Monticello fire truck working in Guatemala

Lazaro Aleman, ECB Publishing, Inc.

That obsolete fire truck that the Monticello Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) donated to the Monticello Rotary Club last year is fighting fires and saving lives in Guatemala.
So reports former Monticello Rotary Club President Edward Carraway, who with Jim Jones, of the Crystal River Rotary Club, recently traveled to Guatemala to check on the truck and the other firefighting equipment that the Rotarians donated and meet with the truck's new crew and chief.
Some may recall that the MVFD last year donated its 1982 fire engine to the local Rotary Club when the department upgraded its fleet with the addition of two used but newer engines. Even though the 1982 engine was deemed no longer adequate for use here, as it didn't meet U.S. standards, it was still functional and capable of viability. Thus, the Monticello Rotary Club, in conjunction with the Crystal River club, which calls itself the King's Bay Rotary, last year shipped the fire truck via barge to Patulul, a small village in Guatemala's mountainous region.
As Carraway explains it, he and Mark Kessler, the current president of the Monticello Rotary Club, were scheduled to visit Patulul last September to check on the truck. Their scheduled flight, however, got canceled as a result of the hurricane activity in the Gulf and Caribbean last fall. Bottom line, their trip never happened.
It was thus on Friday, April 13, that Carraway, absent Kessler, whose schedule didn't permit travel, flew to Guatemala with Jones, of the Crystal River club. The two flew from Orlando Airport and stayed in Panajachel, an old town in the Guatemalan Highlands that is located on the north shore of Lake Atitlán, renown for its three surrounding volcanoes.
Carraway says he and Jones were met in Panajachel by members of the Mayan Families, a faith-based nonprofit group that helps Guatemala's impoverished indigenous people in rural areas with school sponsorships, medical aid, construction projects, trade schools and feeding programs. Carraway and Jones, in the company of the Mayan Families members, then traveled some two hours by car to the small village of Patulul, where the former MVFD engine is now in service.
Carraway says he and Jones were pleased to see how well the truck and equipment were working out and how appreciative the people were to have received them. Interestingly, he says, the truck retains its Monticello logo and insignias. He was also impressed, he says, by the people's resourcefulness and ability to make do with little. It made one appreciative of the many blessings that one had in the U.S. and often took for granted, he said.
Offered Kessler, “The Monticello Rotary Club does many projects to help local communities and this an example of an international project. We're proud of the many service projects that we do.”