More than a year and a half after the tragic death of Maine resident and Bowdoin College graduate Hanley Denning, her legacy grows. More than 500 young children living on the edge of the Guatemala City dump are supported by Safe Passage, the educational program Hanley founded in 1999. This August 20 and 21, Maine and New York lacrosse players and coaches will be returning to Safe Passage to launch the first Guatemala Lacrosse Festival for children at Safe Passage and in four other Guatemalan communities.
 
Cumberland lacrosse player and coach Bob Stuart first went down to Safe Passage in the summer of 2005 with his son, Ben, and other Maine lacrosse players, including Yarmouth lacrosse player Jake Gallagher. In August, Bob will return with his two sons, plus Jake Gallagher and Cam Woodworth and their Yarmouth assistant coach, David Pearl, and Cony women's coach, Gretchen Livingston, and Morse women's coach, Linda Levesque. This Maine group will be joined by another group of lacrosse players from Millbrook School in New York to host the lacrosse festival for over 130 children in Guatemala.
 
"The whole program is much more about building opportunities for these kids than it is about developing lacrosse skills. Even though these kids are all hoping to be Guatemalan national lacrosse stars (these are the only lacrosse teams in Guatemala today), we hope we can help them add opportunities and confidence and a smile to their lives," said Stuart.
 
"Helping others has been great for me and my sons, as it has been for many people around the world. It is my hope that these children with so little can gain as much as I have by sharing their lacrosse skills with other children throughout Guatemala. This is the first time we have brought all these teams together to celebrate lacrosse. Maine has been a huge part of making all this happen. Hanley will be smiling."
 
Participants will be coming from Guatemala City, Escuintla, Quetzaltenango, and Livingston – the only lacrosse teams within a thousand miles. Over the past three years these players have been supported by Bowdoin College alumni lacrosse players, by many Maine high school players and coaches, by the US Lacrosse Association, by Atlantic Sportswear of Portland, and by some leading lacrosse enthusiasts throughout the state and nationwide.
 
The group recently learned that CNN hopes to cover the Lacrosse Festival on CNN Espanol.
 
Anyone interested in supporting the Festival and the year-round lacrosse program can contact Bob Stuart at bstuart@mainecollegecircle.org. The group is looking for player sponsors and is seeking donations of more used lacrosse equipment for the Festival.