CREDIT: JOHN MAHONEY, THE GAZETTE

In his garage, Andy Csisztu packs supplies before leaving for Paraguay.

Sending aid and kindness

At 71, Andy Csisztu is really reaching out

Max Harrald Freelance
Thursday, September 15, 2005

Andy Csisztu could be taking it easy. At 71, the Baie d'Urfe resident has retired after a long career as a chemist for Nortel. So why did he just lug 16 heavy boxes to Paraguay?

"I saw these kids and there was nothing to them but skin and bones," explained Csisztu, who returned from the South American country Aug. 20 after a 10-day trip - his second there - to deliver medical supplies. "I said 'Oh, Geez!' It's heart-wrenching. We need to help these kids."

Csisztu's trip was sponsored by the Montreal-Lakeshore Rotary Club and organized by Health Partners International, a Pointe Claire company that assembled the supplies - each package containing about $5,500 worth - donated by the Canadian health care industry.

The boxes cannot be shipped on their own for customs reasons. For Csisztu, the trip to four clinics in and around Paraguay's capital city, Asuncion, made him want to return to do more.

"I saw a school with one latrine for 45 students," he said. "It was a hole in the floor and there was no door, no privacy. I told them I would love to see us go back and show them how to build (a proper toilet). They just about fell over backwards."

Csisztu, one of the Lakeshore Rotary Club's 33 members, said delivering the supplies personally was truly gratifying. "I reached a point in life when all my kids and grandkids are healthy. But the kids down there really need our help."

Susan Diening, 57, the club's director of community service, said Hurricane Katrina's effects on the U.S. Gulf Coast highlight how crucial volunteers are to those in need. "I'm sure there will be an upsurge of help to those areas," she said.

Diening said West Island residents can help hurricane victims most quickly and effectively by donating to reputable organizations like the Canadian Red Cross.

Diening, whose day job is managing the Registrar's Office at John Abbott College, said the Rotary Club's mission is peace and understanding.

Bill Hodges, another Rotary member, said people wanting to become involved with its local and international projects can start by attending the club's weekly luncheon, held at 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the Holiday Inn in Pointe Claire.

Hodges said the Rotarians, founded in 1905 as a businessmen's networking club, has evolved to focus almost entirely on goodwill projects. Hodges pointed to the Rotarians' work vaccinating kids against polio as probably the movement's greatest achievement, since the illness has been all but eradicated.

Hodges, 68, a retired engineer, said events like Katrina show that "it's way beyond the ability of government to do it alone."

He said volunteerism is a worldwide force that starts at the local level.

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