January 14, 2003
INFORMATION: Sue Bozman or John McElwain, (661) 362-3415 or 3494
Community Members to Participate in Humanitarian Trip to Nicaragua
A group of six Santa Clarita Valley community members are leaving for Nicaragua this week as part of a person-to-person humanitarian service project. While there (January 18 through 27), the group will promote reading and set up six small libraries in remote villages that currently don't have libraries. This is being accomplished through a partnership with the Nicaraguan department of education.
The project is the brainchild of former Santa Clarita Mayor and educator, Carl Boyer, who has pulled together a diverse group of volunteers from the community (including employees from the City Manager's office, a College of the Canyons instructor and a COC student) to make the trip. Six volunteers comprise the group. Adam Myers, the COC student will also be completing a college Service Learning project during the trip.
Everyone will be traveling at his/her own expense and the funds to establish the libraries come from donations. The Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) at College of the Canyons and the COC Spanish Institute are partially funding one of the libraries on the island of Ometepe. Other towns and cities the group will visit and provide services to are: Nueva Segovia, Jinotega, Chontales, Granada, Managua, Carazo and Rivas.
The members of the group are: Carl Boyer; Vince Bertoni, Jill and John Fosselman (City Manager's office) Claudia Acosta (COC Foreign Language Department Chair) and Myers.
For more information about this volunteer group and the trip, please contact Claudia Acosta at (661) 362-3530.
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