Press

02 July 2008

A FURNESS student who hadn’t had his hair cut for seven years had his locks chopped completely off to raise money for a charity trip to build houses for impoverished villagers in Guatemala.

He and a friend set off on August 9 and they are both had their heads shaved – Matt’s down to a grade one – to raise the £300 each they need for their trip.

Matt, 22, a multi-media student at the University of Teeside in Middlesbrough and former pupil of Ulverston Victoria High School and Furness College, is currently on work placement in Wellwyn Garden City.

He said: “The shave went very well and our current fund-raising stands at £200, with more sponsorship still pledged to us.

“Three years ago I went to Nicaragua to do something similar and it’s that which as inspired me to get involved in doing things like this more. I saw the opportunity and thought it was something I had to do.”

He added: “It takes around five or six days build one house so we should be able to get through about two houses. We’re staying with a family in Antigua and traveling up to the village every morning and back every night.”

Matt grew up in Scales, where his family still live, and he said: “My family is really supportive.

“I think my mum, Christine, is worried about the trips at first, but always comes around.”

Matt has a blog at www.guatemala2008.m-d-w.co.uk and sponsorship can be donated at www.guatemala2008.m-d-w.co.uk/donate/

More information about From Houses to Homes can be found at www.fromhousestohomes.org.

Neenah church builds bridges to Guatemala
ThePost-Crescent
June 25,2008

NEENAH — The city of Antigua in the central highlands of Guatemala is famous for its Spanish architecture and elaborate religious festivals.

"A lot of the indigenous people who live there still maintain their traditional culture and dress," said Pam Garman of Neenah. "It's just a beautiful country. It's lush and colorful."

But tourist attractions and natural wonders aren't what drew Pam and her husband Rich back to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was building houses for the city's poor through the New Jersey-based charity From Houses to Homes.

"We're providing them with a future and an opportunity," Rich said. "The home is just a component of it."

A very important component, however, given the conditions many are facing.

"To be eligible, they have to be living in a corn stock house with a dirt floor," Pam said. "One 65-year-old woman had never lived in a house with a window or a door that locked."

Connecting with the program while traveling through Guatemala in 2006, the Garmans pulled together a small party of friends that went down for their trial build last year. Based on that experience, a second, larger group was organized this past March as a mission trip for Our Savior's Lutheran Church.

"It's one of the more hopeful things a congregation can do, to get out of their comfort zone and get out there," said the Rev. Catherine Mode. "Christianity is a global faith."

In addition to the participating church members, Our Savior's financed the building of two $1,500 houses and funded a year's salary for a teacher in conjunction with First Presbyterian Church of Neenah. The congregation also collected toothbrushes and children's shoes for participants to distribute among the people they met.

"We could see that we made a measurable difference in someone's life," said Addis Hilliker. "You could see it. It was tangible and we did it."

Either walking up mountainsides to the project sites or riding in the back of a pickup truck over rough roads, volunteers labored side-by-side with the Guatemalan work force in charge of building the one-room concrete block structures.

"I mixed the concrete every day by hand," said Ardy Krueter. "It's very hard work. You push yourself. You have to get the wheelbarrow and the cement and the sand and the rock."

It's hard work, but also insightful.

"On the fourth or fifth day, I was tuck-pointing up on a platform, and everyone around me was joking and laughing," Mode said. "And I thought, 'This is the way it should be. The work is done together and joyfully.'"

Even more significant was how faith proved to be a common bond, rather than a source of division, thanks in large part to the morning devotionals made possible by Hilliker's daughter, Alicia, who acted as interpreter for the group and Pastor Mode.

"Everyone was talking in their own language and having their morning joke," Pam recalled, "and in the middle of this chaos it got quiet. When people heard that we were holding services in a language they could understand, they knew they were important to us. That's why we were doing this."

In the end, many came away with a real sense of connection.

"I now have some really good friends in Guatemala," Rich said. "It's really kind of a strange feeling."

If all goes as planned, the Garmans will return to Antigua next spring. They will lay the groundwork for more builds by Fox Valley volunteers and do a three-month tour of duty running the volunteers' hostel operated as part of the From Houses to Homes program.

