Mi Descripción

This is a picture of Anamilka and Genesis, sisters who attend our Girls Club. They are holding their "mi descripción" papers that they worked hard on during the Club one afternoon. These worksheets are a great way to get the girls reading and writing in a way that seems fun to them.

Character Counts

Lisa Mastain was in Puerto Plata in November and spent some time volunteering at the Dove Missions Center. She so generously donated a television, VHS player, and fan to Dove Missions. We have been wanting a television for awhile, and the kids were really excited about it! Here is the Boys Club watching Character Counts; an educational video. This TV will be just another tool we can use to help educate the kids in our programs. Lisa also provided the money for a pizza and ice cream party, so a big thank you to her (pictured below with Yaneli) for all her help to Dove Missions.

Educating Our Girls

“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go to search for work in the cities… But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls” (Three Cups of Tea)

School Uniform Drive

We would like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated in our school uniform drive. While school is free here in the DR, uniforms and shoes are a requirement and this makes going to school difficult for some. Because of all of the generous sponsors, we were able to outfit over THIRTY kids in our program with full uniforms, shoes, and school supplies! In the photo is the adorable Estefania with her new uniform and Strawberry Shortcake backpack- all ready to start school! Thank you again to all of you who made this possible!

School Uniform Drive

As was mentioned in another post, right now the big fundraiser Dove is having is for school uniforms. School starts next week!! We have 70 children in our program that we would love to be able to provide school uniforms for. It is $40.00 US to buy 2 shirts, bottoms, undershirts and underpants, socks, shoes and gym clothes notebooks and pencils. This will put a child in school. School is free in the DR, but many families cannot afford the uniforms. No uniforms = no school. As of a few days ago, we have only raised funds for 10 children to have uniforms. Last year we provided uniforms for FIFTY children, so we need to at least meet that number, if not exceed it to be able to help every child in our program (70).

Go to DOVE's website on the Support page and donated $40 on the paypal, and a child will be able to attend school. Education is the BEST way to get these children out of poverty. And as an interesting sidenote, the children of mothers who have had a primary education are 40% more likely to reach the age of 5. So not only are you helping these kids, you putting them in school will be helping their future generations to come.

In this video, Liz is taking some of the kids out for ice cream before going to get their uniforms. In the second, they are in the store getting their supplies, and in the third, they are showing off what they got. Yoandi, Andy, Andrieli, Meriledi, Yordi, and Loraina are in the videos. Thank you to Cathy and Deb for paying for their uniforms!