Newsletter – Fall 2014
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$10K Matching Grant Kicks Off Funding of On-Campus Church
Asbury First United Methodist Church of Rochester, NY has donated $10,000 in matching funds to encourage the construction of a church building at Project Chacocente.
The Chacocente families have for years requested help in building a church that they and the surrounding community could attend. The church will also serve the Chacocente Christian School and visiting delegations.
Asbury First’s pastor, Rev. Susan Shafer, said she and her congregation felt called to help make the church a reality.
The total cost of the church is estimated at $20,000. If you would like to contribute to the church fund and have your contribution doubled please send your check to:
Project Chacocente P.O. Box 128 Lexington, MA 02420
Please indicate on the check that it is for the church fund.
Many thanks and blessings to Asbury First for getting us started on this wonderful project!!
Seven Students to Participate in CCS First-Ever H.S. Graduation
The Chacocente Christian School will celebrate its first-ever high-school graduation in November.
In November, the Chacocente Christian School will send out its first graduating class.
“We are extremely proud of them,” says Director Ervin Ruiz. “They have worked hard and achieved a milestone that even today, is quite rare.”
Along with their teachers and families, we wish them great success in life!
Meet each student in the printed version.
View From The Haze
By Cheryl Avery
Three months ago, when we published the last Chacocente News, Nicaragua was enduring the worst draught in 23 years. (Many farmers lost both harvests, while some eked out a sparse one. The students at Chacocente’s school completely lost their harvest, which was to supplement our school lunches.)
Then the rains started, relentless and powerful, causing floods and mudslides. In Managua, in the neighborhood of 18 de Mayo, a wall gave way, crashing down on several houses and burying eight people under the mud. Several people who survived were hospitalized with injuries.
In that same span, two earthquakes hit Nicaragua, one the magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. (The quake that leveled Managua in 1972 measured 6.4.)
In Granada, the authorities are keeping watch over the Madras volcano which has belched more than 150 minor eruptions recently.
And don’t forget the meteor that crashed into Tipitapa!
In the U.S., we heard all summer about the drought and forest fires in California, and the floods in the mid-West. But the U.S. is a big country. That doesn’t make the disasters any less devastating for those impacted by them, but Nicaragua is dealing with all these calamities and it’s just the size of Alabama!!
In late October, a Managua newscast noted that in spite of everything, Nicaraguans continue to smile. For those of you who have visited the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, you have seen this for yourselves.
Commenting on the news report, Director Gabriel Godinez told me: “It’s crazy. We think we live in Paradise.”
And maybe they do.
Still, I’d like to invite you to keep the people of Chacocente, the surrounding neighborhood, and the entire country in your prayers.
Non-Profit, Once Again!
The Board of Directors announced in October that Chacocente has regained its status as a 501(c)(3) organization. All 2014 donations to the Project are retroactively tax-deductible.
A heart-felt thanks goes out to Valencia [CA] UMC for its valuable assistance over the past several months!