In 2000, when Lt. Kevin Centola from the West Metro Fire Department first visited the Arbol de Vida (Tree of Life) orphanage in Juarez, Mexico, he didn’t know it would be a life-changing event. “Just driving to the orphanage is a sobering experience,” he says of traveling through the notoriously violent city of 2 million people and observing their abject poverty. In contrast, he says, the orphanage is “a little refuge in a sea of chaos.”
At Arbol de Vida, Centola met John and Carmen Walker, the couple who run the orphanage. At any given time, they may house 100 to 120 kids, from babies to age 18. “They somehow run the orphanage on $110,000 a year from private donors,” he says.
Centola was so moved by the Walkers’ efforts that when it came time to leave, he took out his wallet and gave them all the cash he had. Then he promised the children that he would come back, a promise they had heard before from others. “They were just little kids living on broken promises,” he says.
But Centola meant what he said. Since that initial visit, he has gone back to the orphanage more than 25 times, bringing firefighters from West Metro as well as other volunteers. Centola estimates that in addition to his four children and his wife, Luz, whose parents live in Juarez, another 350 people have accompanied him on a trip.
Sean O’Hara and Chris McCullen, fellow firefighters from West Metro, were the first to get involved. “I was surprised they wanted to go with me. They said it sounded like fun. I put them to work building a chicken coop,” Centola grins, saying he travels to Juarez about four times a year, sometimes bringing along up to 12 firefighters.
On one trip, the firefighters poured concrete for a pad the size of a basketball court. They mixed “a mountain” of sand and gravel, added another “mountain” of cement, added water, and mixed the concrete on the ground. “We worked for five days with wind blowing the sand around. It was miserable,” Centola says. But it is also great to see the pad used as a base for school buildings, for a shaded patio and as a place where kids can rollerblade or ride skateboards.
The next trip to Juarez will include a church youth group. The young people will re-side the orphanage’s barn and teach the girls to sew by making quilts.
Only about half of the children at the home are orphans, according to Centola. When Mexican police remove children from their families because of drugs, domestic violence or other problems, they bring them to the Arbol de Vida. “There are no foster homes in Mexico,” Centola says. Some of the children stay a short time, while others live there until they are 18. “The situation for each child is unique, but all the kids are in pain,” he says.
When he’s not traveling to Juarez, Centola is fund-raising for the home. He tells of taking a group of Colorado artists to Mexico to work with the children; they brought back the children’s artwork, framed it, and auctioned it all off for $10,000. The artists want to go back again, he says.
The money Centola raises is spent to educate the children. It’s hard for the Walkers to do much more than keep the children fed, clothed and sheltered. Education falls into the “nice to have if you’ve got the time and money” category, he says.
Centola is in the process of establishing a nonprofit for the orphanage.
Here’s to Centola and the firefighters of West Metro who put themselves on the line to make a difference in the lives of young, vulnerable children.
If you’re inclined to donate to Arbol de Vida, send checks to the Tree of Life Colorado Connection, P.O. Box 1223, Littleton 80160. Centola can be reached at Kevin@treeoflifecolorado. org. For more information, go to .
