Wayzata Business Owners Open Guatemalan Orphanage

Photo: Courtesy of Tamara Hillstrom and Lisa Gencarella

In June 2008, a two-day old infant was abandoned in the countryside of Guatemala, left to battle the pouring rain and driving winds without so much as a blanket. Miraculously, she survived. The twin newborns found only weeks before in the city dump and the tiny infant buried alive by her overwhelmed teenage mother were not so lucky. 

While undeniably heart wrenching, these stories are sadly not uncommon in Guatemala and many other third world countries, but they hit lake-area resident Tamara Hillstrom particularly hard.

Though a native of Minnesota, Hillstrom harbors an intimate connection to the Central American country through her three beautiful Guatemalan children and the life-long friends she made through the international adoption process. And after hearing these tales of suffering and poverty, Hillstrom felt compelled to give back to the country that had given her such amazing gifts.

“I just have a huge love for the country,” explains Hillstrom. “I don’t know how to describe it—and I just couldn’t get back on a plane [to the US] without a plan for how to help those babies. I couldn’t help thinking that the children in those stories could have been my children.”

Further adoptions were out of the question. Hillstrom was already a mother to three busy kids; and even if she hadn’t been, an embargo had recently been established on international adoptions between the U.S. and Guatemala.

After pondering over the possibilities of mission trips and financial donations, it was Lilly Letona, a native Guatemalan and close friend of Hillstrom’s, who eventually led to the definitive solution to Hillstrom’s dilemma: an orphanage. Though other methods of support were unquestionably appreciated, an orphanage offered a means of accomplishing larger-scale and ongoing change in the lives of many children—and mere months later, plans for their own children’s home were in the works.

Hillstrom and Letona quickly assembled a coalition of passionate American and Guatemalan women who shared their aspirations and enthusiasm, and a board of directors for the fledgling orphanage was formed. This included the “Core Four”—Lisa Gencarella, Sally LeMay, Letona and Hillstrom—who would quickly become the movers and shakers of the group.

While they worked out the logistical details, Letona’s lawyer husband tackled the legal aspects of the endeavor, working with the Guatemalan government to secure certification and accreditation for their emerging organization.

Almost before they could believe it, their orphanage was a reality—and in need of a name. For Hillstrom, the answer couldn’t have been more obvious: every charitable, generous, good thing she had ever done could be credited back to her own tremendous upbringing. “My mother [Patricia] was an amazing woman,” recalls Hillstrom. “She was passionate, free-spirited, selfless—she just embodied everything that we wanted to bring into the orphanage, so that’s how we ended up with [the name] El Amor de Patricia (The Love of Patricia).”

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