Saturday Fundraiser to Benefit Only A Child

On May 2, 1993 the Boston Globe Magazine featured “Giovanni’s Story”, a tale about a homeless boy in Guatemala City who was tortured and murdered by the police. The story went on to document the forgotten youth of Guatemala who are either kicked out of their homes or flee because of abuse and end up in the public parks of the city. They tend to fall into gangs and “do drugs” to ease the pain.

The story so moved George Leger of Waltham then a pastry chef at the Country Club in Brookline that he felt compelled to learn more. He interviewed the writer and she helped arrange a trip to Guatemala so he could see for himself. After two weeks of living and playing soccer with these boys he determined to help. The first thing he did was to arrange with a restaurant in the park to serve a few of them a simple breakfast each morning and then spent his time on the return flight figuring out how many friends and family members he could “touch” to support this effort.

George went back at every opportunity, doing outreach work in the park. He eventually decided that it needed something more permanent and he established a living shelter for a small number of youths and started “Only A Child” (OAC) with support from family and friends.

The typical boy entering the OAC program is about 14-16 years old with about a fourth grade education. He is too old and large to attend the government schools appropriate to his grade level so OAC sends them to private schools on weekends. During the week, they work in a carpentry shop creating designer boxes out of mahogany and cedar. These can be found in some of the better gift shops around the Boston area including Artitudes in West Newton. http://www.artitudesgallery.com/

They workshop is intended to teach life skills as much as carpentry skills.

The youths can stay in the program as long as they want to be educated. For some this is a university degree.

George Leger just arrived back in Boston and will be here until April 30. A fundraiser will be held at 7:00 PM Saturday night at the Sons of Italy Lodge, 99 Cedar St in Waltham. For more info  http://www.onlyachild.org/annual_fundraiser.html