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Wednesday, November 19, 2003

One person can make a difference. Hanley Denning has stepped forward to prove that adage, and now students from her old high school are doing the same.

Denning, 33, is a graduate of Greely High School. She runs an organization called Safe Passage. Its mission is clear, its impact is great. Safe Passage provides assistance to children so poor that they have survived by scavenging in the Guatemala City dump. Rather than spending their day rooting through garbage, the kids who get assistance from Safe Passage are able to attend school and break out of the cycle of poverty.

Denning's is an inspiring story, but so too is the story of Jason Moyer-Lee and his classmates at Greely.

Moyer-Lee, a senior, along with sophomores Hannah Groom and Kelsey Sloan as well as other students, have taken up Safe Passage's cause. They're helping by raising funds from fellow students and by collecting supplies. For Denning, who oversees dozens of fund-raising efforts, this one has been especially gratifying since it is being undertaken at her old school.

That high school students have been inspired by Denning's work reminds us of something important about helping others.

Often, the act of providing that help can benefit the giver as much as the recipient. When a group of high school students learns early on that they have it within their power to make the world a better place, their future - and ours - is a whole lot brighter.