Community Corner
Haverford Couple's Relationship with Brothers Goes Beyond Mentoring
They have made it a mission to help two Haitian-born orphans get through college.
Haverford resident Joan Mazzotti and her husband Michael Kelly have helped brothers Ralph and Ruben Alexis get into and through college.
The men just graduated from Haverford College.
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Mazzotti, executive director of Philadelphia Futures, and Kelly, a retired lawyer, met Ralph and Ruben when they were recommended for the Philadelphia Futures mentoring program.
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The brothers moved in with their aunt in North Philadelphia in 2004 after their parents died in what Mazzotti and the young men described only as "tragic circumstances." The family had been living in Brooklyn since the brothers' father fled Haiti in 2000, seeking political asylum.
Kelly first mentored Ruben at Fels High, then Ralph, who attended Northeast High. The relationship blossomed after Ralph turned 18 and headed to college, and it became clear the brothers then were on their own, Mazzotti said.
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