Recently I experienced the sudden violent loss of a young man who was someone I mentored, counseled, and cared deeply for. Jose Reynaldo Garcia, Rey to his friends, burst into my life nearly 4 years ago when he walked into Youth Advocates for the first time, interested in learning to break dance. Here was this kid, with minimal English who looked so tough and mean, until you looked at his eyes. Rey had an incredible story, at age 12 he had been kicked out of his home in Tegulcigalpa, the capitol of Honduras. He was forced into a violent street gang called 18th Street (it was started on 18th Street in Los Angeles...how it became one of the most violent and fearsome gangs in Honduras and El Salvador, like MS13 is a story for a different time). At age 16 he made the decision to reject this life, and WALKED to the United States. Literally walked. He was detained in Brownsville, but as an unaccompanied minor, he was placed in a residential program run by Catholic Charities. When he went to his hearing, the judge was so moved by his story, something unprecedented happened, instead of being deported, he was granted full political asylum. He became more and more involved with us at YA, and eventually served 2 years in our AmeriCorps program where he impacted the lives of hundreds of kids, including at a camp at Ft. Hood. Nearly a month ago, Rey was leaving a night club and was shot and killed in his car. This impacted our community at YA, he was a part of our family and we had lost him, needlessly. To begin our healing, we had a moving Memorial service at Trinity Church, our second home, and over 170 of his friends gathered to celebrate his life.
Funny how the circle moves on.
This week my dear friend Daniel Sanborn and his wife Sharron welcomed into their lives their daughter Elyse Laura Sanborn. Elyse was born on Monday, June 9.
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