An Utterson man is combining his love of woodworking and his desire to help his fellow man in a project that will make life easier for some Central American people.

David Connell is organizing a venture called Tools for Guatemala, a year-long project he hopes will provide some residents of the small northern town of San Andres with tools and machinery with which to make their homeland a better place to live.

“My family and I have sponsored a few children in Guatemala over the years through Plan International (Foster Parents Plan). Visiting these children for three months about three years ago was a big part of the reason we decided to revisit the country. I also wanted to add that the reason I undertook this current project was that I was impressed with the ability of the people there to accomplish so much with so little. When I got home I decided to look for an opportunity to try to help out and the tools idea seemed like a natural.”

An avid woodworker, Connell set about collecting used and donated tools and machinery to ship to a rural community in the northern part of the country.

“I have pretty much everything I need for this particular project as far as tools go,” said Connell. “I have a table saw, band saw, shaper, drill press, a few metal-working machines, and lots of hand tools to go with everything. What I am trying to do now is raise funds to help with the cost of shipping the equipment there.

Assisting him with this project is an organization called Volunteer Petén. This small, not-for-profit organization is located in San Andres. The organization’s goal is to protect and manage a 150-acre reserve in the region, provide environmental education to all area schools and to aid and assist small community organizations, schools and families in San Andres, as well as provide quality volunteer opportunities for travellers and students.

“We are hoping to set up a training facility because they don’t have shops in high schools down there. It would also be used to help with public projects. We would repair school desks, outdoor tables, chairs, furniture for their library.”

Connell said that he needs about $3,000 in order to ship the tools to the village. An account has been established at Scotiabank under the name Tools for Guatemala for anyone who wishes to donate to the cause. He is hoping to be able to ship the tools to the village sometime next month. That will depend on how successful he is in raising the necessary funds.

“I will pay my own way down and stay a couple of weeks to get the shop set up and things going. The money we collect will be used to get the tools into a proper container and ship them down. There is no real deadline, but the sooner the better for the people there.”

For more information, call Connell at 385-1148 or via e-mail to kingfish@muskoka.com.