For Pam, it's a small contribution to a very big cause.

"Peace in the world is going to happen one person at a time," she said.

The Baker family of Mount Tabor is preparing to go on vacation, packing up the sun block and the other usual things, along with young Sam's 100 soccer balls. His mom Judy figures they'll be easier to get on the plane than the 100 kites Sam took last year.

"We'll deflate them first," says Judy.

Her husband Bob, Sam's dad, groans. He knows it will be his job to inflate the balls when they arrive in Antigua, Guatemala, and the Baker family begins its vacation dedicated, not to lolling on a beach, but to helping some of the poorest of the world's poor.

Sam was born in Guatemala 12 years ago and adopted by Bob and Judy a few months later, but that doesn't have much to do with the young man's devotion to service. He speaks neither Spanish nor Mayan, and his memories of the Central American country come from his vacation last year, not his birth.

"I really can't tell you why but I came up with this idea of kites last year and, it turned out, it was a good idea," says Sam.

It's a tradition in Guatemala on All Saints' Day, Nov. 1 -- Dia de Los Muertos -- to send kites soaring to meet the souls of ancestors who return to their families.

"I didn't know about that when I first thought of it," the sixth-grader says. "I just thought the kids might like kites."

His idea was affirmed by Joe Collins of Morristown, a family friend and founder of From Houses to Homes, a charity that builds homes for the homeless in Guatemala. That's what the Bakers did for a week on vacation last year and what they'll do again this year, but for two weeks.

Collins told Sam that poor kids in Guatemala who can't afford their own kites -- or materials to make them -- scavenge for sticks and discarded plastic bags to fashion their celestial messengers.

Ancestors undoubtedly still appreciate them despite the flimsy material but, Sam reports, the children were "really excited" about the real deal last year.

So was the Russell Berrie Foundation that gave one of its annual service awards to Sam, along with a check for $2,500, for raising the money for, and collecting kites from, friends and neighbors.

Ramapo College administers the awards; the Bakers were surprised to find out Sam won. Judy says, "One day, we got this letter from Ramapo addressed to Sam. I said, 'Sam, did you apply to college without telling us?'"

Sam also spoke at Masses to raise money for From Houses to Homes. On one Sunday, he collected $7,000, Judy says, enough for six of the structures the charity builds. He also gave some of his award money to Collins' project.

"We think it's a good idea to give back, to provide services for others" says Judy, a visiting nurse. "We want our kids to do it, too."

Bob and Judy have another child, Marissa, 5, also adopted from Guatemala. She'll be helping this year, too.

Their older child wanted to continue his own service project this year, so he came up with the idea of soccer balls. Soccer is a passion among Guatemalan kids, but, if they can't afford kites, they certainly can't afford soccer balls.

Sam is raising money again, buying the balls and getting friends and neighbors to donate them. His backyard is filling up with them in much the same way his porch filled with kites last year.

"We go out in the morning and find stuff on the porch," says Bob, a steam-fitter.

Some might think it's an unusual vacation; they spend most of the time working -- doing physically taxing work, like carrying buckets of cement up hills to building sites. But Bob says their trip last year was the best family vacation they ever had."

"God's work is always easy," says Judy. "And it's fun."

Sam Baker, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Parsippany, collected kites for Guatemalan children who couldn't otherwise afford to participate in an important annual kite festival in that country.

He delivered the kites when he accompanied his family on a trip there to help build homes. Afterward, he spoke to parishioners at Assumption Church in Morristown, helping to raise thousands of dollars and inspiring other volunteers to join the effort.

Sam's work was recognized. On Wednesday, he became the youngest recipient of a 2008 Russ Berrie Award for Making Difference, an annual award administered by Ramapo College of New Jersey. The award comes with a $2,500 cash prize.

In all, 19 finalists were selected by a committee of business leaders and professionals from across the state. Established in 1997 by the late Russell Berrie, the award honors state residents who show unselfish dedication to serving others.

