HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-03-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015.
Dougherty helps out Mexicans by building homes
Women of the community are
invited to attend the Londesborough
UCW meeting on Monday, March
16. The group will be holding its
World Day of Prayer service that
evening, written by the women of
the Bahamas. The service itself will
begin at 7:30 p.m. A Bahamian style
lunch will be served at the end of the
evening. Plan to attend and bring
along a friend.
The Outreach Committee of
Londesborough United has set up
food donation boxes in various spots
throughout the church. The hope is
that congregants will be generous in
helping to replenish the shelves at
the local food bank. Donations will
be received for the next two
Sundays.
A special time during the morning
service on March 22 at
Londesborough United will be
designated for a Covenanting
Service for Rev. Terry Fletcher.
The official board of
Londesborough United will meet as
a whole on Tuesday, March 24 at
7:30 p.m. This will be the first
meeting for members of 2015 and
the format has somewhat changed.
Two teams from Mr. Coups’ class
at Hullett Central Public School will
be attending a Robotics Challenge
sponsored by D & D Automation in
Stratford on March 11. The school
purchased three Lego robotics kits
and the Grade 7 and 8 students have
been learning how to program them
for the competition.
After several weeks in various
hospitals John Lyons is home
recuperating from foot surgery.
Most of us in this area recognize
there are many of our number who,
each year, take a working holiday
into the islands of the Caribbean to
help out the disadvantaged and to
repair the damage caused by
hurricanes. One Londesborough
native seems to have taken a larger
step. Sam Dougherty has spent
several months of the past five
winters in Mexico.
A skilled woodworker, Sam
becomes part of a crew for
"Castaway Kids". Castaway Kids
came into existence 10 years ago in
San Carlos in the northern part of
Mexico, 300 miles south of Nogales.
This is a very poor area of Mexico
and the families that are helped are
very often isolated by great distances
from neighbours and even small
towns with no transportation.
The original objective of the group
was to raise funds to send children to
school, to purchase school uniforms,
shoes, book and bags of school
supplies. Sam reports that the group
now has financed the education of
100 children, including some at the
university level.
Then, about five years ago, a
hurricane struck that area of Mexico
and destroyed many homes. Funds
and volunteers arrived and the group
was able to replace 40 houses in just
a few months. Now the group builds
four new houses a year. Volunteers
come from around the world all year
long to provide help and support to
this disadvantaged area of Mexico.
The originator of this mission
work is a local musician named
Mark Mulligan whose concerts and
CDs are a source of funding. The
funds he raises are matched by a
company in Arizona with whom the
group is allied.
Work crews of three to 10
volunteers like Sam work six days a
week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. using
whatever materials are donated or
purchased through raised funds. The
conditions in which many of the
families in this area live are
deplorable. The homes the group
build are not mansions by any
stretch of our imagination but offer a
fresh start to the families who move
into them. The new homes are 16x20
or 320 square feet with two rooms
and a bathroom. Bathroom takes on
a new meaning when one realizes
many homes are too far in the
country to have electricity and
running water. Gravity tanks for
water are sometimes installed and
today’s solar lights are a plus there.
Sometimes compressors are
installed but gasoline to run them is
costly for these families.
The group has also built a
playground in a more settled area
and they plan outings for the
children such as beach parties. To
inspire independence for the adults
‘Castaway Kids’ have organized the
women who run a thrift shop in a
donated building. Others make quilts
to sell.
If you wish to learn more about the
group you can visit the Castaway
Kids website.
It is also a great vacation for Sam
who rents accommodation in San
Carlos for the winter months
sometimes within sight of the beach
at a low cost. He becomes one of the
natives for those weeks, living and
working among them.
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For the past five years, Sam Dougherty of the Londesborough area has been helping out
people in Mexico by plying his wood-working ability and building homes. Dougherty is part of
the crew for “Castaway Kids” which originally started by funding education for youths in the
more poor regions of the country but, after a hurricane struck the country, the group refocused
their efforts and now builds four houses every year to help families move from structures like
the hovel below to the house above. (Photos submitted)
By BRENDA
RADFORD
Call
523-4296
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Read Rhea Hamilton Seeger’s
Gardening column
on the
Huron Home and Garden Guide
section of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca