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The Story Behind the SAFE Center
 Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with a very interesting Honors Program graduate and chat about a project he and a fellow Honors classmate began some years ago, a project affectionately known to Honors students as the S.A.F.E. Center.
An Honors graduate of 2003, Anthony Calleo entered the program and the university in Fall 1998. A couple of years later, in the summer of 2000, Anthony decided to turn into reality an idea that had been brewing in his head for a while. He elicited the help of fellow Honors classmate, Mark Valdez, in launching a non-profit organization to provide assistance to kids from abusive backgrounds.
 So, the two set about working to create what is now known as the S.A.F.E. (Stop Abuse Forever) Center, assembling a core team consisting of the two of them, Jackie Duron, and Delena Villareal. For the first six months or so, the center was a dream waiting to come to fruition. It occupied a small drawer in a file cabinet in Mark’s apartment as the team of four waded through the paperwork and did the legwork necessary to start their organization. Jackie worked on recruiting volunteers, Delena handled finances, and Anthony and Mark focused on programming and institutional advancement.
When an oil and gas company donated $10,000 to the organization, the center moved out of Mark’s apartment cabinet and into a building on Cochran. Students from UST were recruited to head up five main programs at the center – Academic, Athletic, Needs-assistance, Creative Writing & Arts, and Homework Assistance. Volunteers from Rice, UH, HBU, St. Thomas High School, Episcopal High School, and Lamar High School, to name a few, all lent a hand in the center’s activities.
 In April 2001, the center first opened its doors, but no one came! It was a new organization, and it needed to build its track record. So, Anthony and Mark brought the programs directly to the kids. They began working with students in a school located directly across the street from the center’s location. They provided in-class tutoring assistance, among other services. Pretty soon, six other schools – Marshall, Davis, Kettleson, Ryan, Clemente, and Sam Houston – struck up a relationship with the center, asking for their assistance.
 For a while, the center was open 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, for about 5 hours each day. An estimate of about 1200 to 1500 kids passed through the center in a year. The center would have activities for events like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc., and every year, the center would also put together the Haunted House Carnival for Halloween. It was a booming success, drawing anywhere from 600 to 1000 visitors to the event each year.
As programs continued at the center and at its outposts, Anthony would also travel to schools and institutions around Houston, speaking about and raising awareness of abuse. However, Anthony and Mark soon noticed that the programs ran out of the center’s satellite locations (namely the participating schools) were reaching more youth than those at the center, despite the spaciousness of the center. So, they closed the center doors and moved into a small office, focusing their resources on running the satellite programs at the schools.
 After an impressive run of 5 ½ years, the S.A.F.E. Center recently closed its doors permanently, but not before having the chance to reach out to countless youth in the area. Anthony hopes that the center has made a difference in the lives of these kids but is realistic enough to realize it may not have. Here’s to hoping he and the other members of the center will someday see more clearly the fruits of their labor. |
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