ADESJO celebrates 50 years of service to the poor

Event Date: Oct 12, 2012

A “Celebration of Successful Partnership” will take place at St. Jean de Brébeuf Catholic Secondary School at 6:00pm on Friday, October 12 to honour a 12-year partnership between students and staff of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board and ADESJO (Association for the Development of San José de Ocoa), a grassroots organization developed and supported by Scarborough Foreign Missions priest Father Lou Quinn to serve the poor in the Dominican Republic.

Since 2000, students from Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic secondary schools have trekked to the Dominican Republic with the D.R.E.A.M.S. (Dominican Republic Education and Medical Support) Program to build homes for families living in poverty. Their service experience has been facilitated by ADESJO which, over the past 50 years, has built roads, aqueducts, irrigation systems, latrines, greenhouses, schools, medical centres and homes for the needy people of the D.R.

Inspired by ADESJO and Father Lou’s work, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic secondary students have raised more than $500,000 and have built two schools, a teacher’s residence and 125 homes in remote villages in Ocoa. Their labours have not only transformed whole communities but a generation of young people who realize they have the power to make a difference in the world.

A “Celebration of Successful Partnership” dinner will be hosted at St. Jean de Brébeuf Catholic Secondary School to celebrate the successful collaboration between ADESJO – which this year marks its 50th anniversary – and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board.

Tickets can be purchased at any Catholic secondary schools. Cost is $35.00.

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board is also undertaking a “Pennies for Pesos” fundraising campaign which was initiated by Sister Mary Jo Mazzerolle, a Religious Hospitaler of St. Joseph who has dedicated her life to helping the poor. The goal is to build a 26-room dormitory in the Dominican Republic that will house students and many other guests from the Dominican and abroad.

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