BRIDGES EXPANDS INTO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!
Executive director Kevin Mestrich announced that Bridges to Community will be opening up a new volunteer operation in the Dominican Republic in the region bordering Haiti next year. The first new country expansion in almost 20 years came after the board of directors reaffirmed in 2010 that Bridges to Community is an international organization whose mission is to serve where are services are most needed. The Dominican Republic/ Haitian border area was selected after eight months of study and research by the board’s appointed New Country Task Force.
The criteria that the New Country Task Force was given in order to make its recommendations included: safety, access, developmental need, partnership and mission. The DR is a stable democratic government and volunteers would have relatively easy access to the country due to fluency of direct flights and paved highways. The poverty in the Haitian border area of the DR is extreme and there is a tremendous need for the type of work that Bridges does, in particular, water and housing projects. There exists a strong, highly respected partner organization, FUNDASEP (the Foundation for the Development of Azua, San Juan and Elias Piña) currently set up in the region, which is missing the service learning component that Bridges would bring. All of these pieces support the mission of Bridges to serve people in need in the Dominican Republic.
“While we were touring the DR with the Task Force, we watched a woman with her children squatting by the bank of a dry river bed. When we asked what she was doing, she said that she had been there for 5 hours, since dawn, trying to gather some trickles of water into some leaves to fill her plastic bottles. There was no other liquid,” stated Jill Martin, board member and task force member. “I’ve never seen such desperation just to get water.”
After September 2011, when the board unanimously voted to open the Bridges to Community programs in the DR, the first staff member was deployed to begin the implementation. Miranda Jennings, previously the Nicaraguan program director, is currently in south western DR setting up the necessary operational systems with the plan for the first group to travel to the new country site in March 2012. Two groups have already expressed their interest to go the DR next July and as the news of the opportunity to volunteer in the new Bridges’ country spreads, the expectation is that more will be signing up for service.
“Our board and staff are excited by this expansion and our new partnership with FUNDASEP,” stated Kevin Mestrich, “We look forward to serving the people of the Dominican Republic in the next year.”
Want to be a pioneer? You can be among the first volunteers to work with us at our new location in the Dominican Republic! Just call our office at 914-923-2200 or send an email to trips@bridgestocommunity.org
