Ministry with Toledo ties expands internationally |
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Saturday, 07 March 2009 01:00 |
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—After more than 10 years of serving Central Americans who live in poverty in garbage dumps, Ann Arbor-based Central American Ministries has expanded its focus worldwide and changed its name to “International Samaritan” to reflect that focus.
“Our mission has outgrown our name,” says Jesuit Father Donald Vettese, founder of Central American Ministries and former Toledo St. John’s Jesuit High School president. “Restricting our name to geography does not reflect the scope of our mission. The name recalls the story of the Good Samaritan who did not define his neighbor in geographic terms but rather in human terms,” Fr. Vettese adds. “He saw a man in great need. His country of origin was not so important.”
International Samaritan is an interfaith, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving about 10,000 people daily in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua and Haiti. Most recently, International Samaritan has provided services in Cairo, Egypt, with plans for establishing partnerships in Sierra-Leone and other parts of Africa and Asia.
Focusing on the unique needs of those living in garbage dumps, International Samaritan works through partnerships — government agencies and human service organizations — to develop a continuum of services, enabling people to work their way out of the garbage dump.
International Samaritan establishes nurseries, nutrition programs, health clinics, housing, elementary and secondary schools and job training classes. It also supports entrepreneurial development such as businesses that recycle discarded materials.
Fr. Vettese founded the organization in 1995, after having personally witnessed the squalor of life in a Guatemala City garbage dump. The scene of children playing among the refuse, women with infants searching for food and clothing through rotting garbage, elderly people scavenging for recyclable items is common at garbage dumps throughout the world, where the idea of environmentally-controlled landfills is not common.
“We only are able to serve 10,000 people a day,” says Fr. Vettese. “Our hearts and vision is bigger than our resources.” He adds that International Samaritan will continue to work in partnerships with governments and other agencies to provide housing, schools, nurseries, food programs, micro-loans and other programs to help alleviate chronic and severe poverty.
International Samaritan is one of the few nonprofits that measures outcomes with research consultants and through university affiliations. In 2008, working with the Instituto Universitario de Opinion Publica, International Samaritan conducted a study of the organization’s progress in Guatemala City, as well as the success of its medical and social mission trips.
One of the findings of the research was that the comprehensive services offered have resulted in major changes in the culture. According to responses from garbage dump dwellers, people living in the Guatemala City garbage dump are realizing the value of education, better health care, nutrition and parenting on their ability to attain a better standard of living.
Medical missions and alternative spring breaks for college students offer hands-on volunteer opportunities to contribute to the environmental change.
“These are relatively low-cost opportunities that provide people of all ages with a life-changing experience,” Fr. Vettese says. “You learn that this is a sustainable mission, but it progresses incrementally.”
International Samaritan is also organized to deliver disaster relief in the cities where it has a presence, such as during the 2008 avalanches at the Guatemala City dump, which were responsible for killing more than 15 people.
Local partners in the community work with relief agencies to meet the immediate needs of the victims. International Samaritan supports this effort through special fundraising drives.
For more information on International Samaritan, contact Oscar Dussan, executive director, at 734-222-0701 or visit the organization’s Web site at www.camon-line.org.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 May 2009 09:10 |
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