Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY betting on bootstraps THE LEGACY OF COMMUNITY CHAMPION LEONARD ZAKIM IS CARRIED ON BY HIS FAMILY AND THE FUND ESTABLISHED IN HIS NAME. BY JESSICA LANIEWSKI 56 Sam Slater, Josh Zakim first Amy Belkin, visited the East Boston and Josh Zakim Adult Education Center with his father, the late Leonard Zakim, and still works closely with the school. The grassroots nature of the school, with its small budget, volunteer teachers, and storefront facility, inspired Lenny Zakim to fund the Center. established a fund that helps support nearly 50 grassroots organizations each year with grants of $5,000 to $15,000. One of those groups has long been the East Boston Adult Education Center. The fund has grown since Perlera started his journey, and since Zakim's death in 1999 its work has been carried on by Zakim's family. This year The Lenny Zakim Fund gave out $500,000, its largest sum yet, to a variety of organizations helmed by people like Dominic Avellani, founder and executive director of the Center. continued on page 58 PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN RICHARDSON (ZAKIM), JAMIE EMMERMAN (AVELLANI) A t the age of 16, Saul Perlera arrived in Boston from El Salvador after a harrowing childhood. "I was going to be drafted into the guerrilla military against my will. I really did not understand the war at all, and I did not want any part of it," says Perlera. "El Salvador was in turmoil and very unsafe, and there were no opportunities for a better life." His father was killed when he was 7, and his three brothers and his sister were raised by his widowed mother. After making the difficult decision to leave his mother and siblings behind, Perlera immigrated to the United States, settling in East Boston. He lived with his uncle, who helped him find a full-time job at a factory. He also worked part-time as a janitor, making $3.65 an hour. A few years later, Perlera enrolled in English as a second language (ESL) classes at the East Boston Adult Education Center. Dominic Avellani founded He didn't want to work the long, arduous the East Boston Adult hours at the factory for the rest of his life, and Education Center, an organization supported by he knew that improving his English was his The Lenny Zakim Fund. key to a better life. At the Center he completed his ESL coursework and then obtained a GED. His experience there gave him the knowledge and confidence to enroll in college and years later to open Perlera Real Estate, a profitable firm in East Boston—and to secure the better life he'd dreamed of when he immigrated to the city. Perlera's success was partly fueled by philanthropist Leonard Zakim, though Perlera didn't know it at the time. A lawyer, the executive director of the New England Anti-Defamation League, and a tireless champion for civil rights, especially those of people stricken with poverty, Zakim BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 056-058_BC_SPR_P_SofG_Spring13.indd 56 2/11/13 3:47 PM