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| An American Success Story |
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Like a lot of American success stories, Maritza Vega Gentry’s began somewhere else. Born in Nicaragua, Maritza was taken from the only home she new and brought to the United States, summoned by parents who had already immigrated. She arrived with her eight year old brother to discover she now had a baby sister and a home in Los Angeles that was in turmoil. In a short matter of time, the family broke apart as both parents abandoned the children, leaving Maritza and her siblings as wards of the state and residents of MacLaren Hall, a foster home for abandoned children. Eventually Maritza was reunited with her mother, but the joy of getting a semblance of her family together was fleeting as she was sexually abused by the patriarch of her extended and fragile family. Her salvation during all this turmoil was The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Youth and Community Center. It was the only place on earth that this shy, abused little girl could find solace and safety. Despite the desperately poor and crime ridden streets she had to traverse, Maritza would leave her abusive home and walk the nearly 2 miles through L.A.’s gang ridden Pico Union District to get to her “real” home at Red Shield every single day. "After walking two miles in the heat, I could not wait to jump into the pool at Red Shield. It always felt like I died and went to heaven." There would be more heartache and trouble to come for Maritza. She was sent back to Nicaragua at age nine to live with a series of aunts and then return to New York when she was 13. By the time she was 15, Maritza was married and starting a family. When she had three children of her own, she faced the added challenge of caring for her 11 year old sister upon the death of their mother.  Crediting the foundation of love and compassion she discovered at The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Center, Maritza vowed to make her life, and the lives of her children and her little sister better than hers had been. Without ever having been enrolled in high school, Maritza graduated from college with a 3.6 g.p.a. and became an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. She was responsible for changing the law allowing resident aliens on the road to citizenship to apply for admission to the Los Angeles Police Academy. Never forgetting where she came from and what part The Salvation Army played in her survival, Maritza Vega Gentry now serves on the board at the Red Shield Youth and Community Center where she is “passing it forward” and making a difference in the lives of a new generation of children who call Red Shield their home. |
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