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A group of Catholics from Holy Spirit parish in Gloversville will travel to Belize next month to repair and renovate a primary school damaged by floods from an autumn hurricane.

Though their two-to-three-week trip will likely not cover the whole job, the group hopes to fix walls, windows and doors at the 1,000-student Cathedral School in Belize City.

Belize City is the largest city in the Central American nation, said Holy Spirit parishioner Carolyn Darkangelo. This is the eighth year the parish has sent a group to Belize; volunteers previously repaired and refurbished five schools and transformed two residential buildings into churches.

Mrs. Darkangelo recalled their first trip, when they rewired a one-room school in Rancho Dolores, painted walls and repaired furniture. Years later, in Ladyville, they rewired, painted and repaired a 20-room school. Other projects have included replacing windows, repairing plumbing and painting blackboards.

Mrs. Darkangelo and her husband are electricians, but some volunteers with no technical skills train as they go. Others tutor children during the visits.

The Belize trips started after a parishioner took a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and struck up a friendship with her guide, Rev. Oliver Smalls, of Belize. Father Smalls, now administrator of Holy Redeemer Cathedral in Belize City, visits the Gloversville parish annually.

Donations to the Belize mission fund supplies; volunteers pay their own way. The Darkangelos return annually. "It's a wonderful feeling," Mrs. Darkangelo said. "The people of Belize are just magnificent. They don't have a lot, but they laugh a lot."

Send donations to the Church of the Holy Spirit, Belize Mission, 149 South Main Street, Gloversville, NY, 12078. For information, call Carolyn Darkangelo, 883-7446.

(01/20/11) [[In-content Ad]]

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