TUESDAY, FEB. 21, 2012
6 to 8:30 PM
Lower Mill Gallery
61 North Main Street, Honeoye Falls, NY 14472

Photography reception Feb. 21 celebrates international community collaboration and local residents building a school in El Sauce, Nicaragua
*Reception includes work by El Sauce teens and a performance by an El Sauce musician

Last fall, local community members united to raise money to help residents in El Sauce, Nicaragua, build the first school ever to open in Las Minitas, a remote mountain community there. Las Minitas residents lobbied for four years to obtain a permanent teacher.

Volunteers raised $11,500 in just four months with barbecues, concerts, school coin drives and other initiatives. They included students in the Avon and Lima elementary schools, SUNY Geneseo students who have volunteered or studied in the El Sauce area, and other supporters such as Rotary.

Three Honeoye Falls volunteers — elementary school principals Rob and Jeanine Lupisella and journalist/photographer Kris Dreessen — helped construct the one-room brick school last month. When it opens Feb. 11, the school will serve 40 to 45 elementary-aged students, who used to walk up to an hour and a half each way to attend classes in another community.

The school is another advancement in a partnership between Enlace Project, a group of volunteers who assist El Sauce development, El Sauce residents and volunteers to rebuild sustainable and eco-responsible business and improve quality of life.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, at The Mill Art Center and Gallery in Honeoye Falls, a special photographic exhibition and reception celebrates this unique collaboration. The event opens “Rebuilding: Life in El Sauce,” a selection of images by Kris Dreessen, who has spent three years documenting economic development initiatives and life in El Sauce.

For the first time, selected works by El Sauce amateur photographers will be on display from The Friends Photo Project, which Dreessen started. Using digital cameras, teens in El Sauce and Las Minitas are sharing their lives and what is important to them from their own perspective. The community reception is an opportunity for school contributors and others to discover more about the community they are helping, and to meet El Sauce residents. Friends Photo contributing photographer Manuel Munguia will be at the reception as well as 11 other El Sauce residents who will be visiting Rochester. El Sauce musician Enrique Corrales performs from 8 to 8:30 p.m.

Enclosed are three high-resolution images and captions from “Rebuilding.” See images from The Friends Photo Project and visit the Lupisellas’ blog online.