Early History
1990: Fifty percent of The Presbytery of Des Moines' Rural Harvest Offering was granted to El Tablon, a canton (dirt-floor-home community) located in the mountains of eastern El Salvador in the Department of Usulutan. The $8,000 grant was for agricultural development in that community of 150 families. It was visited in November by Presbytery's Hunger Action Enabler of that time, Reverend Robert Cook.
May, 1991: Presbytery voted unanimously to formalize a developmental relationship with that community.
May, 1992: A second grant for agricultural development from the Rural Harvest Offering was voted by Presbytery of Des Moines for the community of El Tablon.
1992: Presbytery of Des Moines provided $8,000 for the rebuilding of the elementary school in El Tablon. Only grades K-6 are provided in the community.
May, 1993: A group of 15 people from Des Moines Presbytery became the first official delegation to the community.
1993: Reverend James Rae and Reverend Joyce Bassler, as participants on the first official delegation, witnessed the need for clothing for the children in El Tablon. They raised $2,000 through a special request to Presbyterian Women of Des Moines Presbytery. That offering served to provide sewing classes for six women from that community.
March 1994: Nancy Lister-Settle and Jack Settle from Dallas Center, Reverend James and Win Rae from Brooklyn, and Ron Warnet, Indianola, were sent to El Salvador to serve as election observers and were assigned to Berlín. They interviewed many groups in the community prior to the election and also observed the voting process and counting of ballots. This was called the "Election of the Century" because all positions from local to president were being elected as well as being the first election since the peace accords.
August, 1994: Jack Settle of Dallas Center, along with the Pastors for Peace caravan, drove a truck loaded with twelve treadle sewing machines for delivery to the Parish of Saint Joseph in Berlin, El Salvador, for the women of El Tablon who had learned to sew.
August, 1994 to July, 1995: Reverend Robert Cook was invited to join the Parish Pastoral Team at the Parish of Saint Joseph in Berlin which encompasses about a ten-square mile area that includes El Tablon and 15 other cantons. Des Moines Presbytery expanded its relationship to include the entire parish. The church for the Parish is located in the Pueblo Berlin, a community of 11,000 people. There are 14,000 people in the 16 cantons.
1995: The Social Ministries Task Force of Des Moines Presbytery voted to designate the Parish of Saint Joseph as a permanent recipient of half the annual Rural Harvest Offering.
March, 1995: An official delegation from First Presbyterian Church of Newton, Iowa, visited the Parish. The experience resulted in plans for a medical delegation to visit the communities of the Parish the following year.
March 1996: Friar Carlos Torres, head of the Parish Pastoral Team in Berlin, visited the Presbytery of Des Moines.
March, 1996 to August, 1996: Annika Lister-Stroope joined the Parish Pastoral Team in Berlin as a representative of Des Moines Presbytery. Her presence provided support for the sewing projects and natural medicines project that were projects begun by the Parish during the time that Rev. Robert Cook lived at the Parish in 1994-1995.
July, 1996: Carmen and Don Hampton from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Indianola, Iowa, visited Berlin to repair and adjust all sewing machines in El Tablon and Virginia. At that time they established a repair and maintenance schedule for the sewing machines that would be done by Jose Luis "Chepe" Guerrero.
August, 1996: The first medical delegation organized by First Presbyterian Church of Newton, Iowa, provided more than 1,000 health exams for residents of the Parish.
August, 1997: Three members of the Parish Pastoral Team in Berlin, Friar Jesus Gomez, Milagro del Carmen Rodriguez Lopez and Juanita Abarra, arrived in Des Moines. They visited with more than 20 congregations of the Des Moines Presbytery during their ten-day stay.
April, 1998: The second medical delegation organized by First Presbyterian Church of Newton, Iowa, provided more than 1,000 health exams for residents of the Parish.
April, 1999: A delegation made up of Reverend Robert Cook, Kent Newman and Tammy Less assisted the Parish Pastoral Team with development of a solar project that focuses on ovens for cooking, dryers for drying fruit and vegetables, and solar panels for generation of electricity. Only one of the cantons of the Parish has electricity.
April, 1999: The third medical delegation organized by First Presbyterian Church of Newton, Iowa, provided more than 1,000 health exams for the residents of the Parish. During that trip eye glasses were also fitted. A recommendation was made to bring 12-year-old Milagro "Millie" Granados to Des Moines for corrective foot surgery.
September, 1999: A delegation from Heartland Presbyterian Church of Clive, Iowa, visited El Tablon to discuss with the leadership of that community the construction of a solar equipped building to house a sewing cooperative, health care room and community meeting center.
November, 1999: Heartland Presbyterian Church of Clive, Iowa, voted to establish a five-year commitment to the social needs of El Tablon, with a focus on education, health and a sewing cooperative.
October, 1999 to December, 1999: Milagro "Millie" Granados, by recommendation of the Newton medical delegation in April of that year, is brought to Des Moines for corrective foot surgery. Three months of hospitality is provided for Millie and her mother, Haydee, by Joyce and Jim Hoffman from Heartland Presbyterian Church. The surgery was provided free by Dr. Jeff Farber and after-surgery care by Blank Hospital of Des Moines.
February, 2000: A fifteen-member solidarity/education delegation from Des Moines Presbytery churches visited the Parish.
February, 2000: The fourth medical delegation from First Presbyterian Church of Newton, Iowa, visited the Parish. The delegation included Rev. Duane Skidmore, a United Methodist pastor and Veronica Mangrich, a nurse and member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Newton.
April, 2000: Sacred Heart Catholic Parish from Newton, Iowa, visited the Parish with a focus on construction of solar ovens and solar food dryers.
September, 2000: Representatives from Heartland, Park Avenue and Trinity Presbyterian churches, a United Methodist church, a Catholic parish and Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines visited the Parish of Saint Joseph.