A couple of weeks ago at one of our weekly Open Hand process meetings I began to envision the possibility of going on a mission trip to Italy and Romania. I know God was calling me to go and so I bought my ticket a week later. The trip starts off in Rimini, a small town in Italy on the adriatic sea. I will be going with 5 others from Open Hand USA to visit the San Patrignano Community.
The San P Community, started by Vincenzo Muccioli and a group of volunteers in 1978, is now the largest facility in Europe that takes in people with addictions and rehabilitates them, gives them job training and helps reintegrate them into society. It is currently home to 1,800 people and since 1978, 20, 000 people have been through their program. What impressed me the most was their rate of recidivism. 70% of people are still drug free after three years. In 2006, they were named "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" at the World Economic Forum in recognition of the success of this community's recovery model. www.SanPatrignano.org
The McKenna's in Mana Deschisa (Open Hand Romania) are doing the same thing on a smaller scale. They will be meeting us in Rimini to learn what we can from this community and together we will go back to Romania to put what we learned into practice. The counselors at Mana Deschisa are doing a lot of work using attachment theory with the young adults that are going through their program. I hope to bring them resources and do a short teaching on attachment and how it can be used to heal the lives of people with addictions.
My hope is to raise enough money for my trip estimated at $1000, and take over a gift to Open Hand Romania who, even though they generate a large part of their budget themselves, are still 5K short every month for their operating budget. The photo's at the top of the blog posting are of the residential treatment facility being built in Mana Deschisa. Thank you for your support. I look forward to sharing my experience with you when I get back.
Here is a link to a short clip about the work in Mana Deschisa Romania
If you would like to donate you can either write a check to Open Hand and put Kath's Travel on it and get a tax receipt
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OR click the button below to donate via my paypal account. If you send an email to me with the amount and your address, we could send you out a tax receipt.
Thank you for your support.
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