Local artists join Safe Passage efforts on behalf of Guatemalan children

Press release
Several area artists are lending their talents to help provide hope and opportunity to impoverished children of families who work and live at the Guatemala City garbage dump. Last April, at the invitation of Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage, local artists visited a virtual dump constructed at Higher Grounds Trading Company in Traverse City. They also viewed, “Recycled Life,” an academy award-nominated documentary chronicling the lives of thousands of people who make their living scavenging through Central America’s largest landfill, hoping to find things to sell or eat. The size of several football fields, the dump is in a deep ravine filled with everything from household trash to medical waste from Guatemala City’s two million residents. It oozes with toxic chemicals and methane gas. Vultures circle overhead, creating a surreal scene of unimaginable poverty.
Photo by Elizabeth Price, www.pricelessphotography.com

Inspired by what they saw, local artists Glenn Wolff, Delbert Michel, Melodee Rupert and Elizabeth Price have created original artwork for an auction at Great Lakes Friends’ fourth annual Fiesta — to be held on July 16 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City — to benefit the children of Safe Passage. All proceeds from the artwork and other sales at the Fiesta will support programs that provide over 500 children, preschool through high school, with comprehensive support to help them attend school, obtain stable jobs, be self sufficient, and lead their families out of poverty in a dignified and permanent way. The auction will also feature two tickets to Madonna, in person, presenting her new film “I Am Because We Are” at the Traverse Film Festival, cooking classes with Chef Guilliuame Hazael-Massieux of La Becasse restaurant, as well as handcrafted Guatemalan goods, and much more.
Safe Passage was founded in 1999 by Hanley Denning, a young educator from Maine who traveled to Guatemala to learn Spanish. She witnessed the devastating poverty endured by families at the garbage dump and started a drop-in program for the children. Her initial efforts with 40 children rapidly expanded and she was soon raising funds to build new facilities and involve hundreds of volunteers from all over the world in her efforts. In 2005, after Hanley visited Traverse City, two local residents, Paul Sutherland and Sharon Workman, joined the Safe Passage Board of Directors and organized Great Lakes Friends to actively support the organization’s work here in Michigan. Since then, several local groups have traveled to Guatemala to visit and volunteer, including members of the Traverse City Rotary, Leelanau School, Northwestern Michigan College.
Tragically, on January 18, 2007, Hanley Denning was killed in a car accident in Guatemala. Sharon Workman, Board Chair said, “In the wake of this unimaginable loss, thousands of people stepped forward to ensure her dream lived on.” Today Safe Passage is stronger than ever.
Now under the leadership of executive director Barbara Nijhuis, who will be a special guest at this year’s Fiesta, the nonprofit organization draws volunteers and donors from 29 nations and has become internationally recognized for its use of education as a tool for combating poverty.” Fiesta 2008, “A World United for the Children of Safe Passage,” will celebrate this progress on July 16, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City. Admission is $25 per person in advance or $30 at the door and can be purchased by calling (231) 590-6072. For more information about Safe Passage, visit www.safepassage.org.