Glen Rock October 5, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 11 Local group raises funds for new school in Guatemala by John Koster The Glen Rock Poverty Awareness Project will hold a Day of the Dead celebration on Nov. 5 from 6 p.m. to 11:30 to help raise funds for a new school in Santa Maria De Jesus in Guatemala. “This school will provide free education for the poorest of the poor,” said Beth Fernandez, leader of the project. “The Glen Rock Poverty Awareness Project believes that education is the key to rising from poverty.” Fernandez notes that the average boy in Guatemala only attends school for five years, and the average girl for three years. The country is one of the poorest in Central America and extended education is beyond the means of most rural families. Guests at the upcoming fundraiser are asked to pay a minimum of $25, and will enjoy dancing, food, sangria, and a costume contest in a tent at 426 Ackerman Avenue in Glen Rock while they help raise funds for education in Central America. Day of the Dead is a traditional holiday in Mexico and other Central American countries in which celebrants dress up as skeletons or other deceased entities to remember their ancestors and friends in the next world. Traditional celebrations include offering food and lighting candles at ceremonies to show the concern and affection the living still have for the dead. The Glen Rock Poverty Awareness Project has, in past years, constructed a house in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity in Paterson, with fundraising and incremental construction in Glen Rock. The group has also donated PlayPump wells to sub-Saharan Africa so young girls do not have to walk miles for drinking water of dubious quality, and donated mosquito netting to Haiti to save children from the threat of malaria. The Saint Catharine Association of Mature Parishioners will travel to the Platzl Brauhaus in Pomona, New York for Oktoberfest on Oct. 14. The bus Group plans meeting, Oktoberfest will leave the church parking lot at 9:15 a.m. For reservations, call Mary at (201) 781-3812 or Fran at (201) 797-0923.