BALTIMORE — After 30 years running the local chapter of the Guardian Angels, Marcus “Strider” Dent is hanging up is red beret.
Stories of gratitude after Baltimore Guardian Angels announce closure
“I’m going to miss it and I question myself every single day,” he told WMAR-2 News’ Blair Sabol. “Why not go out on a high note? On my terms. And I think this is the time to do it.”
Challenged with recent health issues and demands of the all-volunteer-based job, Dent says the chapter will close on February 28.
Dent started the chapter in 2006 with his brother, Angelo "Taps" Dent.
“When we walked down the street," Haydee Rodriguez, who lives in Oakenshawe, said. "People were so happy to see the angels."
Rodriguez first reached out to the angels in 2016, after a string of daytime robberies in the area.
There, they led safety walks for years.
“You leave an indelible footprint in our hearts, in our communities," Rodriguez said. " 'Cause it was done out of love, they didn't get paid, we didn't pay them. They just, they showed up,” Rodriguez said.
The angels were also the glue that held families together when searching for a missing child, according to Monique Smith, known as the longest living Jane Doe, who worked alongside them.
“It’s always important. It’s almost like the air that you need in a family that's not breathing,” she said. "If someone says someone's missing, you say 'oh, contact the Guardian Angels' Come on! We're going to lose that vital resource."
Continuing the legacy of taking action
Dent says, he'd like to see the chapter continue. But wants to make sure whoever takes the reins, is the right fit to fill his shoes. Though, no one has stepped forward at this point.
Curtis Silwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, said in a statement to WMAR-2 News:
"The GA under Marcus Dent’s leadership have done an outstanding job. They have provided great service over the years to the Greater Baltimore
community. Marcus has said and I agree that if someone comes forward to reopen the Baltimore GA chapter we will work with that person or persons to once again actively patrol and serve the residents of Baltimore."
“I don't think no one can do it like they did it, really. They had passion,” Smith said .“They were the epitome of showing you what to do... This is where you convert awareness into action,” she added.
“If we could clone Strider and his angels, I wish we could but I think that whole point of legacies and honoring legacies is we can continue that work,” Rodriguez said.
Hearing the kind words about his work, his purpose for the last four decades, has made stepping away even harder.
But it's also been a valuable reminder for Dent that all the hours spent picking up phone calls, working the streets, and keeping in touch with grieving families, mattered.
“It really, really makes you say you know what? You did good. Your angels did good,” Dent said.
For now, it’s on the community. Though Dent says, it always has been.
"Everything that we need to make this community safe is right here,” he said. "If a community steps up and says ‘ok, we've had enough, how do we make this change?’ Collectively, the people in the community they're the ones that's going to dictate make that change."
