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He gives orphaned Colombian girls hope for a better life

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

By Monica L. Haynes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Richard Spear believes he receives much more than he gives to the Cali Orphanage for Girls in Cali, Colombia. And that's saying a lot because Spear gives a lot.

	Richard Spear, director of intramural sports at Duquesne University, is the sole provider of a girls' orphanage in Cali, Colombia. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette)

The director of intramural sports at Duquesne University has made caring for the 110 girls of the orphanage part of his life's mission for the past five years.

"I think it's essential that we help those who aren't able to help themselves," said Spear. "That's so important."

His fund-raising efforts have resulted in a new dormitory, three classrooms, a bakery, new bathrooms and a septic tank. Just as important are his numerous trips to the orphanage, which he takes at his own expense.

"People have asked me why I go so often. My presence gives these girls hope," Spear said.

For the hope, time and efforts that he gives to the young girls of Cali, Colombia, as well as his other volunteer efforts, Spear is one of this year's Community Champions Jefferson Award winners. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AT&T Broadband and Eat'n Park, with help from the United Way, sponsor Community Champions, a program of the national Jefferson Awards.

The public and workers in the nonprofit community nominated the 50 people who became Community Champions, featured in public service ads last year in the PG and on AT&T cable stations.

From that number, judges chose the Jefferson Award recipients, who will receive a medallion and $1,000 for the nonprofit organization of their choice. On Jan. 23, at 7 p.m., they will be recognized at a reception and ceremony in Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland.

Spear, 58, whose volunteer efforts include counseling cancer patients at Mercy Hospital, said he's always wanted to help an orphanage and decided it would be one in South America.

"I've traveled extensively to South America, and I love the Latino culture," he said. He narrowed it down to Colombia because it's the country that's suffering the most and has the greatest need.

The country is plagued by Communist guerrillas, massive drug trade and kidnappings.

"All of this has wrecked the economy, so there's no support from the government for orphanages," Spear said.

Based on stories he'd heard from a cousin who'd lived in Cali, Spear decided to visit there. Two days before his trip, while walking across Duquesne's campus, he encountered some priests from the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and told them about his scheduled trip to Cali. They informed him that there was a priest, the Rev. Kelvin Tam, in Cali who could use a lot of help with his orphanage.

"I called him the next day and he was just delighted," Spear said.

Tam picked Spear up from the airport with about 10 little girls in tow and took him to the orphanage.

"When I got there I knew I was at the right place," Spear said. "It was a place with a great spirit of happiness but very, very poor."

Spear promised Tam he would help.

"I didn't realize it would grow into something this large, but it has, and I've been able to help them a tremendous amount," he said.

But he hasn't done it alone. Spear approached his friends and acquaintances for donations, most of whom he knew through working at Duquesne and having attended school there. One such friend is Gene Tometsko.

"I've known Rich since we were in undergraduate school at Duquesne University, and that was 40 years ago," said Tometsko, who nominated Spear to be a Community Champion.

"I've contributed and help out whenever I can," he said. "He's putting forth a lot of work and his own money. ... It's a very unselfish thing on his part. I think it's good to see somebody who's committed to doing things and helping people when they're not getting paid for it."

Spear, of Bridgeville, credits his parents for his devotion to charitable causes and volunteerism because they were very giving. He's also been influenced by the Spiritans, formerly known as the Holy Ghost Fathers, the order that founded Duquesne University, and also by the Sisters of Mercy. He's also been inspired by another person who devoted her life to serving others.

"Mother Teresa has always been an honored figure in my life," Spear said. "I only wished I could have started this project sooner."

Still, what he's been able to accomplish in five years is significant, and his dedication to the young girls of Cali does not stop at the orphanage. He and his wife, Janet, who have no biological children, are helping to put one young Cali resident through medical school.

Marta Caceido, 17, is one of five siblings who live in a one-room shack. One charitable group had planned to support her education but couldn't do it, Spear explained.

"We decided we could not allow this girl not to go to medical school," he said.

Last summer during a visit to Cali, Spear took Marta to the Banco de Credito and deposited $4,000 into an account for her medical school expenses.

"She burst into tears and she said, 'Oh, Richard, I don't know how to thank you. This is more money than my mother's ever had in her life."

In addition to helping Marta, Spear and his friends are putting her sister, Sandra, 22, and three girls from the orphanage through nursing school. He's also assisting another orphanage for girls and a soon-to-be completed one for abandoned babies. "It's so sad, because babies are often abandoned on the street or given to police or given to someone," Spear said.

Betsy Heath-Charles, director of athletic bands and an adjunct professor of music at Duquesne, believes there was some divine intervention involved in the friendship she and her husband share with Spear.

Heath-Charles has known him since she came to Duquesne 14 years ago, and her husband, David, met Spear as a student involved in intramural sports in the early '80s.

"I'd walk by [Spear's office] and he'd say, 'Hey, Betsy, let me show you my latest project," Heath-Charles recalled.

When she and her husband married in November 1999 and decided they would adopt a child, they took a trip to Cali the following year. There, they met their future daughter, Frances, who was 11 at the time.

By January 2001, she was living with her new parents.

"She got off the plane not knowing any English; now she's a beautiful conversationalist," said the proud mom. Frances plays trumpet, lacrosse, is in the handbell choir and does well in school, Heath-Charles said.

Since adopting Frances, the couple has returned to Cali with Spear in hopes of adopting another child.

"We could barely get out of the car because we were stormed by 100 of the most beautiful faces screaming 'Richard, Richard,' " Heath-Charles said. "These are girls who have no opportunity and no hope for opportunity, and Rich Spear has now given them hope."

William J. Green and Associates will donate $1,000 to the Cali Orphanage for Girls in Spear's name.