More than 175 books have been collected and will be sent to mission schools in Antigua by members of St. Theresa’s Church in Springfield. This special project was spearheaded by parishioner Audrey Skrupskelis.

According to Skrupskelis, her former co-worker, Vin Fuedo, a professor in the Education Department at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, and his wife, Bonnie, an elementary school teacher, sold or gave away almost everything they had and joined the Third Order of St. Francis. They became missionaries and were sent to Antigua.

“I admire them for doing that. It took a lot of guts,” Skrupskelis said. “It’s such a wonderful act of unselfishness that we don’t see much anymore.”

In February, Skrupskelis received one of Dr. Fuedo’s regular newsletters, in which he described the desperate situation of the three schools with which he is associated. In his newsletter, he wrote, “The principal categorized students’ reading skills as ranging from nonexistent to horrible. Of course, with few books and paper being very expensive, appropriate materials are lacking. We’re appealing to you to send to us any educational materials. My best guess is that there isn’t much of anything that you would use for your children (or students, for those of you who are teachers) that wouldn’t be helpful to us.”

Skrupskelis said, “Dr. Fuedo said he had more books in his office than they did in three schools.”

That’s when she decided to ask church members to help with collecting books and other materials to send to Fuedo.

Skrupskelis mentioned the project at the Ladies’ Altar Society meeting, and left flyers in the church hall asking for donations. In the past five or six weeks, more than 100 books have been collected, including children’s and youth storybooks, middle school textbooks and some teachers’ books and texts. An elementary teacher, Molly Williams, has offered a 75-book first-grade reading series, including the readers’ and teacher’s manuals.

This will be an ongoing project, according to Skrupskelis. She plans to pack up the books and materials as she receives them and ship them to Fuedo.

Those who would like to donate appropriate books, educational materials, or office supplies are asked to call Audrey Skrupskelis at 803-641-3240.

T&D Correspondent Loretta Demko can be reached by e-mail at eeshtenem@yahoo.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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