Informational Meetings:

• Sunday, February 12 
  at 12:30 p.m., Room 21,
  Fr. Jack Wall Mission Center, 3rd Floor, 711 W Monroe, Chicago;
• Tuesday, February 21 
  at 6:30 p.m., Room 21,
  Fr. Jack Wall Mission Center, 2nd Floor,
  711 W Monroe, Chicago;
• Sunday, February 26 
  at 6 p.m., Old St. Pat’s Rectory, 712 W. Adams, Chicago.

Service Trip Dates
Saturday, July 21 to Sunday, July 29, 2012.

Who should participate?
Adults looking for a life enhancing experience helping others break the cycle of poverty while enjoying the beautiful clear mountain surroundings of northern Nicaragua.

What will volunteers do?
Visit and serve in Fabretto’s schools and facilities; coordinate gardening projects in a new school building, help in the construction of school buildings (kitchens, playgrounds, etc), assist in the carpentry shop, participate in the forestry project by planting, pruning and clearing for new trees planted by Old St. Pat’s volunteers, and work with the women’s knitting cooperative. The trip’s flexible structure allows volunteers with specific skills, talents, and backgrounds to participate in various areas (e.g., health, education, sports, arts and crafts, language, business development, etc.).

Where?
Most of the time will be spent in Cusmapa, Nicaragua with travels to centers in Managua, Esteli, Somoto and Quebrada Hondo followed by two days of sightseeing in the colonial cities of Masaya and Granada, the Mombacho Cloud Forest, and Lake Nicaragua.

Why participate?
The thrill of giving back the blessings you have received by helping others, while enjoying the camaraderie of other like minded folks. For the past ten years, Old St. Patrick’s has sponsored 15 service trips aiding the Nicaraguan organization La Familia Padre Fabretto.  Past participants have built kitchens, planted trees for their sustainable forestry project, repaired, painted, and constructed facilities, and worked with some of the 6,000 children served by Fabretto.

If you are interested in sharing the life-changing experience of serving the poor of Nicaragua through Fabretto, please join us for information meetings on Sunday, February 12,
Tuesday, February 21, or Sunday, February 26. Trip details, accommodations and logistics, volunteer expectations, and much more will be discussed.  Reservations are on a first come, first serve basis and are limited to the first 20 participants.

For more information about Fabretto and the work they do in Nicaragua, please visit their website at www.fabretto.org.

To receive further information about the 2012 Service Trip to Nicaragua, please contact Bridget Sweeney Marino at b-sweeney1@northwestern.edu, or call 773.680.9850, Tom Gleason at tgleason@ameritech.net,  773.456.6158.