Morristown resident Joe Collins, founder of From Houses to Homes, an organization that builds houses for families in Guatemala, nominated Sam for the award, said Sam's mom, Judy Baker.

Sam's family went to Guatemala for a week with From Houses to Homes last summer. It was the first time that Sam, who was adopted from Guatemala when he was an infant, returned to the Latin American country.

Prior to the trip, Sam heard that some children couldn't afford kites to fly on the Day of the Dead, which is an important tradition there, and used plastic bags on sticks instead. Feeling that was unfair, he sent his classmates, neighbors and friends letters asking them to donate kites and string so he and his family could bring them to Guatemala.

"Everybody just lined up when I opened the bag and they saw them (the kites)," Sam said. "Right away, they opened them and started to fly them."

"It brought so much emotion to you," he said. "These people that we built houses for, they were so kind. They bought us a cake. The money they would use for a cake is what they would make in a month. ... It was fun, there were a lot of sights to see, the food was great, but just seeing the emotions was really the best part."

Now, the Brooklawn Middle School student has created a letter asking for soccer balls for a school that is being built by From Houses to Homes. The Bakers plan to return to Guatemala for two weeks this summer.

Sam's mom said some of the prize money will go to From Houses to Homes, part will be saved for college, and she promised he could use a small portion for fun.

"We're very proud of him that he has a social consciousness at such a young age," Judy Baker said.

Jake Remaly can be reached at (973) 428-6621 or jremaly1@gannett.com.

Alex and Jaime Lake, adopted as infants by an Algoma couple, get down and dirty to build homes for the needy in their native Guatemala

Linda Schraeder, Jaime Lake, Alex Lake and Robert Lake climb Fuego Volcano, in Guatemala, in March.

Alex and Jaime Lake, adopted as infants by an Algoma couple, get down and dirty to build homes for the needy in their native Guatemala

Set in the heart of the rough and rugged Cambrian Shield, Algoma's natural beauty is inherently connected to the layers of the region's ancient origins.

Guatemala is mountainous, as well.

But that's where the similarities virtually end. The small Central American country is only about twice the size of Algoma, but boasts a population of about 14 million.

Neither location is foreign to Alex and Jaime Lake .

The pair - not blood brothers - was born in Guatemala and both "came home" to Sault St. Marie and their "adoptive family" in 1993 and 1997 respectively.

The land there is "very precious," says their mom and dad, Robert Lake and Linda Schraeder.

"The Mayans are the county's indigenous people," Linda said in a recent interview at the Lake's home. "While they are the majority, they are not the ruling majority."

In 1996, the government in Guatemala signed a peace agreement that ended 36 years of civil war, a conflict that killed 100,000 and left a million more as refugees. Much of the productive land remains in the hands of offshore investors.

As a result, the destitute live in dire conditions.

Linda and the boys went on a house-build mission in Guatemala in 2007, which this set the stage for another adventure this year, in which Robert went along.

Returning once again to the land of their birth, Jaime, 14, and Alex, 15, experienced firsthand what it feels like to help someone much less fortunate.

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Many Guatemalans live in cornstalk houses with dirt floors. "They don't have keys because the doors don't have any locks," Robert said.

The family became involved in the projects after a friend told them about Oneness Through Mission, a spiritual organization founded by Richard and Susan Schmaltz in association with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Pembroke, Ont.

Their mandate facilitates volunteer co-operation through service and support of the world's poor.

Susan and Richard have been very involved in Guatemala since 1993 and "have actually lived in Central America, leading volunteer teams in building one room homes for the poor and setting up schools."

In January 2006, Oneness partnered informally with From Houses to Homes, an organization, founded by Joe Collins of Morristown, N.J. Volunteers build houses for the poorest of the poor.

Robert and Linda agree that these projects have left them with a profound sense of satisfaction, while allowing them to appreciate the opportunities Canadians have.

Volunteers are always needed, "but going on a build is like taking a working vacation," Robert said.

Lakeshore Kiwanis donated suitcases filled with toiletries, antibiotics, calculators and pencils, which the Lake family took along.

