Well, it’s finally here. From the day we returned from our last team trip to the D.R. we started raising money for our new building projects and medical clinics for 2019. One of our best fundraising events so far was a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater event. This whole event was totally inspired, led and managed by a 19 year old young lady named, Natalie…
It took a couple dozen volunteers to make this event a success. The evening was so much fun and the roast beef dinner was rumbly in my tummy delightful. This kicked off our best fundraising year to date. I am so appreciative of how kind, generous and fun loving people are.
In November 2018, Les and I headed to the D.R. to finalize our projects and get a final bid on what it would cost. Our projects for spring of 2019 will be to build a home for an elderly couple who desperately need it. We will be holding 4 medical clinics and we plan to replace one roof of a local church.
One of the reasons we try and repair the roofing of a local church building is that these buildings are not just places of worship on Sunday’s. They are used as places of refuge when the tropical storms hit the island. They are places where medical teams can provide dental clinics, eye clinics, and basic family medical services. In many cases these buildings are like local community centers that can be used as vocational training centers.
These buildings are multi-use and can serve hundreds of people throughout the year for many different reasons. The impact on the amount of people we can help is far reaching for many years to come. One of the challenges I find is trying to describe the needs we encounter without over dramatizing the situation. We typically serve in the poorest areas where the average income is less than $10 a day.
Many of the homes are made of scrap tin and wooden pallets. Clean water and sanitation is often an issue in these areas. Repairing local church buildings can have a huge impact on these local communities.
Over the next couple 5 - 10 years we could easily be repairing one or two churches per community we serve.
As we continue this journey each year we continue to find new connections and refine our focus in the Dominican. The question we try to answer along this way is, “ how do we make every dollar we raise produce the maximum benefits?” We want to be good stewards of the generous donations that people are making to support our projects.
Last November we found ourselves in a situation where we were approached by two single elderly people in totally different areas of town who were living in compromised structures. They were one wind storm from being shelterless. The question arises… Do you help one person or do you help multiple people at the same time. The decision on who we serve is subjective in that we follow our heart. My heart belongs to God so I lean on His compassion within in each situation.
The needs we encounter far exceed what we are able to deliver. I could bring a team every week of the year and never come close to meeting all the needs we come across. Those who travel with us on these trips can agree with what I am about to say. If you have the ability to give one person a hand up in life the experience is priceless to everyone involved . The giver and the receiver are equally blessed.
One thing we try to achieve with every project is to work along side the Dominican people. So that they have ownership. We bring a team of volunteers and they provide volunteers as well to serve their communities. We partner with them so that we don’t just find ourselves in a situation where we just giving a hand out. Our goal has always been to give a hand up and help people to be self sufficient.
I believe that humanity is at it’s best when we can look beyond ourselves and serve each other not just ourselves.
Every year I am completely amazed at how this all comes together. We never have the money for the projects when we get started and we never know who is going to make up the team that travels. But in the end we continue to travel with a great group of people and those who can’t travel with us generously give of their time and their money to make each project possible.
All I can say is thank you to everyone who partners with us. None of what we do would be possible without you. If you would like support us just click on a donation tab. If you would like to travel with us let us know we are taking applications for 2020…
Blessing to all.
John F
Managing Director of What Color Is Hope.