| June 21, 2001 - Every year, groups of poverty-stricken Mexicans
travel north to the U.S. border in hopes of leaving their country.
And every year, many of them are stopped at the border, and
end up settling there, at the northern edge of Mexico, instead.
On June 17, four students and the Catholic Chaplain of the
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University travelled to Mexico
to help build a house for one such family just north of Tijuana.
Father Ted Brown organized the project to give the students
"an experience of face-to-face service to the poor."
He hopes that this type of community service may soon become
a regular alternative to Spring Break for students.
The housing initiative was spearheaded by Esperanza International
- a non-profit, non-sectarian, charitable corporation dedicated
to "empowering the poor to help themselves by bridging
existing needs." Houses are built when a significant
number of people stranded in an area have expressed a commitment
to form a community there. The houses are built using bricks
handmade by members of the families. The families also make
lunch for the volunteer workers, who then cook dinner and
breakfast for themselves in the modest accommodations provided
for them.
Father Ted expects the weeklong trip to be a rewarding combination
of fun and hard work.
For more information, please call Father Ted Brown at (516)
299-2229 or email parishnet@aol.com
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