"Once in Guatemala, we stayed in the community house with volunteers from all over the world," Linda said.

"And it only cost us $110 per week per person."

That's reasonable for food and lodgings, she said, adding much-needed help is given to those who are "so poor it's almost unimaginable."

There is a process through which candidates are chosen, while assessments short-list the most destitute.

"In true 'Guate' style, the neighbours point to the neediest among them to be chosen to have a house built for them," Linda said.

Each home is a 13- by 19-foot structure, set on a concrete foundation. It is one room constructed of cement blocks with a tin roof, cement floor, a door and window.

"And a key," Robert said. "They can finally protect themselves and their children."

Individual families are large, but they live together and make it their own, Roberts said, adding it's a far cry from the squalor of the cornstalk houses to which they were once confined.

The need is tremendous in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

"There is no middle class," said Robert. Poverty is rampant, millions are uneducated and terribly disadvantaged.

Robert pointed to one young villager, who worked on this year's build in Alotenango.

An education for this individual was simply out the question.

"It costs $40 annually for elementary and $70 for high school." Robert said. "And when there's six or seven in a family, it's unaffordable."

A tradesperson there takes home $10 a day, paltry compared to earnings in Canada. The poor can't get out of the vicious cycle and the desperation is handed down from one generation to the next.

Alex and Jaime Lake have seen the inhumane conditions so many endure.

"I was born in a Third World country, but live in a First World country now," Jaime said.

The family didn't wish to comment on the status of Alex's and Jaime's relations in Guatemala. "I want to go back when I'm a dad and show my children where they came from."

Alex agrees.

After this year's build, Alex, a Grade 9 student at St. Mary's College and Jaime, in Grade 8 at St. Hubert school, have a wealth of world experience under their belts.

The pair describes their adventure as essentially one good deed leading to another.

What began as Jaime's Lenten project at St. Hubert in 2007 blossomed into a new beginning for a Guatemalan family the following year.

He challenged his school mates to raise the $2,000 required to build a house in the Central American country. The school community came together and the effort was successful.

On March 28, 2007, Jaime presented a cheque for the full amount to Sister Mary Sammon, Sisters of St. Joseph. Principal Gail Bioccho-Rebek and vice-principal Domenic Rosso looked on.

The boys and their family were once again committed to a project set to begin in March 2008. This new dwelling was dedicated to the St. Hubert school family.

A dedication sign adorns the house.

Jaime presented a slide show to students and teachers, who each received a colourful, handcrafted bracelet from Guatemala as a token of appreciation.

Back home in Sault Ste. Marie, the boys and their family have busy lives.

Alex is in his fourth year with the 2310 Army Cadet Corps and has attained the rank of bombardier. He plays bagpipes with the pipe and drum band and is a member of the cadet biathlon team.

He will leave for six weeks this summer to attend a cadet course. "I like to get away," Alex said.

Jaime came through the Newman Navy League and is now in his first year with sea cadets.

"Brotherly love keeps us in different divisions," Jaime said with a laugh.

He'll attend a three-week gunnery course in Kingston, Ont., this summer.

Alex is the athlete. This winter, he participated in the cadet competitions, held locally, and accompanied the 2310's relay team to the National Biathlon Cadet Championships in Val Cartier, Que.

All agree taking your family vacation to build a house in a foreign land is rewarding, but difficult.

Robert said this year's build was difficult because the materials had to be moved up mountainous terrain.

"Concrete blocks and cement are heavy," he said. "But this year we had a mixer at our disposal."

"The temperatures were a moderate 75 to 80s (Fahrenheit) with "no humidity," says Linda.

A build takes a week of eight-hour days. Each day has a goal that needs to be reached and, once painting is done, the new inhabitants get their key and move in.

"We visited the family of last year's build, and they are doing very well," Linda said.

"They recognized me right away. They cultivate tomato gardens and coffee plants and set up stands and sell the produce. This, in turn, provides the family with income."

While no one pays for their new house, it is expected that they show appreciation by doing good for others.

Visits to Guatemala offer adventure.

Fuego Volcano remains active and erupted last August.

