Our History & facts on why we started this Foundation

 This is a true story of Matt “Magou” McGuirk who is our original Straight Up SolGier.
 

Our beautiful  son (Matt) we sent to a private school when he was a little boy.  We his parents (Mike & Victoria McGuirk) were both working full time and found a school that came highly recommended.  

He and his older sister Kristine, went to "Tree Path School in South Daytona, Florida".    They went there for several years and  when Matt was about 8 years old we put our children in Public School.

A couple months  later, there was a big story about how a  Mom of a child that was going to that very same school found some hidden pictures in the bathroom of naked children.   The local State Attorney came on TV and stated if any child went to this school, you  must contact the state attorneys office asap.  That very morning Matt was watching the TV with me and I asked him if Mr. Bowen ever touched him or did anything uncomfortable to him?   The tears filled his big beautiful blue eyes!   I was in shock and went down to the State Attorneys office that very day.  I sent both our children to school & sked Matt's teacher to be extra sweet and aware of him that day.  

At the State Attorneys (John Tanner) office that day,  they handed me a shoe box full of Polaroid pictures & asked me if my children where in any of the pictures.   My son Matt, was in more pictures than any other child, only little boys were in the pictures so Krissy our daughter was not.   Fast forward to the trial & he became the States star witness.   The owner of the school got 150 years in prison!  That was the largest Pedophile case in the history of Volusia County , Florida at that time.    We brought him to talk with many different counselors but he would never want to talk with them.   We hoped we could surround him with enough LOVE that he would heal his mind and heart. 

He  kept his demons inside and turned to drugs to try and erase his feelings and pain. At age 11, he started experimenting with marijuana.  In 2011 he died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 31. He was in and out of rehab and came to realize he finally needed to come to terms with what happened to him as a boy.   When he finally started talking about his abuse, others would reassure him of how brave he was as a little boy.  He wanted to write a book and tell other victims to talk about their abuse so they didn’t turn to drugs like he did.  Matt designed the SolGier logo around the year 2007.  He was a spiritual person; he spelled SolGier with a capital “G” for God and made it look like an arrow going straight up.  He also stated that, “the meaning of straight up was standing up and facing his predator to keep him from hurting others".
 

” Please help us keep his dream alive by offering hope to victims in need!"