Just want to give special thanks to all those who contributed to the Dominican Kids school donation project on our recent trip to Casa De Campo. On Tuesday we went to the Boca De Chavon School near La Romano which has 127 kids ages 5-18. In the Dominican, children cannot get an education without a school uniform which costs $12. Many families cannot afford the uniform and those who can have their kids share the uniform (one child goes to school in the morning and the other goes in the afternoon wearing the same uniform). One of the most telling moments was watching a 6 year old boy paging through a simple blank notebook in amazement to see page after page with no writing on it – kids there don’t have and haven’t seen blank paper – they use scraps to write on. It was truly an amazing experience watching the kids’ faces light up to have such simple things as backpacks, pens, paper and basic school supplies we take for granted here.
The children were kind, respectful and very, very grateful for all that we brought and each class did a performance and sang to us to show their thanks. Without the help and support of everyone listed below this project couldn’t have happened and I am truly grateful to everyone who helped – It is an experience we will never forget. Special thanks to Joyce Hill-Cooley who initiated the whole idea of doing something to give back while we were in the DR & to Heinz for supporting this effort. Everyone who contributed will receive an email from Shutterfly where all of the photos from the project are posted. There will also be a separate email sent to everyone which has all photos of the entire trip.
Thanks to everyone for your service…..
Contributing Franchisees to the DR kids project:
· Joyce Hill Cooley & Jerry Cooley
· Steve & Tanya Howell
· Sandy & Tim Hubbard
· Daniela LoPresti
· Scott & Jinette Howell
· Rick & Mary Knipe
· Bob & Melanie Eich
· Jim & Susan Atkins
· Ron & Sandy Kittner
· Doug & Mary Kay Shepard
· Lyle & Minnie Smith
· Jim & Diana Newton
· Elliott Greenburg
· Dennis & Darlene Cory
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