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Self-made millionaire of “Dogloo” dog houses
Founder, C-28 Christian clothing stores
CBN.com
– RAGS TO RICHES TO CHRIST
Aurelio was born to a wealthy family in Cuba until his family lost everything under Castro and moved to the United States. After seeing his family’s loss, Aurelio says his “goal was to make a million dollars by the time I was 30 ”, and that is what he did.
Aurelio is the manufacturer of “Dogloo,” an igloo style dog house still available today. Aurelio earned multi-millions in sales and was living it up with his new found fortune. He vacationed for months in Hawaii, wore the priciest clothes and ate at the most exclusive restaurants.
“Everything I had dreamed about, I got.” But his life of riches and power could not satisfy him or make him happy. “If the company was up, I was up. If the company was down, I was down.” He was consumed by his work while the pressures of the business world began to take an even greater toll on him than he realized. It was not long before Aurelio was considering ending his life. “I was just at the end…the money wasn’t buying me happiness.”
In March 1998, Aurelio had hit rock bottom emotionally and spiritually until his kid’s high school principal invited him in his office one day. “He looks at me and says, 'Is there something missing from your life?'”
Aurelio says that the principal told him he wanted to introduce Aurelio to someone. Aurelio followed him into his office, inwardly hoping the principal was not going to preach to him. The principal asked him many questions about Jesus, and Aurelio realized that he didn’t really know anything about Jesus, “I just broke down crying in his office.” Finally, Aurelio made a life changing decision, “I asked the Lord…Lord forgive me, and He did. I accepted him as my Lord and Savior that day, and He washed me clean.”
A LASTING PROFIT
Yet God had more plans for him. “What I was longing for was to be a part of something.” He began praying that God would use the gifts and talents He had given Aurelio for His glory.
In December 1999, while driving home, Aurelio passed a Christian store. “The store was very cool and that night God gave me the vision to share His life changing message. I felt the Lord speaking to me about opening Christian stores for sharing His Word,” says Aurelio.
But he wasn’t prepared for a ministry in Christian retail. He prayed for months. “I thought, Lord if you want me to donate a million bucks, I’ll just do that, but if you put me in retail I’m going to lose it.”
Although it took six years to turn a profit, Aurelio says he found happiness in running a different sort of business, a business for God’s glory not his own.
Today the clothing franchise is called C-28, an apparel store with a Christian bent. C-28 is an abbreviation for Colossians 2:8 that says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
He sells clothes that promote purity, modesty and a positive alternative for today’s youth. “I became a part of something that is not going to fade away.”
Apart from just selling clothes, the staff at C-28 prays and shares the gospel with their clients. Aurelio says he knows that his business is turning up a lasting profit; a 12-year-old girl and suicidal 18-year old gave their lives to the Lord in his store. Since 2001 when the first store opened, over 5,000 people have been led through the sinner’s prayer and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Aurelio is dedicated to sharing the hope of Christ to his clients, the same hope that was once missing from his own life. Today he says his new life in Christ is the greatest of riches, “All the things I had built up, I knew wouldn’t last,” says Aurelio. “But my relationship with Christ is everlasting.” Currently there are seven stores and two opening up summer 2006.
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