When it comes to helping others, cousins Paige and Andrea Stanton are all in.
Having participated in a mission trip to Wilmington, Delaware in July, with the First Presbyterian Church of Honesdale, the two teens are now gearing up to go to Haiti.
They’ll accompany Paige’s mom, Holly, as part of the Haiti Partnership of the Wyoming Annual Conference, from February 11-20, where they’ll help put a roof on a church being built.
To help raise necessary funding, the Stanton’s are holding a pasta dinner at the First Presbyterian Chapel in Honesdale on Friday, December 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. They’ll have pasta alfredo, vodka sauce, primavera or regular sauce to choose from, all homemade and donated by Elegante Restaurant and Pizzeria, Woodloch Pines Resort, and private community members. The cost to attend is $10 per person. To purchase a ticket in advance, stop by Stanton Office Equipment on Main please contact Holly at 253-7778 or Andrea at 253-9142. Tickets are also available at the door. They’re hoping at least 150 people stop by.
“I’m really excited ...experiencing the different culture, and getting to really see how they live, and just helping them as much as we can,” Andrea, 16, said.
Seventeen-year-old Paige feels the same way. “I know it’s going to be a unique experience. And I really like helping others. And I know mission trips are good for me. It’s work, but it’s helping someone in need — that always brings happiness to me,” Paige said. It’s about reaching out to the world around you, caring more about others, rather than concentrating on oneself, she said.
“We have so much here, that if we take a little time, and a little effort, and we go and help others, I think it’s something that you should do,” says Andrea.
As a mom, it’s hard for Holly to see little children who have no pants, wearing only long t-shirts in the streets; to see children without shoes, woman without shoes carrying water great distances over rocky, rugged terrain; people living in dirt-floor houses simply made out of palm fronds or concrete structures with tin roofs. Regardless, they’re a proud people, caring for what they do have.
When they’re leaving, Holly says they launder and leave their clothing behind for the church to dispense to those in need.
This is Holly’s third consecutive trip to Haiti. Her first trip was in 2008, then 2009 and now 2010. Past projects have included providing clean water, running pipes and providing bio-sand filters to the residents. “It’s basically a concrete filter ...it has sand and rock in it. And you take the water and you pour it in the top, because all of the water is contaminated; you wouldn’t be able to drink it. So, this filters it out. Our group, the Haiti Partnership teamed up with ‘Pure Water for the World’ ...and we’ve been working with them. It was a very expensive project ...$80,000. That’s near completion,” Holly said.
