The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Students doing their part
Operation Rescue had a problem.
The nonprofit organization established in 2014 had been making headway in its goal to build 100 homes in the jungles of El Salvador for the country’s poorest inhabitants.
But organizers had hit a snag in their latest building.
Due to the rough terrain surrounding the building site, a truck only was able to deliver the building materials 200 yards down a mountain from where the house would inevitably sit and there were no trails leading to the site, they said.
According to Dave Gantz, a founder of the organization, 72 men, women and children jumped into action and carried the building supplies brick by brick up the hill to the building site.
“One guy that was reporting for us, looked and said, ‘It looked up the mountain and it looked like a colony of ants walking up carrying this load and in about two and a half hours they transported all of the materials up to the work site,’” Gantz explained.
He and his wife, Marsha Gantz, were not in the jungles of El Salvador May 19. They were at St. Joseph Parish School, 175 St. Joseph Drive in Amherst,
to receive a $4,000 check raised by the students at the school.
Before presenting the check, Amy Makruski, assistant principal at St. Joseph’s, said the school’s initial goal was to raise the $2,000 necessary to build one home by offering students the chance to not wear the school’s uniform for a day each month in exchange for a donation.
“We figured this would probably take the whole school year,” Makruski said. “We actually met our goal by February.”
According to Makruski, the school chose to continue raising money, and through the sacrifice of the students, was able to double the amount they initially intended to donate.
“We encouraged the students to find the money to donate through their own ways, by earning it somehow or taking it out of their own piggy banks, not just by saying, ‘hey mom, I need $2 to dress down,’” Makruski said.
One of the houses St. Joseph’s funded the building of will be dedicated to the school.
The second house will be dedicated to the memory of Donna Spanski, who was the financial secretary of the school who died this past January, Makruski said.
“This is a big focus of our school,” she said. “It’s about our students putting the gospel into action, that’s why it was such an easy partnership.”
Operation Rescue is doing more than just building some houses.
According to Gantz, the organization uses Salvadoran construction crews. But many members of the crews did not have a background in construction.
“We hired crews that were unemployed and they were taught how to build; and they now are construction people,” he said with a laugh.
“That’s really part of the progress and the process that you have in mind,” Marsha Gantz added. “Not only do we give them something, they have a trade now. Now, they have a vocation so now they can support themselves.”
It’s about our students putting the gospel into action, that’s why it was such an easy partnership.” — Amy Makruski, assistant principal at St. Joseph’s