Washington Holiday Angels: Marguerite Arbutiski

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Marguerite Arbutiski became a volunteer and ended up a grandmother.

After retiring from Mobile Corporation in Fairfax, Arbutiski became a volunteer at the Latin American Youth Center, where she began to tutor homeless and runaway children. It was apparent that one boy, a 17-year-old named Renaldo, was dedicated to getting himself out of poverty, but he faced seemingly insurmountable barriers, she said.

Renaldo was from Honduras and spoke little English. His father had died, and he had been living homeless on the streets of D.C. before priests from a nearby church recommended Renaldo for a new temporary program at LAYC. He had no family.

“He had a one-track mind to make it on his own to live the big dream,” Marguerite said. But without a family to provide some stability and guidance, it would be difficult.

So Marguerite and her husband, Ben, adopted Renaldo.

“It was amazing,” LAYC Executive Director Lori Kaplan said. “It takes a very unique family to do this and embrace him the way they have.”

The new family moved to Ohio for a year, where Renaldo attended a demanding high school. He had a great deal of classwork to make up, and his English still needed much work. Marguerite tutored Renaldo from about 6 to 10 p.m. each night, and he would study on his own until 1 a.m.

That was nearly 12 years ago. Today Renaldo is an electrician, working in the D.C. area. He has a 7-year-old son, Reni, who Marguerite takes to school every day. Reni calls Marguerite “Abuela,” Spanish for grandmother.

“It’s been a lot work,” Marguerite said, “and a lot of good feelings.”