Guatemala
Deacon Connie McCarroll, D.O.,
began going to Guatemala in 1997
with St. George's support. She has
made more than a dozen trips providing
pediatric care and surgeries, and
providing education to the local
doctors in the
Sangre de Cristo Health Care
Project
Connie and her friend, Sister Margo,
who is a Sister of the Precious Blood
and also a doctor, have
helped establish 6 clinics in the La Labor area, Northeast of
Guatemala City. The clinics offer education
in the schools and train
health promoters in the villages.
The health promoters primarily
teach hygiene -- personal
hygiene, water hygiene, cooking
hygiene -- and they are
establishing the use of Alpha
latrines for better sanitation.
Donations from partner parishes in
the United States have made it
possible to dig several wells to
provide clean water to the villagers.
St. George's has been active in
supporting these efforts: providing
tuition for 4 children to attend
the Maria de Mattias School and
funding scholarships for teachers.
St. George's has also provided
travel expenses for a nurse to
accompany Connie.
In August of
2002 St. George's youth group made
their first trip to Guatemala.
There they were exposed to a new to
them level of poverty and also to
the hospitality of the poor. They
learned to share in the work by
building latrines, looking for lice
in hair, treating parasites, and
teaching children how to brush
their teeth.
Connie says, "We do ministry
locally but we also know that the
extreme poverty seen by the youth
certainly leaves an impression
which they carry into everyday
ministry at home, and I think that
is the gift in mission work."
Russia
St.
George’s participates in The
Miami
Valley Episcopal Russian Network (MVERN),
a consortium of eleven Episcopal
churches, stretching from
Springboro to Piqua, founded in
1997. MVERN's purpose is to foster
a personal and spiritual
partnership between our parishes
and St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox
Church in Sablino, Russia, through
prayer, visits of clergy and
laypersons (adults and youth),
correspondence, study of each
other’s traditions and ministry,
and support with finances,
supplies, and equipment as
appropriate. MVERN is proud to be
considered the largest and most
active Russian-Episcopal parish
partnership in the country.
TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE The Miami Valley Episcopal Russian
Network (MVERN) has invited area young
people to travel to Russia on
several occasions. They
have participated in
an immersion program with Russian
teenagers from MVERN's partner
church and the Tosno School System.
In addition to sightseeing, sports,
computer games, music, art and
other projects, they served as an
example of American youth ministry
while working service projects with
Russian youth for St. Nicholas
Church.
The youth exchange has also brought
Russian teens to the Miami Valley.
Dominican
Republic
St.
George's is a mission partner in
support of physicians Michael and
Anita Dohn who serve as SAMS
medical missionaries in
San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican
Republic
with Rebecca, Tracy, Natalia, and
Elizabeth/
The Dohn's believe that medical
care tangibly demonstrates God's
love and concern to a suffering
world. They seek to treat people
with compassionate care to improve
their health so that they may live
fully in the redeemed life.
Michael and Anita pursued medical
careers and began to take
short-term mission trips. During
this time they began to explore how
God might best use their skills and
education. A visit to the Dominican
Republic convinced the Dohn family
that the Lord was calling them into
community health development there.
Visit the Dohn's website:
http://www.samsusa.org/missionaries-frames19.html
ERD
Episcopal
Relief and Development is the
collective response of
Episcopalians to help people in
need. Through grants for
emergency relief, rehabilitation
and development
ERD
responds to people in need in the
U.S. and around the world.
