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By Elaine De Valle. edevalle@herald.com. Posted on Fri,
Nov. 29, 2002 in The Miami
Herald.
For most people, Thanksgiving ended yesterday -- or today, when leftovers
are gobbled up.
But a group of Cuban exiles will celebrate the holiday Saturday.
It's a reunion of grown Operation Pedro Pan children who have been getting
together on Thanksgiving week since 1990 to thank their parents for sending them
to the United States at the beginning of Fidel Castro's regime.
''For the enormous sacrifice they made in parting with us to give us a
better future and to have us live in freedom,'' said Elly Chovel, chairwoman of
the Operation Pedro Pan Group.
The group also thanks God for making the exodus possible, she said.
This year, the dinner -- paella, not turkey -- is also a fundraising effort:
The group wants to save Camp Matecumbe, the other name for the Boystown property
where thousands of Cuban children waited to be reunited with their parents.
''The project is to turn it into a park. We're helping the Miami Dade Parks
Department to acquire it from the Archdiocese,'' Chovel said. But they need to
raise $800,000 to match the $1.5 million in state grants they have received to
do it.
''It is the most beautiful ending to a site that, from the beginning in
1955, has always served children. First, as a summer camp for youth in Miami.
Then, during the Pedro Pan exodus, it housed thousands of teenage boys,'' she
said.
Afterward, it became a place to send unaccompanied immigrant minors or
children whose immigrant parents are detained at the Krome Detention Center --
as it is still used today.
But Boystown needs to grow, and a zoning ordinance prohibits the archdiocese
from expanding because of the shelter's proximity to Tamiami-Kendall Executive
Airport.
''Rather than have a developer buy it to put a parking lot or warehouses, we
wanted to preserve the area because of the history it has,'' Chovel said.
The 21-acre property is adjacent to a 78-acre preserve of pinelands and
Chovel said a park is the perfect fit there.
''This will be a park where, for the first time, people in Miami can do
ecotourism,'' Chovel said. "Over 300,000 families that live in the Kendall
area will have the benefit of having a park right in their immediate vicinity.
Chidren would be able to go camping there. There would be conferences and
concerts.''
There would also be a Pedro Pan memorial within the park -- so people can
always remember, she said.
The dinner costs $60. Chovel said people should call 554-7196 to make
reservations.
The group will also honor two men who worked in the Operation Pedro Pan. One
is Reinaldo Alonso, a Marist brother, sent to Albuquerque, N.M., where he took
care of a group of Pedro Pan boys at a home called Villa Virgen del Cobre, named
for Cuba's patron saint.
The other, also a Marist brother, is Rafael Martín, who was in charge
of the Pans at Cristo Rey orphanage in Lincoln, Neb.
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