The Peace Abbey

To the editor:

I am writing to thank the Dover/Sherborn schools for helping in our recent hurricane relief efforts. The Special Peace Corps, a community service group of young adults with special life challenges based at the Peace Abbey, joined with the Citizen Action Team, an independent group of local volunteers who have sent much-needed supplies to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf region.

Thanks to the efforts of David Nihill, principal of Pine Hill School, Denise Lonergan, headmaster of D/S High School, and Paul Berkel, headmaster of D/S Middle School and the herculean efforts of teachers Mandy Gees, Scott Walker and 40 middle school students, the Special Peace Corps was able to pick up and deliver over 100 boxes of textbooks.

Mayflower/BTI Transportation in Norwood has donated warehouse space and four semi-trucks to date, and the Teamsters Local 25 have volunteered to drive the books and supplies down. As a result, countless numbers of evacuees have received supplies collected and donated from MetroWest Boston and beyond. The textbooks were delivered to makeshift schools and shelters in the least-served areas where one of the teamsters described seeing total devastation. He stated, "Most of the buildings and schools are in piles of rubble."

The vision of the Citizen Action Team and Special Peace Corps, along with the effort put forth by the local schools in Dover and Sherborn, truly exemplifies the meaning of community.

For more information, log on to www.citizenactionteam.org or www.peaceabbey.org/specialpeacecorps.
Meg Randa, The Peace Abbey