DENA makes a difference locally and globally
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By EmmaLee Italia |Correspondent
New Jersey and the island nations of Jamaica and Haiti may be separated geographically and culturally. But citizens from each locale are benefiting from the ministry programs run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools District of Eastern North America (DENA), Eatontown.
The DENA district office belongs to a national and international network of educational ventures inspired by a Lasallian vocation, following the vision of John Baptist de La Salle, patron saint of teachers: to provide “a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor.”
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the Eatontown DENA office began using its website and email blasts to organize a fundraising campaign. Calling on its network of almost 40 schools and ministries, Lasallian students and faculty raised over $85,000 to aid fellow students and families struggling with storm damage.
“The focus of the Christian Brothers is finding ways to help with education,” said Philip De Rita, DENA’s director of communications and public relations. “There were three schools in our district that were particularly hard hit by the storm, and we used the funds raised to supplement tuition for those schools.”
Community service also played a large role; hundreds of volunteer hours were logged by the Lasallian affiliates immediately following the storm, as well as several months of continued clean up and rebuilding.
The students who benefited from the Sandy relief spoke about their gratitude. Names were withheld to protect the privacy of the families.
“My family is so thankful for the generosity of the Lasallian family,” said a junior in St. Peter’s Boys High School, Staten Island, N.Y. “Between finding a place to stay and getting work done on the house so we could move back in, receiving this wonderful gift helped to relieve the stress of how to pay for school over the next few months. This simple act of kindness enabled me to have a normal day, at least in school.”
Other local educational outreach of the Brothers of the Christian Schools includes a program of English as a Second Language classes in Asbury Park, which has helped as many as 1,000 Latin-American and Haitian immigrants over the past 10 years to learn English.
“Originally we thought it was going to be more about teaching catechism,” said Brother Thomas Browne, FSC, the ESL program’s director. “We discovered that the pressing need was to learn the English language, so these people could have a viable skill, and find gainful employment.”
DENA is currently exploring ways it can help a school and health clinic in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Partnered with the Christian Brothers in the District of Antilles/South Mexico, two delegations have already visited and begun planning an avenue for faculty, staff and students to offer their resources.
“It’s eye-opening,” said De Rita, who visited Haiti with one of the delegations. “I’d never travelled to a third-world country before, and it was incredible to see the level of poverty families are living in.”
The school, close enough to the Port Au Prince airport that airline names are legible on aircraft, is a bright blue building among the gray rubble and shacks of Cazeau that students’ families call home.
“You see the students wearing their school uniforms, smiling - they’re happy and engaged,” De Rita continued.
DENA’s mission continues with the newly acquired operation of the only remaining Catholic high school in the Diocese of Mandeville, Jamaica. At the request of the district office, two Christian Brothers and a Lasallian Lay-Partner volunteered to take over, believing that their vocation is to ensure that the youth in impoverished Bull Savannah have quality, affordable education.
Throughout the district - which spans from Toronto, Canada to Washington, D.C., and from Detroit, Mich. to Providence, R.I. - DENA conducts training and formation programs, and provides opportunities for community service and cultural immersion, locally and abroad.
More information about the Christian Brothers, Lasallian education and ministry support can be found at www. fscdena.org.
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By EmmaLee Italia |Correspondent
New Jersey and the island nations of Jamaica and Haiti may be separated geographically and culturally. But citizens from each locale are benefiting from the ministry programs run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools District of Eastern North America (DENA), Eatontown.
The DENA district office belongs to a national and international network of educational ventures inspired by a Lasallian vocation, following the vision of John Baptist de La Salle, patron saint of teachers: to provide “a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor.”
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the Eatontown DENA office began using its website and email blasts to organize a fundraising campaign. Calling on its network of almost 40 schools and ministries, Lasallian students and faculty raised over $85,000 to aid fellow students and families struggling with storm damage.
“The focus of the Christian Brothers is finding ways to help with education,” said Philip De Rita, DENA’s director of communications and public relations. “There were three schools in our district that were particularly hard hit by the storm, and we used the funds raised to supplement tuition for those schools.”
Community service also played a large role; hundreds of volunteer hours were logged by the Lasallian affiliates immediately following the storm, as well as several months of continued clean up and rebuilding.
The students who benefited from the Sandy relief spoke about their gratitude. Names were withheld to protect the privacy of the families.
“My family is so thankful for the generosity of the Lasallian family,” said a junior in St. Peter’s Boys High School, Staten Island, N.Y. “Between finding a place to stay and getting work done on the house so we could move back in, receiving this wonderful gift helped to relieve the stress of how to pay for school over the next few months. This simple act of kindness enabled me to have a normal day, at least in school.”
Other local educational outreach of the Brothers of the Christian Schools includes a program of English as a Second Language classes in Asbury Park, which has helped as many as 1,000 Latin-American and Haitian immigrants over the past 10 years to learn English.
“Originally we thought it was going to be more about teaching catechism,” said Brother Thomas Browne, FSC, the ESL program’s director. “We discovered that the pressing need was to learn the English language, so these people could have a viable skill, and find gainful employment.”
DENA is currently exploring ways it can help a school and health clinic in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Partnered with the Christian Brothers in the District of Antilles/South Mexico, two delegations have already visited and begun planning an avenue for faculty, staff and students to offer their resources.
“It’s eye-opening,” said De Rita, who visited Haiti with one of the delegations. “I’d never travelled to a third-world country before, and it was incredible to see the level of poverty families are living in.”
The school, close enough to the Port Au Prince airport that airline names are legible on aircraft, is a bright blue building among the gray rubble and shacks of Cazeau that students’ families call home.
“You see the students wearing their school uniforms, smiling - they’re happy and engaged,” De Rita continued.
DENA’s mission continues with the newly acquired operation of the only remaining Catholic high school in the Diocese of Mandeville, Jamaica. At the request of the district office, two Christian Brothers and a Lasallian Lay-Partner volunteered to take over, believing that their vocation is to ensure that the youth in impoverished Bull Savannah have quality, affordable education.
Throughout the district - which spans from Toronto, Canada to Washington, D.C., and from Detroit, Mich. to Providence, R.I. - DENA conducts training and formation programs, and provides opportunities for community service and cultural immersion, locally and abroad.
More information about the Christian Brothers, Lasallian education and ministry support can be found at www. fscdena.org.