First up: International Volunteer Program
We hosted two college teams this March. The first was from the St. Mary Student Parish at the University of Michigan. And the second team was from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. Both groups were wonderful to work with, ready to serve and embrace life along the Haiti border. We were able to accomplish 6 medical clinics in total, serving hundreds of medical patients and children in the nutrition program. These groups also brought down important donations for medical clinics and for the preschool in El Chivo. For example, the preschool now has all the folders we need to make a portfolio for each child (folders are hard to come by here) AND we have new workbooks in Spanish for each student as well. These are immense gifts to the school that will help us do our job well and finish the school year strong. Some very kind and generous friends also sent down special items to make our Mission House more comfortable, small gifts for the kids and I even got new nail polish (#winning). All in all it was a busy March hosting teams, but a month well spent. Our next volunteer team doesn’t come until June, allowing us to focus on the next big project…
Thanks to donations from the K of C council at Kailey’s home parish and other donations, we have another $5,000 ready to be invested into the construction of the new medical clinic. Construction began last week and we are all SO EXCITED to see the walls of the clinic go up! To give you an idea of construction costs, $3,000 USD purchased truck loads of cement, sand, rebar and cement blocks (4,000 cement blocks to be exact!).
Dr. Angel reached out to a local avocado farm operated by Dominican business the Macapi Group. They have owned and operated the avocado farms in the region where our clinic will be for generations now. After several conversations and a site visit to the new clinic, they agreed to help us with the transportation of our building materials. This will save the project thousands of dollars in the end as each individual truck charged close to $400 USD for delivery to the work site. So instead of paying for transportation, Macapi has agreed to assist with the transportation of the building materials with their own vehicles which are capable of climbing the mountain. If you have a moment, please check out Macapi on Facebook/Instagram/and in the grocery store… they are an international company with a big heart, genuinely caring about the communities where they grow their produce.
Kailey, Mr. Castillo from the Macapi Group and two visiting students.
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Beautiful shot of the new clinic taken by drone. Photo Credit to Ramon, the engineer of the project.
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1. Building Bridges of Hope was selected as a partner organization for the 2019 Mission Appeals in the Diocese of Grand Rapids!!! Kailey will be speaking at 3 parishes in the Diocese of GR about our new medical clinic and taking up a secondary collection at each location. This is a DREAM of ours to participate as an official partner in the Mission Appeal. Please keep this intention in your prayers, that the appeals will be successful and provide for the next phase of construction.
2. We have had an AMAZING turnout with an online t-shirt sale! We’ve already raised nearly $3,000 by selling t-shirts online. THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased or donated!! We are blown away by your support and encouragement! To check out the shirts, click here. The sale runs until April 9, so there is still time to order if you’d like.
Univ of MI’s SMSP Group
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T-shirt design for our online fundraiser
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Aquinas College Group
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Prayer intentions:
-For someone trustworthy to help us with our kids during the day. It’s becoming stressful to balance work needs and family needs. Please pray that someone comes into our life to love on our kiddos while we are at work.
-For peace and patience while teaching in El Chivo. Things are going well overall, but progress is slow and steady which can become tedious.
-For true rest during the coming month, Time to rest, recharge and refocus on Him.