Honduras needs help
The Saint Rose community can help Honduras
Caitlin Farrell
Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: News
The small village of Jutiapa, Honduras desperately needs help while it is struggling during a political coup.
Father Chris DeGiovine and Sister Sean Peters are asking The College of Saint Rose community to pitch in and donate to this worthy cause that they are already so invested in.
For the past 6 years Peters and DeGiovine have taken a group of students to Honduras for the two weeks after graduation.
This small community of Jutiapa is full of poor campesinos, or very poor farmers who live off very small plots of land, who lost a lot of their livelihood during Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and just recently were given some new land by the government to rebuild.
Rafael Linares, Saint Rose's contact person in Honduras, runs an English-Spanish school in La Ceiba and uses a portion of the tuition income to support the community in Jutiapa.
The students that DeGiovine and Peters bring every year work in an orphanage for abandoned children called La Casa de los Ninos, which is a special needs school that educates physically and mentally handicapped children. They also volunteer at the Emilia de Cuire School that educates children of families that live and work on the dump in La Ceiba, Honduras.
"This year our Honduras contact, Señor Rafael Linares, had a contact with a community of campesinos in Jutiapa. This community of people had been wandering for 10 years because their village had been destroyed in 1997 by hurricane Mitch. The government had finally resettled them on a field in Jutiapa, near La Ceiba where we volunteer.
"So, one day, Rafael took us to their field. They had built a shed which served as their community center and their school. But the volunteer teacher had left six months before we arrived. They asked us if we could send them a teacher to teach the children.
"Rafael monthly brings them food, mostly rice and beans and some donated clothing. We helped deliver the food and talked with the families. We met the children and a few of us helped them build their first road in the field so that it would begin to look like a real town" Said DeGiovine.
Because of the coup in Honduras, Linares has no students and no tuition money, so he cannot help Jutiapa. Linares needs about $200 per month to buy them food, mostly rice and beans.
DeGiovine would like to help the campesino community during this crisis and is asking The Saint Rose community for help.
DeGiovine encourages anyone who feels so inclined to donate to this tragic cause. Any amount of money is welcomed and greatly appreciated to help the citizens of Jutiapa, Honduras. They will be asking for donations for this cause at Saint Rose Night.
A check can be made out to "The College of Saint Rose" and put "Honduras Food Relief" on the memo line and send it to the Office of Spiritual Life. Also, for those who would rather use a credit card, donations can be made online through the Saint Rose website by visiting www.strose.edu/giveagift.
Anything donated will be greatly appreciated.
Father Chris DeGiovine and Sister Sean Peters are asking The College of Saint Rose community to pitch in and donate to this worthy cause that they are already so invested in.
For the past 6 years Peters and DeGiovine have taken a group of students to Honduras for the two weeks after graduation.
This small community of Jutiapa is full of poor campesinos, or very poor farmers who live off very small plots of land, who lost a lot of their livelihood during Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and just recently were given some new land by the government to rebuild.
Rafael Linares, Saint Rose's contact person in Honduras, runs an English-Spanish school in La Ceiba and uses a portion of the tuition income to support the community in Jutiapa.
The students that DeGiovine and Peters bring every year work in an orphanage for abandoned children called La Casa de los Ninos, which is a special needs school that educates physically and mentally handicapped children. They also volunteer at the Emilia de Cuire School that educates children of families that live and work on the dump in La Ceiba, Honduras.
"This year our Honduras contact, Señor Rafael Linares, had a contact with a community of campesinos in Jutiapa. This community of people had been wandering for 10 years because their village had been destroyed in 1997 by hurricane Mitch. The government had finally resettled them on a field in Jutiapa, near La Ceiba where we volunteer.
"So, one day, Rafael took us to their field. They had built a shed which served as their community center and their school. But the volunteer teacher had left six months before we arrived. They asked us if we could send them a teacher to teach the children.
"Rafael monthly brings them food, mostly rice and beans and some donated clothing. We helped deliver the food and talked with the families. We met the children and a few of us helped them build their first road in the field so that it would begin to look like a real town" Said DeGiovine.
Because of the coup in Honduras, Linares has no students and no tuition money, so he cannot help Jutiapa. Linares needs about $200 per month to buy them food, mostly rice and beans.
DeGiovine would like to help the campesino community during this crisis and is asking The Saint Rose community for help.
DeGiovine encourages anyone who feels so inclined to donate to this tragic cause. Any amount of money is welcomed and greatly appreciated to help the citizens of Jutiapa, Honduras. They will be asking for donations for this cause at Saint Rose Night.
A check can be made out to "The College of Saint Rose" and put "Honduras Food Relief" on the memo line and send it to the Office of Spiritual Life. Also, for those who would rather use a credit card, donations can be made online through the Saint Rose website by visiting www.strose.edu/giveagift.
Anything donated will be greatly appreciated.
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