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I received the following e-mail from Jennifer Brown, sharing some of their experiences on their recent trip to Nicaragua. Because it is so important and touching, I'm electing not to include other and miscellaneous items in this week's parish-wide e-mail.
 
Faithfully, Fr. Ray+

Dear Michael,
Anna and I returned early Monday morning from our week-long trip to Nicaragua with Quinnipiac faculty and students, as well as some lawyers from New Haven. Due to the amazing generosity of several St T’s parishioners, we were able to transport nine large suitcases and one plastic bin filled with shoes, clothes (for adults, children, and babies), school supplies, and art supplies. We also dropped off two large garbage bags of cold-weather clothing in a North Haven “Kiducation” bin. On Wednesday evening last week in Nicaragua, the Quinnipiac students and I sorted the donations.  We put together a couple hundred “art packs,” ziplock bags filled with little pads of paper and an assortment of pens, stickers, crayons, and pencils. In addition, we were able to give the school much-needed supplies that the teachers would use. Some of the dressier clothing you donated was set aside for young adults who work with Alianza Americana, an NGO in Leon that teaches English and focuses on leadership skills for the next generation of Nicaraguans. We thought they might appreciate “interview” outfits, since many of the Alianza students cannot afford to buy their own. On Thursday, we delivered the other clothing and school supplies to a rural school in La Cieba, outside of Leon.  he school serves 700 children, some who walk more than an hour each way to reach the school.  Some can afford only half of the required uniform (the skirt for girls costs about $4, the shirt costs $3). All of the kids we met were wonderful -- friendly (one little girl approached Anna as soon as she stepped from the van, gave her a big hug, and tugged her hand to show off her classroom), energetic, polite, bright-eyed, and hopeful. Their principal was overwhelmed with the gifts we delivered. She started to cry, and expressed her thanks in words that made our translator cry (our own Jeff Meyer, who was also on this trip and speaks Spanish, told me it was “poetic”). I got this much: “the love that unites us is universal; walls, countries, politics, differences cannot divide us. When we give to each other in this way, part of us is shared, and we are in each other’s hearts. You will be in the hearts of the children of La Cieba. Every time they use the supplies you donated, or wear the clothes you gave to them and their parents, you will be in their hearts.”

I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of our friends at St T’s who donated clothing, and a special thanks to Betsy Branch, who spearheaded an effort to collect bags and bags of school supplies from her colleagues at Foote School. You have enriched the lives of hundreds of children and their families.

Peace,
Jenny Brown