Teen helps Buckhead kids in memory of La Amistad

Two afternoons a week Jesus Roman-Hernandez shows up at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Buckhead.

The 18-year-old college student is there to give something back to La Amistad, the after-school program he says really helped him “get somewhere.”

Peachtree Presbyterian is a long way from the streets of Los Angeles where Roman-Hernandez lived as a child.

“We lived on one of the worst streets in the city,” he recalled. “Every night, there was a shooting or people screaming and police cars coming down the street. When we closed our windows, we put bars over them, too.”

His parents, both from Mexico, didn’t want their oldest child getting involved with gangs. They also saw job opportunities in Atlanta.

So in 1999, when Roman-Hernandez was nine, his parents relocated to Buckhead. The family rented an apartment in a cluster of older units across Roswell Road from Peachtree Presbyterian.

“There was a man at the church, Bill Maness, who saw some of us kids playing around in the streets,” Roman-Hernandez said. “He started La Amistad that was more than just an after-school program. He used to talk to me like my dad. He inspired me.”

The La Amistad (“friendship”) program brought Roman-Hernandez and about 20 other Hispanic youngsters to the church in the afternoons. Maness, who served as Peachtree Presbyterian’s recreation director until his death in 2004, organized homework sessions and sports.

“I was going to Jackson Elementary and most of the time I didn’t understand my homework,” Roman-Hernandez admitted. “I couldn’t ask my parents — they hardly spoke English. But the volunteers there helped me so much. I also started to play hockey in the gym. It made a big difference; it helped me stay out of trouble.”

Though his family was Catholic, Roman-Hernandez said there was never a problem attending a program at a Presbyterian church. “It was never a religious thing,” he said.

The La Amistad lessons stayed with him as his family moved to Roswell and then to Norcross, where they’ve lived for almost five years.

Roman-Hernandez attended Meadowcreek High and continued to play roller hockey and keep up his grades. But he wasn’t happy with the school.

“I felt there weren’t a lot of positive things for me there and I was afraid of getting in with gangs,” he said. Instead of staying in Norcross, Roman-Hernandez volunteered to finish his studies at the Fort Gordon Youth Challenge Academy in Augusta, where he graduated as class president this spring. In between classes, he volunteered with the YMCA and participated in community clean-ups.

He’s currently enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College, with the help of the $16,000, four-year Bill Maness Good Samaritan Scholarship. Roman-Hernandez received the award after interviews and essays that demonstrated his commitment to community service and education.

When he’s not at school, Roman-Hernandez has a part-time job at Macy’s and plays in an indoor hockey league.

He also works with the approximately 60 Hispanic students who are now part of the La Amistad program.

“When I started here, the program had about 20 kids,” he said. “It grew because of kids and parents who spread the word about this program. I wanted to come back and share with the kids how this program helped me rise up.”