By Lisa M. Belisle, MD, MPH
Originally published September 4, 2007, Portland Press Herald

It began with a birthday party. The evening was cloaked in winter cold, and the guests had yet to arrive. Just home from basketball practice, my thirteen-year-old called out from the kitchen: “Hey Mom! You know the person who founded Safe Passage? The one you went to Bowdoin with? They told us in school—she was killed in a car accident yesterday.”

It seemed I must not have heard him correctly. How could Hanley be gone? She was only 36: my age as of that January day. Unfortunately, Campbell was right. Hanley Denning, the woman known as “El Angel del Basurero," or "The Angel of the Garbage Dump,” was dead. Her family and friends were gathering to mourn even as mine were gathering to celebrate.

I thought about Hanley as I greeted my birthday guests. A Maine native, Hanley had founded Safe Passage in 1999 to educate the children whose families lived at the Guatemala City Dump. I had always meant to email my college classmate and find out how I might support her efforts. Caught up in the demands of parenthood and medical training, I had not done so.

Though I could no longer contact Hanley, I considered what she might have told me. Based on what I knew of her work with Safe Passage, it seemed she might have shared the words of (our fellow Bowdoin College graduate) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Give what you have. To someone else it may be better than you dare to think.” The question was: what did I have to give?

The answer came from Debra, one of my birthday party-going friends. She suggested we create a book. Called Our Daily Tread, the book would consist of a year’s worth of quotes to contemplate while running, walking and going about the process of living. In addition to raising money for Safe Passage, it would serve to honor Hanley, an elite runner and athlete.

As a fellow runner, writer, and lifelong quote collector, I felt that Our Daily Tread appeared to be an ideal way for me to contribute to Safe Passage. Except… I still had a medical practice, three children and a husband. The minutes of each day seemed spirited away, always just beyond my grasp. A month into it, the project had stalled. Then help arrived.

Help arrived in the form of Jane, Marina, and Paul. These were people who were dedicated to Safe Passage: people who knew and loved Hanley. More importantly, these were individuals who could get things done. Soon, we were receiving quotes, pictures, artwork and essays from around the world.

We were also receiving assistance from Liz, Bonnie, Jon, Kristen, Becky, Doug, Antonia, Kate, Margaret, Christina, Rob, Mardi, Rachel, Mike, Jordan, Tim, Joe, members of the Wheelock College administration (Hanley did her graduate work there) and countless others I have not the space to name. Each has contributed according to his or her time, skills and connections, as if recognizing Mother Theresa’s admonition, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Whenever something was lacking, someone volunteered to fill the void—from quote gathering to graphic design. It was as if an angel were watching over the process, willing us to succeed.

Seven months later, my Safe Passage-benefiting birthday project shows signs that it will indeed be a success. The book content is almost finished and a publisher has come forward to lend his expertise. People continue to give what they have, doing their “small things with great love.” We’re not quite done: we still need to print, market, distribute and sell Our Daily Tread. But I’m certain that we will have assistance with our remaining tasks. After all, when we asked for support before, it was there—just as it had been for the children of the Guatemalan dump.

It came in the form of an angel.