Fiesta supports Guatemalan children
From staff reports
Some of the poorest children in Guatemala City will be the beneficiaries of a special event happening at The Children’s House in Traverse City on Friday, Oct. 14, when Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage host their sixth annual Fiesta in support of Safe Passage. The local event celebrates our community’s commitment to bring hope and opportunity to more than 550 children of families living in unimaginable poverty at Guatemala City’s garbage dump.
Photo by Elizabeth Price
Safe Passage was founded in 1999 as a drop-in center where children could play safely and have a nutritious snack. Today it is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization providing comprehensive services to 550 children and their families through an Early Childhood Center, an Educational Enrichment Center for school-aged students, and an Adult Literacy Program for more than 100 of the children’s parents. Safe Passage provides public school enrollment fees, supplies and uniforms, homework help, medical care, hot meals, English classes, computer skills, sports and art programming, and a safe place to socialize. Their families receive health care, nutritional assistance, family nurturing programs and other social support. Safe Passage also assisted a group of mothers in forming a jewelry-making cooperative, through which they can earn more money for their families than they did scavenging in the dump for things to sell or recycle.
Great Lakes Friends, one of 17 Friends groups in the United States, Europe, Canada and Guatemala, was formed in 2005 and has grown to a mailing list of 800 people. The group has raised nearly $150,000 for the children of Safe Passage and organized six trips to Guatemala; many local residents have become child sponsors as well. Because of the efforts of Friends groups and other supporters, more than 85 percent of all funds raised go directly to pay for services to children and families helped by Safe Passage.
Fiesta 2011 will feature live music by Chris Skellenger and friends, a buffet dinner of ethnic foods with beer and wine, one-of-a-kind Guatemalan arts and crafts, a live auction, and a special performance by The Children’s House students. The guest speaker will be Michelle Smith from the Safe Passage headquarters in Maine.
The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Children’s House, at 5363 Long Lake Road, Traverse City. Admission by Oct. 10 is $35 for adults, $10 for children under 12, and $240 for a table of eight. After Oct. 10 and at the door, admission is $40 for adults and $15 for children under 12. For reservations or more information, email greatlakesfriends@safepassage.org. Mail checks (payable to Safe Passage) to Great Lakes Friends, PO Box 621, Traverse City MI 49685.
