Why we give back

It’s 6:45 a.m. and Orlando “Orly” is honking outside the window. Eduardo “Tito” is late, yet again. Grabbing his tie and a glass of milk as he walks out the door, Tito hops in his cousin’s car and waves goodbye. It’s Friday, so the two will stop at Chantilly on the way to Belen, a breakfast stop that has become a ritual they look forward to every week.

It is a privilege for Tito to have his older cousin there to guide him in his middle school years— to give him the in’s and out’s, to tell him what to leave in his locker, to nudge him in the hallways and zip up his backpack.

In our family, Belen takes the form of a cross-generational tradition. Our father, Eduardo Garcia ’54 (classmate of Father Cartaya), attended Belen in Cuba, as did his brother Felipe. In the days before prep courses, group materials, and group chats, we remember taking our own entrance exams for Belen in Little Havana early on a Saturday morning. Our father told us the school we would be attending was the offspring of the best school in Cuba, but we could not have fully known what that meant until ‘87 and ‘88, when we would graduate one year from the other. It is daunting to think that Orly will graduate just next year and Tito with the class of 2023.

Tombola, band concerts, baseball and soccer games, father-son days, pin ceremonies and parent representative meetings are experiences all too familiar to our family. Three generations of Belen graduates and students have rendered both the school institution and the Jesuit practice itself a very important entity, even for the Garcia women. Marrying into a Wolverine family, our wives appreciate what the school has done for the community and for the men in their lives. Immune to years of listening to the same stories told by their husbands and Belen classmates, they volunteer at functions and engage with the school community because again, it is more than tradition—the school has shaped our family academically and spiritually for over 70 years.

In recent years, we have been grateful for Fr. Willie’s return to Belen and his vision, one that is so inspirational to the alumni and students. Such is found in his monthly newsletter full of wit and insight that we always look forward to opening in our inboxes. Shining a bright smile at 7am, Fr. Willie has the ability to make both students’ and parents’ mornings at the drop-off line. It is this optimism that will lead Belen in continuing to shape young men and help our community for many years and generations to come.

Amongst the various values instilled is importance of giving back, by parents and students alike, as well as by alumni. Orly will be traveling to the Dominican Republic in July to help build a bridge in San Felipe Abajo as part of Belen Youth Missions. This trip has become something that the students not only look forward to year after year, but a time when the boys become united under a common front as they roll up their sleeves, slip on their oversized rain boots, and march to the job site with their retreat cross necklaces tucked into their shirts. This service trip serves as a testament to the various service opportunities not only offered by the school, but those who are just part of the Belen culture. Over the years, our family has participated in events like the Magis gift collection and distribution, helping paint “el” Gesu and working various shifts at Tombola. All acts that bring our family and classmates together to help the community.

When something comes up and we need somebody to pick up Tito from Belen in the afternoon, our mom often offers to pick him up. She does not offer, she asks—for her, it’s a treat. Not only so she can shower him with snacks and spend some time with him driving down “la ocho,” but also so she can sit in that pickup line, like she did for her older grandson, Orly. Like she did with us.

We give back so that others can reap the benefits of this amazing environment, so that others can learn from the educators and mentors that have been at the school for many decades forming young men—young men who leave Belen not only as brothers but well prepared to contribute to our community as lawyers, doctors, volunteers, politicians, and spiritual leaders. We give back not only to help ensure that future generations of students continue to receive a Belen Jesuit education, but to help the spirit live on, a spirit so transformative and unique. It is the least we can do for a place that has influenced this family so profoundly.