"We visited the site and hiked 7,000 feet up the mountain.' said Jaime, whose leg hair burned while maneuvering around the molten lava. "It was like the Lord of the Rings."

Robert, a maintenance employee at the Ontario Finnish Rest Home, is inspired by a co-worker.

Supervisor Anja Rissanen held a bake sale to raise money for another house build. She was cleaned out in half an hour, but raised almost enough money for another house.

The family is uncertain whether it will participate in a third build, but funds are secure with the Sisters of St. Joseph.

"You can't believe the feeling you get from helping others," Robert said. "The high is even more exhilarating than a visit to Disneyland."

The Montgomery News
Serving Montgomery Township and Rocky Hill, NJ
February 27, 2008

Beyond the Everyday Montgomery Experience
By Alexandra Mart

This past January I volunteered in Antigua, Guatemala with my brother, Jeffrey Mart, and my mother, Barbara Kelly, to build a house for a family with the nonprofit organization From Houses to Homes. We built the cinder-block house with a team of two Guatemalan workers and a few other volunteers in only one week, leveling and laying a foundation, mixing cement, mortaring, and painting.
The work was arduous but extremely rewarding. The family of four that we built for were very gracious. They had been living in a tiny cornstalk house, sharing one bed and one dresser, and using scraps of tarps to keep the rain out the best they could. We sponsored and then helped construct a 12-by19 foot concrete home with a tin roof, complete with a sunroof, a window and a locking door. It doesn't sound very impressive, but cement houses are the dwellings of choice and offer much better protection from the elements and thieves than a cornstalk shack.
The experience was a very humbling one for me. It really allowed me to appreciate all of the opportunities I had growing up in a place like Montgomery and to not take those privileges for granted.
One day we brought a few bottles of bubbles for the children in the village to play with while we worked and they were unbelievably exuberant! They leapt around squealing and swinging their arms, overjoyed with something seemingly so simple.
It is so easy to contribute to causes like this. You can find more information about this organization or donate online at www.FromHousesToHomes.org. It only takes $1,500 to build one new home, $200 to build a bunk bed with a mattress, pillow, sheets and blanket, and $40 or $80 to pay for tuition and school supplies for a child to attend school for one year.
It is so simple and inexpensive to help. Volunteering with From Houses to Homes was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I urge everyone to try to keep in mind our position of privilege and the enormous power we have to help people who are less fortunate.

Family to build home for Guatemalans

Posted By By Corina Milic

February 2, 2008

THE SAULT STAR, Ontario, Canada

Building a house by hand is hard work, but that is what a local 14-year-old is getting his school to help him do.

When Jaime Lake and his family returned from a volunteer trip to Guatemala last February, he challenged St. Hubert Elementary School to raise $2,000 – the cost of building one brick house in the developing Central American country.

"They raised (the money) in three weeks," said an impressed Jaime.

The Grade 8 student and his family will return to Guatemala at the end of March to help build the house St. Hubert funded. A plaque to the Sault school will be attached to the home once it's finished.

Jaime's brother Alex and mother Linda Schraeder helped construct another home on the first trip, for a family in the village of Altotenago.

"First, you'd start digging a trench so you could put bricks in, put them down, cement over them and put more on," said Alex, also 14.

The boys said they spent a lot of time hauling sand to make the cement – by hand.

"Even when a volunteer suggested we raise money for a hand cement mixer, the lead hand just looked at him and said, 'That's not the Guatemalan way,'" said Linda.

The cement layer evened out the floor of the new home with just his eye and a piece of string, she said.

The family they built the house for also pitched in.

"It was very much a combined effort between us going there to build the house and the people going to live in the house."

This time around, dad Robert Lake will tag along. The first time he visited Guatemala, it was to adopt his son, Alex.

"This time it's just sort of a family thing to do, see how these guys lay bricks," said Robert, looking at his boys.

Both Alex and Jaime were born in Guatemala and adopted by Robert and Linda when very young.

"I wanted to go back . . . with the boys, but not to hotels and restaurants. That's not Guatemala," said Linda.

