More than $30,000 has been raised to help Friends in Puerto Padre, Cuba, renovate the old Wilmington School that was built there in 1909. That amount may will increase after all the Mason jars full of coins and bills have been collected from Meetings throughout Wilmington Yearly Meeting (WYM), and all the proceeds are counted from all the yard sales and other activities that helped raise almost triple the original goal of $12,000.
The project was guided and coordinated throughout WYM by Libbie Curry of Chester Friends Meeting. She has made visits to Puerto Padre Friends and plans to join them again this Fall to see first-hand the construction that is underway, which includes completing the new roof. There is hope that there will be a new doorway between the Friends meetinghouse and the reconstructed area of the old school. When construction is completed, the building will be a gathering place for everyone in Puerto Padre as it takes on new life as a community center.
Libbie announced the total during Wilmington Yearly Meeting at Wilmington College in July. One of our Meeting's members, Ruby Porter, signed the check that will go to Puerto Padre Friends in her capacity as Treasurer of the United Society of Friends Women.
