First, I wanted to say thank you to those who prayed for our family during the last 6 months. We encountered a family medical situation that has taken a lot out of us emotionally as well as our time.
Our daughter is seeing improvement but she is scheduled for surgery this December and we are hoping that her health will get even better so she can enjoy a better quality of life. With out getting into too much detail I just wanted to say thank you once again and we would still appreciate your prayers for her during the next few months..
Hard to believe that time passes so quickly. So here is brief update on our events and activities this year. We had an amazing Benefit Concert Last April 2017. Most of the musicians were young performers and entertainers who shared their gifts of music and voice to an incredibly generous crowd.
We raised enough money to bring clean drinking daily to almost 400 people. I know it's hard to imagine that clean drinking water would be an issue in a country like the Dominican Republic who receive almost 6 Million tourists a year.
When you walk with us through some of the neighborhoods you soon realize that there is no running water, no electricity, or sewer. Some of these folks are justing living in shanty town with tin roofs, pallet board homes and dirt floors.
Many folks just get their water from the river or creeks in buckets. It's no wonder so many people have stomach issues when we do our medical clinics.
In addition to providing water filters to 50 homes, we held a medical clinic for 3 days, we painted 3 school class rooms for a private elementary school, held some english classes, and delivered food to one of the orphanages we serve as well.
Another area of development was the Culinary School sponsorship program. We were able to help 22 students attend a culinary school for a whole year. Initially it was only going to be 3 months but the students were eager to continue their education.
We enjoyed a dinner prepared by the students and it was obvious they were grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for those who sponsored these students. Helping others acquire skills that enable them to get into the work force is so much better than just offering hand outs.
Without Pastor Rene Anderson we would never have been able to offer this culinary school training. Unfortunately, Pastor Rene has moved out of the area and we are unable to continue without his help but we wish Pastor Rene the very best.
Going forward we continue to work with Pastor Fredy Castilla who has a tremendous heart for continued education in the neighborhoods he serves. What a blessing he and his family are to us and those he cares for. They make tremendous sacrifices every day to help others.
His big friendly smile and great sense of humor is so contagious.
We have the details for out next 2018 team trip leaving April 14th and Returning April 23rd. I will be uploading the itinerary and projects on the main website...
We have changed email providers and hopefully that will solve the email problems we were having with our website.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have concerning our projects and how you can be support in helping others live more productive lives as God intends for all of us no matter where we live in the world.
We welcome any and all donations to support the projects this coming April. You can find the donation tab on the website.
May God richly bless you and your family this holiday season.