ERLANGER — Tonight's Family Night at Silverlake Recreation Center will raise money for a medical mission to Honduras, the impoverished Central American country still recovering from the 1991 devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch.

The event is open to nonmembers as well as members of the fitness and recreation center that features a Olympic-size pool, state-of-the-art exercise equipment and programs, indoor basketball courts, and a video arcade and concessions.

IF YOU GO

What: Family Night to raise money for nonprofit Shoulder to Shoulder's medical mission to the village of Santa Lucia, Honduras Where: Silverlake Recreation Center, Kenton Lands Road in Erlanger When: 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. today Cost: $10 for adults and $5 for children. All proceeds will benefit Shoulder to Shoulder Inc. Activities: Swimming, games, dancing, gymnastics, refreshments and a screening of the movie Monsters Inc. Information: Call Silverlake at (859) 426-7777 or log onto the facility's Web site: www.go2silverlake.com.

“One hundred percent of the money raised will go directly to the people we're helping,” said Laura Cardosi, R.N. “Everybody involved in this organization is a volunteer.”

Ms. Cardosi, 46, of Park Hills and fellow Silverlake member, Dr. Chris Bolling, a 39-year-old pediatrician from Edgewood, will leave Oct. 12 on the 12-day mission. Besides sharing their medical expertise with the clinic staff and residents, they will deliver drugs, baby formula, surgical instruments, vitamins and other “health care luxuries.”

“Of the two bags we're (each) allowed to bring, a bag and a half will be for supplies, and we'll have half a bag for personal items,” Ms. Cardosi said.

Built by U.S. and Honduran volunteers in 1994, the medical clinic in the tiny village of Santa Lucia is a project of Shoulder to Shoulder Inc., a nonprofit corporation affiliated with the University of Cincinnati Department of Family Medicine. Before it opened, the nearest clinic was a five-hour bus ride for residents of the remote village.

The Honduran clinic, which provides basic medical, dental and water-purification services, operates year-round with a doctor “who also serves as the lab tech, nurse and pharmacist,” Ms. Cardosi said. The clinic receives help twice a year from U.S. nurses and physicians.

Ms. Cardosi will supervise nursing students in the clinic and will teach local women about breastfeeding. Dr. Bolling will supervise residents and will help train others in basic pediatric procedures. Both also will help the clinic staff with daily activities.

“This is one of the poorest areas in the poorest province of one of the poorest Central American countries,” Dr. Bolling said. Both Dr. Bolling and Ms. Cardosi are first-time visitors to Honduras, having learned of the mission through fellow health-care professionals who'd gone on similar trips.

Richard Dickmann, Silverlake's executive director, said he decided to host a community fund-raiser when he learned of the mission from Mrs. Cardosi, who is his sister-in-law, and Dr. Bolling, a regular swimmer at Silverlake.

“It's a great cause, and it's a fun evening too,” Mr. Dickmann said. He said the benefit will be one of four events he hopes to sponsor each year to help Tristate charities.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com

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