Garvin Thomas is a reporter, photographer, editor, and fill-in anchor for NBC Bay Area News. He produces stories under the station's Bay Area Proud banner. They are positive, inspirational stories about the people, groups, and companies making the Bay Area, and the world, a better place to live.
Garvin has more than twenty-five years experience working in television news, having spent time working in Boston, Berlin, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles before coming to the Bay Area in 2004.
Garvin started out at NBC Bay Area as a general assignment reporter, but his responsibilities and skills have grown over the years. In addition to writing and reporting, he also shoots and edits all his own stories. He also fills in as an anchor for NBC Bay Area’s morning, evening, and weekend newscasts.
Garvin has received national awards for his reporting and photography. Garvin won the 2013 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for the best feature reporting in the country's 50 largest television markets. In 2014 Garvin won the Gabriel Award, given out by the Catholic Academy of Communication Professionals for feature reporting in the top 25 markets. Garvin has also won more than a dozen regional awards for his reporting and photography, including seven Emmy Awards.
Garvin, his wife Karen and their three children live in the South Bay.
If there is someone or some group you think would make for a great Bay Area Proud story, you can email Garvin at garvin.thomas@nbcuni.com, or connect with him on social media: on Twitter @GarvinThomas, on Instagram @GarvinThomasNBC, on TikTok @garvinthomas and on Facebook.
The Latest
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San Francisco woman gets photographer's old number. It changes both their lives
A wrong number sparks an unlikely friendship, reviving a Bay Area photographers life, legacy, and hope. Garvin Thomas reports.
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Diagnosed with disease he studied, California doctor puts his personal story at center of new class
Dr. Bryant Lin is hoping his cancer journey can be a teaching moment for future physicians.
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Fueled by own experience with fires, SJSU grad student dedicates herself to better understand phenomenon
In Alana Macken’s hometown of Santa Rosa, thousands of people lost their homes in 2017’s Tubbs Fire. She now studies at SJSU’s Fire Weather Laboratory, hoping to provide better warnings in the future.
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Bay Area personal trainer helps client with Down syndrome achieve bodybuilding dream
Samuel Hinojosa worked with Mike Shmakov for years preparing for his competitive debut.
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105-year-old Stanford graduate finally gets her diploma after 83-year wait
When Virginia Hislop’s husband was called to active duty in 1940, she had to leave behind her studies at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
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California second-grade teacher becomes rare traveler to visit every country in the world
Lucy Hsu got her first passport at the age of 23. Twenty years later, she has been to every country in the world.
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Forced to call off wedding, bride donates entire $15k reception to nonprofit so they can host party for children with special needs
Just weeks before her wedding, a bride in the South Bay was compelled to call it off. Hoping to turn something bad into something good, the bride decided to donate the entire event to a local nonprofit so they could have a party.
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UC Berkeley law student guides 60-year-old living on the streets into stable housing
A Berkeley law student who experienced homelessness growing up befriended a homeless man living in a carport near campus and helped him find housing.
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South Bay Eighth Graders 3D Print Prosthetic Hand for Schoolmate
Students in the middle school 3D modeling class at Almaden Country Day School worked together to create a prosthetic hand for a third grader in their school.
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San Jose Couple Turn Pandemic Hobby Into Full-Time Mission Rescuing Dogs
As the pandemic wound down, animal shelter populations exploded. Dan and Rachel Martinez knew the work they started was too important to stop. Garvin Thomas reports.
