Good News Through Good Deeds

Photograph by Michael Ventura

Every winter for the past 20 years a swarm of volunteers has descended on several islands in the West Indies and worked to build houses, tutor children, and spruce up nursing homes. The volunteers are part of the Good News Project, a charity that seeks to improve the lives of residents in Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Started in 1983 by Charles F. MacCarthy, a retired ophthalmologist, and his wife, Peggy, a longtime volunteer at a Catholic high school in Wausau, Wis., the charity has since built 172 homes on the islands with the help of nearly 600 volunteers from 28 states and 7 countries, including the West Indies. The couple got the idea when they visited St. Lucia and saw an opportunity for short-term volunteer work to help some needy residents.

“I have as many friends in the West Indies as I do in Wausau,” says Peggy MacCarthy, who along with her husband still serves as a volunteer leader of the organization. “You just can’t let them down.”

In addition to the hands-on trips, the charity ships clothing, medicine, school supplies, and other nonperishable goods to the islands throughout the year. The group also helped build an orphanage in St. Lucia, and has started a program in Dominica to show people how to recognize and treat alcohol and drug addiction.

The Good News Project, which has an office in Wausau and two employees to oversee its day-to-day operations, has a $161,000 annual budget, made up of contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations.

Volunteers, who range in age from 18 to 83, pay about $1,500 for airfare and lodging to participate in a two-week session on one of the islands.

While home construction is always on the activity schedule, the skills of the volunteers determine what other tasks will be accomplished on a trip.

Here, volunteers build a home for a single mother, pictured at left, who is a resident of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.