A Newport News nonprofit organization that helps Central American incarcerated youth is celebrating 25 years with a fundraiser to continue its mission.

Counteract International is hosting the “Launching Second Chances Gala” at 6 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the Virginia Air & Space Science Center in downtown Hampton. The event is free with prior registration. About 20 artworks created by Central American youth are slated for auction. Other items up for bid include vacation packages and gift baskets. Academies of Hampton culinary arts students are providing light bites.

The faith-based group works with 13 juvenile detention centers in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Its primary mission is to mentor incarcerated and released youth with daily visits, job and life skills training, and biblical guidance.

Hampton Roads real estate broker Greg Garrett and his wife, Michelle, started the nonprofit as Orphan Helpers to help youth in an orphanage in El Salvador in 2000. Over the next decade, it expanded to Honduras, which shut down government-run orphanages in 2014 as El Salvador also reduced the number of children in orphanages.

At the same time, both governments expanded access for Orphan Helpers to offer more programs and services in juvenile correctional centers, she said. The Garretts described them as a “government warehouse for kids.”

In Central America, a considerable number of the youth in the centers were forced to commit crime or faced violence from gang members. Many were also coerced, he said.

“Some of these were little boys who had committed a crime because they had no choice. They had to do it for survival,” Greg said.

“When released, they don’t have anywhere to go or no one to guide them to a better life,” Michelle added.

Greg Garrett (Courtesy of Greg Garrett)

While the youth are incarcerated, Counteract International teaches them basic work skills and English. Executive Director Greg Harris said many have never used a computer. “They are just learning about how to use a keyboard and computer mouse,” Harris said.

Money raised at the gala will fund three programs: The teacher fund provides incarcerated youth with a Christian teacher who offers education, mentorship and guidance. The scholarship fund supports young men and women after incarceration by funding their education and guidance. Youth in Action graduates provide community services and leadership.

When asked why they started and continue to grow the charity, the Garretts explained that on their first visit to El Salvador 25 years ago, their four, now grown children, were school-aged.

“We have three sons and a daughter. My boys were almost exactly the same age as the boys I met. I saw my own boys, I saw myself, in the eyes of these kids,” Greg Garrett said.

For details on the organization or to register for the gala, visit counteract.org.

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/09/30/peninsula-nonprofit-25-year-fundraiser/