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These days, says Oscar Rodriguez, a former "Garage kid" who lives in La Habra, "there are no more drive-bys, no graffiti, and no gangs in the old neighborhood." A college grad, Rodriguez manages a restaurant and wants to go to law school. He credits Rosie's Garage with his strong start: "Rosie kept me off the streets."
Espinoza, 57, now devotes herself full-time to the program, which moved to a former gang house in a nearby neighborhood. She estimates she's worked with more than 1,000 kids over the past 18 years. She recently added parenting classes, started an annual five-kilometer run to fund scholarships, and plans to open another Garage.
Recognizing that Espinoza gets things done, neighbors urged her to run for a seat on the city council. It took four attempts, but she was finally elected, the first Latina to serve on the council. It wasn't long before she was named mayor of La Habra (it's a rotating position).
"Education is what works," says Espinoza. "I tell the kids, 'Listen, I did it in my own life. I was raised on a migrant farm right here in La Habra. Did I like that people knew I didn't win the election three times? No. But people knew one thing—I was going to keep going. That is what you guys have to do. Keep believing in yourself. Eventually, you will make it. Just don't forget to turn around and give a helping hand to the next person.' "
Cleanup Kid
The old log pavilion was an eyesore, with boarded-up windows, a trash-strewn kitchen, and cobwebs in every dusty corner. But to Nick Skerven, it was perfect. I can do this, the 14-year-old Boy Scout thought, staring at the abandoned park building and imagining a gleaming new interior.
Within six months, the Waukesha, Wisconsin, eighth grader had raised more than $9,000 in donations, mobilized 80 volunteers, and transformed the park pavilion in Milwaukee into a busy facility for the disabled and the greater community. Today, the Holler Park Pavilion hosts picnics and summer camps, a fishing jamboree, Halloween parties, and an Easter Seals talent show.
Built in the 1930s, the 2,000-square-foot building had been shuttered for years because the county didn't have the money to renovate it. Nick wrote 70 grant requests and called on dozens of businesses and individuals. Building-supply retailers offered kitchen cabinets, countertops, and lumber at deep discounts or free. One company sold Nick flooring at half price. A plumber and an electrician donated their services.
Nick, who had helped his parents remodel their home, organized volunteers to wire-brush soot from the stone fireplace, scrub 75 years of grime off the wood floors, and pry hundreds of staples from the pine walls. They removed paint from the windows and scrubbed them until they sparkled. Then the crew created a handicapped-accessible kitchen.
Nick, now 16, managed every aspect of the renovation and completed it in six months, ahead of schedule and under budget, for his Eagle Scout project. (It typically takes about 150 hours of planning and execution; Nick's project took nearly 750 hours.) "My scoutmaster told me, 'When you pick your project, do something that's going to last,'" he says.
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