Safe Passage Fiesta benefits children of Guatemala City garbage dump
From staff reports
The Great Lakes Friends (GLF) of Safe Passage will hold its eighth annual fiesta on Saturday, Oct. 19, to help the children and families living and working in the area adjacent to the Guatemala City garbage dump. The fiesta celebrates the commitment of the Great Lakes community to Safe Passage’s educational and nurturing programs, which are helping Guatemalan children find a pathway out of generational cycles of extreme poverty.
The event will feature entertainment from Traverse City’s very popular and high–energy duo of Billy Strings and Don Julin, a “mercado” of local Guatemalan arts and crafts, a sumptuous Latin buffet, a selection of Northern Michigan beer and wine, and exciting auction items including a week’s stay in a beautiful home in the Spanish colonial city of Antigua, a 2-hour airplane excursion over Grand Traverse Bay, and cooking classes with Chef Guillaume Hazael‐Massiuex of LaBecasse and Bistro Fou Fou.
Visiting from Guatemala will be special guest speaker Richard Schmaltz, executive director of Safe Passage since 2010. Schmaltz and his wife Susan have been active in Safe Passage for the past decade, working closely with its late founder Hanley Denning in developing the holistic, nurturing educational program implemented in the Safe Passage Early Childhood Center classrooms.
Safe Passage created its educational programs in Guatemala City in 1999 and now has more than 550 children in attendance, from pre-school through high school. The children learn English and computer skills, eat nutritious meals, receive healthcare, participate in sports and enjoy creative arts. Parents attend adult literacy classes, join entrepreneurial cooperatives, and participate in parenting programs.
Since 2005, the Great Lakes Friends has raised more than $200,000 for Safe Passage. “We are proud of all the efforts and contributions from our local chapter members,” said Sharon Workman, who serves on the GLF executive committee and is past Board President of Safe Passage. “Many of our members spend time volunteering in Guatemala, sponsor children and families, and develop fundraising activities in our local community to help these at-‐risk children. It is gratifying to see that we are gaining ground: our most recent study shows that graduates of Safe Passage are able to get good jobs allowing them to earn four times what their families were making in the dump,” Workman continued.
The fiesta will be held at the Children’s House on Long Lake Road from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Pre‐registration tickets are $50 for adults, $360 for a table of eight, $15 for children, $25 for students. After Oct. 14, tickets are $60 per person. Space is limited; reservations are recommended. To register, contact greatlakesfriends@safepassage.org or call (231) 590-6072. Checks payable to Safe Passage should be mailed to Great Lakes Friends, P.O. Box 621, Traverse City, MI 49685.
For additional information about Safe Passage, visit www.safepassage.org or call Susan Kraus at (231) 946‐4658.
