For years, two Boothbay region organizations have helped youth in a poor Guatemalan city get safe passage out of poverty. The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church and members of both have donated funds each year for over a decade providing assistance to children living in the poorest and most dangerous section of Guatemala City, the Central American nation’s capital city. 

Safe Passage is a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) organization. The program was founded in 1997 by Hanley Denning of Cumberland. The Bowdoin College graduate was studying Spanish in Guatemala when she discovered the condition of Guatemala City’s poorest and most dangerous section. Safe Passage is a school which also serves as an aid program for youth ages 3-18 living around the dump in District 3. The school provides youths with four meals a day, education services, and safety out of District 3’s “red zone," the city’s most violent section.

On Sept. 14, local Safe Passage contributors met the program’s new executive director Trae Holland at the church. Holland was hired in July. During his Boothbay Harbor visit, he announced plans for expanding from a half- to a full-day program. Safe Passage is expanding its educational program beyond the eighth grade. “Education is the most important aspect of our program,” Holland said. “Reinforcement, charity and gift-giving are powerful, but to change a life, you must build capacity. So we are growing our school program which is the most important thing we can do.”

Holland credited the church with being a central player in the program’s development. “This church is a center of service activity and impact. One of the most important abilities to make change in the world comes from this church.”

Safe Passage receives no government funds from Guatemala or the U.S. It is completely funded through private philanthropy. Rotarian Chip Griffin estimated local groups have made 10-15 trips to Guatemala City in the last decade to provide assistance.