Largent man helps build classroom

Steve Cosimano was inspired, almost two weeks ago, when he read about Flor Lorenzo’s efforts to raise money to build a classroom for young students at an El Salvador school.

Her story, which ran in The Morgan Messenger with photos of Lorenzo’s visit with the children in their San Miguel school, touched Cosimano’s heart, he said.

So he decided to help, too.

Lorenzo had estimated that the cost of finishing construction of a separate classroom for the children at the crowded school would cost $2,500. Some parents there had begun laying block for the room, but funds had run out.

Last Friday, Cosimano presented Lorenzo with a check for $2,500 so construction of the classroom could be completed.

Lorenzo could hardly believe it. After all, she looked at the project as her own small way of giving to children in her native San Miguel.

But Cosimano heard something familiar in the story.

He thought of his mother, who recently passed away.

She grew up in an orphanage in southern Virginia, and went to school in a building that she described to him as “basically a chicken coop.”

Cosimano, who lives in Largent, talked about his mother with Lorenzo as they looked at photos of the Central American school, nearly 2,000 miles away.

Lorenzo had previously raised $600 through a yard sale and donations from friends and family, which she sent to her brother in San Miguel. Then she sent another $700, so the project was well on its way under her brother’s supervision.

Cosimano and Lorenzo agreed that if there was money left over after the new classroom got its walls and roof and tile floor, they would spend the rest on upgrading the bathrooms used by the students.

Excited that the room should be finished before the end of August, Lorenzo wished she could revisit the school.

She said she’d like to see with her own eyes that the students who sat working under some trees in an open courtyard had moved into the new classroom before the rainy season began.

For now, she and Cosimano will eagerly await photos of the project as it progresses.

“There’s not too many places where you can donate $2,500 and see a real difference in someone’s life,” said Cosimano.