Year Joined MKLM: 2005 Country: Bolivia City: Cochabamba Focus: Education,Pastoral Care Project(s): 1. Blindness and low-vision rehabilitation 2. Music Ministry People Served: More than 200 members of various neighborhoods and communities. Project Goal(s):  1.  Full indeppendence and self-sustainability for visually impaired students  2.  Music ministry for rural and urban parishes, schools, orphanages, and hospitals

Personal Data
Steve was raised in Westphalia, Michigan and was most recently from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.  He studied industrial technology and management at Central Michigan University and worked for three years as a drafter and laser machine programmer.  He was actively involved in the service and justice commission and the administration and finance committee at St. Mary University Parish, Mt. Pleasant, MI.  Before joining MKLM, he participated in three parish delegations to El Salvador.  He served in rural Venezuela with MKLM as a teacher before moving to Bolivia in 2007. 

Steve is engaged in two main ministries.  Part of his time is devoted to serving visually impaired students at the Fr. Ignacio Zalles Archdiocesan Foundation.  There, Steve translates Spanish textbooks into Braille, creates 3-D teaching materials and maps, records and dictates textbook passages for the students to study, helps students with their homework, and assists the staff in preparing the students to be independent and productive members of their families and communities.

Steve is also a member of a Bolivian volunteer group (Volunteers at the Service of the Rest) which provides aid for the elderly, street children, and people who live off rummaging through discarded trash.  The group also provides food for a community cafeteria near Potosí, Bolivia.  Steve plays the drums and the saxophone for the group's traveling music ministry ensemble that performs at urban parishes and schools and at two rural parishes that seldom have opportunities for Mass.  He also regularly plays with his local parish's music ministry.

On occasion, Steve helps with workshops offered by the SEMILLA office at the Maryknoll Mission Center in Cochabamba.  The office researches current social, political, and religious issues and provides opportunities for learning and discussion.  SEMILLA is also a leader in the formation of Latin American catechists, missioners, and lay pastoral workers.  Steve and two of his Bolivian colleagues recently published an intercultural communication workshop manual titled, “Communication: The Key to a More Just World.” The goal of the manual is to combat racial tensions by fostering effective communication among Bolivia’s many ethnic groups.  The SEMILLA office is currently training workshop facilitators on how to use the manual. 

Steve has also been involved in a children’s summer camp in his barrio, organized by fellow lay missioner Evan Cuthbert.  Because the children do not usually have extracurricular activities available to them, the camp provides them a rare opportunity to interact, be creative, and learn from educational and fun activities.