A volunteer trip provided an ideal alternative.

"It didn't take me long to make up my mind," said Jaime. "Cause we were born there, it's good to go back and see what our culture really is."

Both trips are organized by Oneness Through Mission, a religious charity with a Community House for volunteers to stay in while overseas, and From Houses to Homes, a nonprofit organization that provides most of the materials, tools and workers for more than one hundred housing projects to date.

The homes are about 5 metres by 6 metres, with block walls, cement floors and tin roofs. A frosted piece of fibreglass makes a skylight, while a single window and door let in the rest of the light.

This year, Linda said, they want to raise enough money to build bunk beds and provide a stove for the new house. She raised extra funds at her workplace, The Canadian Hearing Society, by hosting a staff winter Olympics competition. Everyone represented a different country and paid a registration fee to enter.

The family is also slowly packing suitcases with toothbrushes, toothpaste, school supplies, basic first aid products and nonperishable snacks.

"You can check two (23 kilogram) bags. Each of us will take one of clothes and one of supplies. We'll probably leave the clothes in Guatemala too," said Robert.

To make a donation, contact Linda Schraeder at 759-6146.

For more information on the housing project go to www.oneness.ca or www.fromhousestohomes.org

Shameful luxury
I am an unabashed capitalist, believing that this system affords the most opportunities for people to achieve the most out of life. However, the idea of carrying a $4,000 purse ("Luxury for sale," Dec. 2) is obscene to me. In the Dec. 3 story "His houses rebuild lives in Guatemala," we learn that Joe Collins can build a house for $1,500. How much more ethical it would seem to carry a purse for, say, $200, with the balance going to relieve much of the misery in this world. I'm sure I'm like many others in thinking that it would be nice to be wealthy, but consider the good that money could do to uplift the less fortunate in society.
- Felicia Castricone, Livingston

Matt Manochio
Morristown man aids Guatemala's poor
December 3, 2007

Joe Collins has been on a mission to help Guatemalans ever since he first visited the impoverished country in 1999: to build homes for the nation's poor.
He and volunteers from his charity -- From Houses to Homes -- Guatemala -- had built 103 of them as of Tuesday.
"There is a goal," the Morristown resident said.
"There's 1.6 million shacks in Guatemala," he said. "We've reduced that number by 103. So we've got a lot of work to do."
Collins established his non-profit charity in 2004 and began building in early 2005.
To date, he's had 236 volunteers from 18 countries help him in his mission.
He said they built 24 homes in 2005, another 24 in 2006, and just completed building 57 homes last week.
Collins returned from the Central American nation on Nov. 17 and will go back on Dec. 30, staying until April, for another round of construction.
"I spent almost seven months there this year," he said. "We completed our 100th home on the 16th of November."
The money he raises goes toward building materials and salaries for seven Guatemalan builders.
"I beg," he said, with a chuckle, about his fundraising methods. "I talk it up as much as I can. And the greatest help are the people who have come down to build houses."
Jim Tierney of Morristown is one of those volunteers who also has been affiliated with Habitat for Humanity for 10 years. He said the people in Guatemala wouldn't even qualify for a Habitat house.
"They are the poorest of the poor," he said, adding that he'll be going back to Guatemala in March. "They don't have anything."
Tierney said the sense of accomplishment in helping is overwhelming.
"It's really quite a process," he said. "You go there on Monday with nothing and you go home Friday afternoon with the accomplishment of a warm, dry place to sleep."
Collins said much of the construction is done about 30 miles outside of Antigua. What passes as a house there are shacks literally made of cornstalks and dirt floors.
His group dismantles the shacks and then builds 12-foot-by-19-foot cinderblock homes with a cement floor, a corrugated metal roof with a skylight, a metal door with a lock and a glass window.
"The average family is 6 1/2 people," Collins said. "They do fit into that. It's no bigger than a garage up here, but we build bunks for the kids and it's more of a sturdy structure to shelter them from the rain and cold, compared to the cornstalk shacks."
Want to help?
For more information about From Houses to Homes -- Guatemala, see links from this story at www.dailyrecord.com.

