Honoring Our Heroes

Julio "JT" Torres and Luther Edwards have been supporters of  Kayak for Kids for 22 years and have collectively raised over $100,000 for the children at Queen Louise Home for Children. See their story and memories of Kayak for Kids.

 

Watch time: 3 minutes

It was September 1998, and Hurricane Georges was bearing down. I was new to St. Croix and to hurricanes and had no plan. So I accepted a neighbor's invitation to hunker down at Queen Louise Home for Children, where she worked as a cottage parent. 

After a full day of wringing out towels and mops and hauling stormwater buckets, my friend read books to the children over the din of Hurricane Georges. At some point, I recall falling asleep happy on the floor.

 

The following spring, I planned to paddle a kayak all the way around the island because, to borrow a phrase from a famous mountain expedition, "it was there." Two friends agreed to come along against their better judgment. It seemed appropriate to make the trip count for something other than leisure. So I called Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands and asked if we could collect sponsorships for Queen Louise Home for Children. They said yes, and Kayak for Kids was born.

 

It took two days to paddle upwind around Sandy Point to Point Udall and one day downwind back home to Frederiksted. Unfortunately, our little flotilla lost a member at Ha'Penny Beach when, after breaking the first night's camp and shoving off, a curling wave cracked my friend's boat. She borrowed another one and rejoined us at Cramer's Park. I think in the end, we collected a few hundred bucks for Queen Louise Home.

So, where did 23 years go? During those years, mostly in my absence as I went back to school and work in the States, K4K grew beyond expectations. Without the vision and hard work of JT Torres and Angie Morales, of the former owners of Villa Morales, Luther Edwards, and everyone who supported Queen Louise Home, Kayak for Kids would probably have withered on the vine. 

 

I owe everything to Queen Louise Home because it taught me the elastic meaning of the word "family." I married a beautiful cottage parent, Kirstin Swenson, and for a time, we fostered one of the children we met at QLH. He is now a proud and loving father himself. As it happens, his two boys are not much younger than our two boys. It is fun watching them all grow up, shooting Nerf guns together and chasing our cat.

 

"Family" also stretches a little more to include you — all the people who gather every year to support the children. It's on all of us to carry water for Queen Louise Home this year, even though there isn't going to be a kayaking or beach party because of the pandemic. So, please help out with a Week of Giving donation that you can afford, and hopefully, I'll see you on the beach for K4K next year.