Johnston donates fire truck to Guatemalan community
by: Shaun Towne
JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. held a news conference Monday to announce the town is making a donation to a village in Guatemala.
The town is sending one of its former fire engines to the Central American nation through Hope of Life International, a locally based nonprofit.
President and CEO Katie Arriaza, who lives in Johnston, said that while their mission is to fight poverty and malnutrition in Guatemala, this donation is another way to help save lives in the country’s Dry Corridor.
“This is going to help so many people and it’s such a blessing,” Arriaza said.
The nonprofit’s founder, Carlos Vargas, thanked town leaders for the “beautiful gift.”
“We dedicate our life to look for the ones that nobody’s looking for,” he said. “The poor in the mountains, the ones who die of malnutrition, that’s our life.”
The nonprofit gifted a plaque to the town as a show of gratitude.