Columnist Susan Snyder: Teen shows relief is in sight

Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 | 10:08 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

More than 60 years before Scott Villamor was born, a 17-year-old man left his home in Chihuahua, Mexico, and walked to El Paso, Texas, with hope for a new life.

That man, Villamor's great-grandfather, married and the couple raised 15 children. He didn't return to Chihuahua. And Villamor, of Henderson, never really heard about the place or that story until he decided to send food to Chihuahua's needy for his Eagle Scout project.

The 17-year-old Green Valley High School senior planned and ran a food drive for American Medical Response, which is taking the goods to Mexico in two retired ambulances.

"My goal was to fill up one ambulance. But we got enough to fill two," Villamor said. "I didn't think we'd be able to make the first goal. But people really helped out."

He circulated a flier at his church saying he needed Eagle Scout project ideas. A member connected him with AMR, which was looking for someone to conduct the drive.

The goods will be transported to the Beehive Foundation, a private LDS Church charitable organization in Carlsbad, N.M., where they will be loaded onto the retired AMR ambulances that will drive them to a distribution facility in Chihuahua, Kathi Rice, AMR spokeswoman, said.

"We are really, really excited to be helping Scott with this sort of thing," she said.

AMR has recently opened an Explorer Post for teens interested in working as paramedics. Helping a Boy Scout earn his eagle designation seemed natural, she said. Explorer Posts are open to boys or girls and help teens gain knowledge and experience in vocations they may consider pursuing as adults.

Villamor started his drive 10 days ago by sending word through his Henderson neighborhood that he was collecting food. He picked up the goods or gave people the option of dropping them off at his home last Saturday.

Within two hours, his family's garage was stuffed with boxes and bags of everything from rice to canned fruits, vegetables and meats to baby food.

Villamor spent the rest of the day sorting the items into piles. He will box and label it this weekend, and AMR will pick up the goods at his home Monday.

Maybe hard work is in the genes. Alice Villamor, his grandmother, said her father's 1918 journey took him to El Paso, where he met a 16-year-old girl who became his wife. Then he traveled as far as Canada and Michigan to find work during the Great Depression.

The family finally settled in California. She has never seen Chihuahua, but hopes to make a trip there with her grandson later this fall. They want to see how the food was distributed and where their family came from.

Villamor has to earn merit badges in personal finance and fitness before he becomes an Eagle Scout. After high school he plans to go on a two-year Mormon Church mission then head to college to study oral surgery.

For now his sights are set on a Mexican town he's never seen. It's a town a 17-year-old boy once left in hope, only to send it back again 82 years later through the hands of another 17-year-old boy.