people don’t have it, but I do?’ Don’t give in to that guilt. They made bad choices. And we may’ve made bad choices, but we were fortunate enough to climb out of it.”  Salem talked about his own misfortunes in life, from his struggles early in life growing up in a big family with no money, living in a country that wouldn’t afford them the freedom to practice their Christian faith, to losing his second child — a daughter — who was born with cerebral palsy and died at age 4.   Neil Salem, right, and his son Nabeel Jacobs, 17, bring in a classic car for a repair on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, at Canyon Muffler in Canyon Country. Katherine Quezada/The Signal “She was a gift from God,” Salem said. “And I remember, three months along — she was in the womb, in my wife — they (the medical staff) came and told us, ‘You’re going to have a sick daughter’ and ‘abortion.’”   Salem and his wife were against abortion. They wanted the child no matter what happened. They’d be ready for it, he said.   He said his daughter looked happy, but she was so often sick. Now, he said, she’s with God.  Salem and his wife have been fortunate with their other children, he said. Their oldest daughter just graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in biology and a goal to go to medical school. Their son is at Saugus High, graduating this year, and their youngest, another daughter, will be in high school next year.  Canyon Muffler owner Neil Salem, right, and his son Nabeel Jacobs, 17, inspect the engine of a Ford Explorer that came in for service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Canyon Country. Katherine Quezada/The Signal Salem said he’ll be bringing his family to help the homeless next time he goes out. The Christmas trip he made with Gobi was an experience that made an indelible mark on him.  “To be honest, it was the best Christmas for me,” Salem said. “We’re going to do it again and again and again. Any extra money we get, we’re going to help.”  Gobi said that Salem has a special, deep caring for other people who are struggling. He’s got a heart of gold — 24 carat gold, he added, and he’s happy to give it over for a good cause.  The post Local man who helps homeless: ‘It was the best Christmas’  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.