Island strengthens ties to God's Child
BY SAM TOOLE INDEPENDENT INTERN
As you walk into the oasis of gardens, running water and beautiful buildings that The God's Child project has created in the outskirts of Antigua your breath is taken away. It is difficult to imagine that a place of such beauty could exist behind the dirt covered walls that run the streets.

Young, Antiguan beneficiaries of the God's Child program. COURTESY SAM TOOLE

The founder of the project, Patrick Atkinson, has been working in Guatemala for 27 years now and has established The God's Child Project as a strong, productive and well-run relief organization. It is based on the idea of providing long-term relief so families can break out of poverty permanently. They provide food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care, structure and guidance so families can successfully do this. They give opportunity for volunteers to build houses for people in need yet also offer an array of other volunteer activities such as food and clothing drives, working in orphanages and hospitals and helping run the organization. Basically if you are interested in helping out, they have something productive and self-fulfilling for people of all ages and physical condition.

Left: Guatamalans participate in God's Child clothing drive. .

Part-time residents of Nantucket, Sally and Peter Nash, are the people responsible for introducing this wonderful project to the island of Nantucket. Sally has lived in parts of Central America much of her life because of her father's work. Fifty years ago they decided to set their own roots in Guatemala and bought a house in Antigua. For some time Atkinson was their neighbor, and they soon were involved in the project. They have not looked back since. They organize service groups to travel to Antigua and volunteer at the God's Child Project. It has even spread to the high school, which has started to send a group of teenagers once a year to go down and help.

Sally loves the organization and feels it is wonderfully run and open to help anyone in need. For her personally, it has taught her to appreciate all the wonderful things in her life and has also shown that anyone can be a huge help. Even when she and Peter are not in Guatemala they are organizing clothes and toys to be sent down and are doing anything they can to make a difference. They also sponsor three different children and have watched them grow through their lives. The sponsoring is very open-ended and there is no figure attached to it so anyone can participate in a positive way. And, even the littlest things make these children's lives much better.

Right: Sam and Edward Toole finish a house built by the Tooles.

Sally has been thrilled to see the project take off here on Nantucket because she feels it is a great, lifechanging experience. Just the fact that people travel down there for the sole purpose of helping is a big deal to her.

"So many people go to Guatemala and just take, but this is a wonderful way to go and give back. It's a way to give back from what I've been given," she said.

Mr. Atkinson will be traveling to Nantucket in the following week and will be speaking on Tuesday, June 26th at the Coffin School from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. All are welcome to come and learn more about the project and its

goals as a relief organization. I