When he was begging as a child on the streets of Bogota, Rodolfo Rodriguez vowed he would flee Colombia and make a new life in America.

“I had every incentive to be a criminal,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “All around me were other kids who were being trained to pick pockets and do other bad things. But I swore that I would never be poor again. And I swore that I would try and help young people to get educated, instead of turning to crime in the streets.”

He was born to a wealthy banker, Luis Carlos Rodriguez, who abandoned Mr. Rodriguez’s mother, Lula, and six children. The children were forced to share a bed with their mother, and during the day they begged in the drug lord-dominated streets.

At 18, Mr. Rodriguez made his way to Miami as an illegal immigrant – one of nearly 3 million each year – and later settled in Connecticut.

Three decades later, Mr. Rodriguez has fulfilled the promises he made to himself. With his brother, Orlando, he runs Orlando’s Limo Service, which serves CEOs and celebrities. His earlier jobs in real estate and the restaurant industry earned enough money to educate his daughters, Nicolle, Karla, and Trystan.

Perhaps more important, Mr. Rodriguez said, his hard-won status has enabled him to create a fund he uses to support the rehabilitation and education of children – particularly those with deformities – in 10 countries, including Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, and also in America.

Each year Mr. Rodriguez and his wife, Gloria, bring two children to their home from a Latin American country, usually for a period of eight to 10 months. In addition to medical care and education, the children are encouraged to pursue hobbies. A 12- year-old Colombian boy, who was missing his hands and feet, learned to paint by holding a brush between his teeth. Mr. Rodriguez sold 40 paintings on his behalf.

What happens to the children he brings to America?

“They are sent back home to build their lives there,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “But that’s where the problem really lies – you can give all the care and love and money in the world, but there needs to be a follow-up.”

Which is why he also makes modest donations to support local teachers, particularly in Colombia.

“The sums are small, but in Latin America, money sent from here goes a long way,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Sometimes my efforts go in vain because of the conditions back home. But I am a crusader. I long for the day when the exodus of young talent from poor countries ends. Otherwise everyone from Latin America will come here – and then what?

“I may not be a prince, but I can hold my own against many wealthy businessmen who talk a lot about curing poverty and illiteracy, but do little about it,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

One such figure was his father, who had left the family when Mr. Rodriguez was a child. Not long ago, he traced him to a hospice in Bogota. The elder Mr. Rodriguez had become penniless.

“I told my father that, in a way, I was glad that he abandoned his family,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Because we would never have been able to come to America otherwise.”

It was the last time that Mr. Rodriguez saw his father. A day or two later, the old man died.