Oprah’s Angel Network

Bea Salazar helps children in her community achieve their dreams one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time.

The founder and president of Bea’s Kids—a nonprofit after-school tutoring and mentoring program uniquely located within low-income apartment complexes—Bea never planned to start and run an organization for kids. But a twist of fate in 1990 changed her life forever.

Bea Salazar, the founder of the after-school program Bea's Kids, shares a moment with the kids.

Photo courtesy of Bea's Kids

A Troubling Discovery

“I was recuperating from surgery and I went to throw out my trash when I found a little boy digging through the dumpster,” said Bea, a mother of five and grandmother of 16, who first shared her story with the nation as a Use Your Life Award winner on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2000.

“I felt really sorry for (the boy) so I brought him home with me and made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Pretty soon, there’s this knocking at the door and there are seven or eight children asking, ‘is it true you are giving away food?’ And I’m like, ’no, but I have peanut butter and jelly.’”

Bea discovered that once the children in her apartment complex went on summer break they weren’t getting free breakfasts and lunches anymore—and were often hungry. Concerned, she reached out to a local church that provided her with all the peanut butter and jelly she could handle. Before she knew it, her apartment had become a safe place for children to eat, read books and stay out of trouble while their parents were at work.

Once school started up again, the kids kept stopping by, asking for help to improve their sagging grades and enjoying the newfound companionship. At about the same time, Bea’s landlord noticed that the apartment complex had become a much calmer and cleaner place. After talking to Bea about the changes, the two reached an agreement where she could borrow an unused apartment to tutor the children. Thus, Bea’s Kids and its unique location were born.

‘Running’ to Bea’s Kids

Today, Bea runs four Bea’s Kids tutoring and mentoring centers in the Dallas metropolitan area, serving more than 170 children in low-income apartment complexes. Her original Carrollton location now occupies three apartments, which have been remodeled to meet the needs of K–12 students with books, computers, desks and reading areas. Students arrive after school in shifts—kindergarten through 6th grades for the first hour and 7th through 12th grades for the next hour.

“It’s very good for the parents because the children are still on the premises, and we don’t have problems with transportation … the children come home from school and they run to the program,” said Bea, who hopes one day to expand the program to serve children outside of the apartment complexes as well.

Volunteers lend their help as tutors and a site director at each location keeps the kids engaged. They reward students for good behavior with pizza and movies in the aptly named “Bea Hive” room as part of its weekly “Yak and Snack” activity, which Bea’s daughter, Bel, helps organize in all four tutoring and mentoring centers. Additionally, she handles many of the organization’s administrative duties.

A certified counselor meets weekly with the older students to help the young adults deal with peer pressure and to build self-esteem. In the same vein, the children’s parents are offered weekly classes about similar issues. In the summer, the children participate in a six-week summer camp and during the holiday season other families in the community pitch in to make sure the children have gifts and a traditional Christmas dinner.

Bea’s Kids holds annual fundraisers such as a Women of Inspiration Luncheon, and Dinner/Auction and Casino Night to spread the word about its important mission.

But perhaps the best testament to the program’s importance is from former participants.

Omar Cabrerra, now a first-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin, speaks highly of his experience at Bea’s Kids and the older students who helped tutor him.

“It was the place where I learned about the meaning of sacrifice, which I observed through the volunteers in the program,” said Omar who is gearing up for the rigors of Neuroanatomy, Cell and Tissue Biology and Physiology next semester. “Through Bea’s Kids, I realized that the circumstances that I lived in were not going to determine what I would make of myself.”

A Replicable Model

Bea and her board of directors are currently developing a template for other communities to adopt its unique model and are constantly seeking sources of funding and volunteer tutors so that children from low-income families will stay in school and break the cycle of poverty.

Visit Bea’s Kids to register to be a volunteer tutor or to make a contribution.