| | WHAT IT'S LIKE | Kyle Petty sees 'the other side' during trip to Colombia | |
| | By Mike Hembree / SceneDaily.com BRISTOL, TN -- In years of building and running the Victory Junction Gang Camp, Kyle Petty has become an expert at raising money. He knows places to find cash that probably would elude the casual fundraiser.
The good work that Petty does – and it is very good work, indeed – puts him in contact with some of the wealthiest people in the country, and, unfortunately, with some of the most unfortunate. The camp Kyle and his wife, Pattie, founded serves a community that is among America’s neediest – not monetarily but emotionally.
It is not easy work, but Petty seems to be the perfect individual to build a bridge between those who can help and those who need it. And, since he’s still mostly a teenager himself at 47, he relates well to kids of almost any age.
Still, Petty wasn’t exactly prepared for what he saw March 10-11 when he and several other NASCAR representatives joined Juan Pablo Montoya on a trip to Montoya’s native Colombia. Petty and NASCAR chairman Brian France were good-will ambassadors of a sort as they toured parts of the city of Cartagena and saw the work done by Montoya and his wife, Connie, as part of their Formula Smiles Foundation, which seeks to improve conditions for Colombian children through sports.
France and the NASCAR Foundation donated $25,000 to the Montoyas’ foundation, and Petty said he was so impressed with the foundation’s work that he will actively seek donations – particularly from sporting goods companies – to support the effort.
“It was very moving, very emotional; it was just incredible,” Petty said of the trip. “I think it’s incredible what Juan and Connie are doing. I don’t think we, meaning this community, or America for that matter, can fathom the impact they’re having on these kids’ lives.
“I look at Victory Junction, and that’s a totally different thing. These are kids that are in a different place in their lives. The lives these kids in Colombia have – Juan and Connie change that.”
Cartagena, located in the northern part of the country, is one of Colombia’s major tourist cities, but, away from the popular coastal areas, the region is wracked by poverty. On huge stretches of government land stretching into the mountains, families live in makeshift homes built of whatever materials they can scrounge.
“It’s just incredibly poor,” Petty said. “And saying poor doesn’t describe it. The higher up the hill you go, the poorer you are.”
The Montoyas’ foundation aims to improve conditions for families in these areas by building small sports centers where children can play basketball, soccer, baseball and other sports in a supervised environment.
“There were probably 150 kids in this sports area about three-quarters of the size of a basketball court, and there were probably three or four times that many outside wanting to get in,” Petty said. “It was sad, but when you see what he and Connie do for these kids, it’s amazing.
“I think about what we spend on one team to go out here and ride around in circles for a year. Then you go to a place like that and think, ‘OK, if I could just abscond with the money and head south, how many lives could I change?’ And I don’t mean affect. I mean change. What they do is not affecting lives, it’s changing lives. And there’s a huge difference in those two words.”
| | Posted March 15, 2008 , 3:18 pm EST
Last Updated March 15, 2008 , 3:18 pm EST | | | | | | |
