K of C Council Sponsors Hermandad Event

Hermandad, Inc. is a private, non-profit, tax exempt non-sectarian, US voluntary agency established in 1975 to aid the rural poor of Latin America and the Caribbean. They stress community development as a way to help the people support themselves.

At present, Hermandad is organizing committees of village-elected delegates to work with its skilled staff to advance clean water and agricultural systems in the Dominican Republic. The US Peace Corps has been assisting the work.

The Father William A. Daly S.J. Council of the Knights of Columbus of Manhasset/Great Neck is sponsoring a ceremonial for children up to age 8, their parents and other adults.

Posters and a video will show how Hermandad helps to develop the quality of life for the Dominican people. There will also be exhibits, dancing, a play area, crafts and refreshments.

The event will be held on Friday, Jan. 2, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Church of Our Saviour, Lutheran, 1901 Northern Boulevard, Manhasset. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children. For reservations phone Ed Heiskelll at 627-3642.

Mr. Heiskell's daughter, Elaine, is a Hermandad volunteer intern. She has been invited by the president of Hermandad, George Gerardi, to go to the Dominican Republic for six months to help oversee the local office operations of Hermandad. They are moving to a better location and are also initiating a new computer system. There is a need for someone to manage the daily office operations and to oversee accounting procedures. Elaine says she is "looking forward to having a chance to share her administrative skills, talents and energy with a people and a country who have given so much to me."

From 1992 through 1995, she lived in the Dominican Republic and taught at an American school in the capital city, Santo Domingo. Although Santo Domingo is growing increasingly modern, Elaine spent much time in the country with friends who live the way 80 percent of the Dominican population do--without clean water, electricity or a decent education. She says that the majority of people living in villages throughout the beautiful Dominican countryside have never seen a water faucet or a toilet. A shower or a hot bath is not in the realm of their experience. And they do not understand the reason behind the illness and death that plague their communities. Through the action of Hermandad, helping them with water filtration, irrigation and education, people are living stronger and healthier lives.

In a letter to the Knights of Columbus, Elaine Heiskell says: "Hermandad does much to educate and assist the people in poorer nations. However, the people we help also have much to teach us. In the United States, many basic values have become obscured amidst our material wealth. I hope that through my work, I will also be better able to share the positive aspects of Dominican culture and values with my friends and sponsors in the United States."