His Houses rebuild lives in Guatemala
Bob Braun
The Star Ledger
December 3, 2007

Joe Collins celebrated with a soft drink. His 67th birthday. The construction of his 103rd house for the poorest of the poor in the Guatemalan highlands.

And the continuing re-construction of his own life.

"I don't know what led me to this," says Collins. "I guess God did. I don't know, it's just ..."

His voice trails off because this twice-divorced 6-foot-2 former Marine and saloon owner and recovering alcoholic and cancer survivor is not the sort comfortable with invoking divine intervention in his own life. Collins would think it presumptuous.

But, after a round of Christmas fundraising, Collins is headed back down to the hot rain forests of the Central American country where, he estimates, some 1.6 million Mayan indigenous people live in shacks made of cornstalks or worse.

"We've built only 103 houses in three years. We've got a long way to go."
He runs an organization called From Houses to Homes in Guatemala, an offshoot of another group he joined six years ago just as a volunteer to help build small homes for people who, he says, make a dollar or two a day working in fields.

"They have nothing," he says. "The poverty down there is not like the poverty around here."

The building of houses for poor people in Guatemala might not appear to fit into this guy's life. Before he began the work, Collins was -- as he still is -- a private detective. A specialized one. He is an adoption detective who finds children given up for adoption and parents who gave them up.

He's good at it and has become a champion of the right of adoptees to learn more about their past, testifying before the Legislature, and representing a variety of groups pressing for open adoption laws. He's lost count of the number of adoptions he's investigated, but it's in the thousands.

"It's how I pay the bills," says Collins. "I can do that kind of work anywhere I can bring a laptop."

His interest in Guatemala began when he visited his son Darron there in 1999. Darron Collins, Joe's only child, was doing anthropological research for a Ph.D. from Tulane.

"Just a visit. He was down there for two years, and I wanted to see him."

What he saw appalled him. People sleeping in the streets. Or in shacks with no water. When he returned to the states, to his apartment in Morristown, the town where he grew up, the images wouldn't let go.

"Then one night I was just sitting in front of the computer and typed 'volunteering in Guatemala.'" He found an organization that built houses there and joined it, spending parts of three summers helping to build houses. When the group shifted its emphasis to Africa, Collins figured he could continue.

At $1,500 a house, he built 24 in 2005 and another 24 in 2006 and, now, this year, 55. He raises money, recruits volunteers, even opened an office in Antigua. His construction of 12-by-19-foot concrete and stucco houses -- along with his donation of school and health care fees to the poor -- attracted the attention of the nation's first lady, Wendy Widmann de Berger, a social reformer who visited Collins' operation.

He returns home to tend to his adoption work and raise money -- speaking at churches and other places, urging people to do the math. A few bucks from everybody here wouldn't be missed but could provide a house to everyone who needs a roof.

Collins is not a political guy -- and he's proud of the four years he spent as a Marine -- but he'll mention in passing that we probably owe something to the people in Guatemala, a country where the CIA engineered a coup that led to decades of civil strife.

"Why shouldn't we be helping these people? They are Americans, after all. Central Americans."

After his stint in the Marines, he opened a bar in Morristown with his brother. He says the business was successful but turned him into a drunk and that ruined his marriage. He's been sober since 1988. He still looks big and strong, although in the last year he's suffered a heart attack and just got through colon cancer.

"I'm doing all right," Collins says.

While home, he's writing out nearly a thousand Christmas cards, all with a pitch for money for his organization. Then he'll go back to Guatemala Dec. 30. New Year's Eve doesn't hold much of an attraction for him up here any more.

"I'm usually asleep by 10 p.m."

Bob Braun's columns appear Monday and Thursday. He may be reached at rbraun@starledger.com or (973) 392-4281. For more information about Collins' organization, click on www.fromhousestohomes.org.

Please Help Carol & Joe Barbieri Build a Home for a Poor Family in Guatemala
Atlantic Highlands Herald
Thursday, November 8, 2007

Donate!

In The Press

Posted By By Corina Milic

February 2, 2008