[1] Safe Passage was founded in 1999 by the late Hanley Denning, a teacher from Maine who traveled to Guatemala to learn Spanish.
After seeing this, Hanley called home and asked her parents to sell her car, computer, and other belongings so that she could start a program to help the people of the dump.
Denning was killed on January 18, 2007, aged 36, when a bus with no brakes collided head-on with the car she was riding in.
The families of Safe Passage children scavenge through the Guatemala City Dump for items to resell.
The public schools are technically free, but students must provide their own books, supplies, and uniforms, at a cost that is prohibitive for these poor people.
[citation needed] Safe Passage relies on child sponsorships to keep the program running, and many fundraisers have been held across the country.
Events include bottle and coin drives, school dances, badminton tournaments, bake sales, and presentations.
Born in Yarmouth, Maine, Denning graduated from Cumberland Center's Greely High School in 1988 and began attending Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
Denning sold her car and laptop and used the money to open Safe Passage in a nearby church.
On January 18, 2007, aged 36, Denning was killed in a car accident when the vehicle in which she was riding outside Guatemala City was hit head-on by a bus with no brakes.
[9] The Academy-Award nominated short documentary Recycled Life by Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad focuses on the lives of those who work in the Guatemala City garbage dump.