Offer Hope for 300 Youth in the Dominican Republic

My husband, Tony, and I (and two boys) have been working with The Bienvenido Project for over six years, and even though we lived in Santo Domingo for two of these years, we have never had the opportunity to attend the project's annual holiday dinner. This year, our dreams of a Caribbean Christmas are coming true though. In less than a month, we are headed to Santo Domingo to spend a week helping to prepare for the 12th annual "Noche Buena" celebration.

Noche buena means "good night," and for the children of Bienvenido it truly is a really good night! This celebration is our biggest outreach to the youth in the community and extends much beyond our regular attenders; last year over 450 children came through our doors! It's a night of music and laughter, but the most anticipated part is a huge Christmas feast. In the Dominican Republic this looks like roasted chicken, slow cooked pork, pastelon (a lasagna style dish made with plantains in place of noodles), rice with pigeons peas and coconut milk, potato salad, and the most exciting part, grapes and apples! Now grapes and apples might not seem like something to get excited about, but these fruits are not local in the Dominican Republic and are definently a special treat. Think how excited you get about christmas cookies, candy canes, or hot cocoa with marshmallows this time of year... grapes and apples are this in the Dominican Republic.

A feast like this is costly for a low budget program like ours, yet we whole heartedly believe it to be worth it. Just look at the smiles on the kids faces last year! (Note: select subtitles for English)

We wish you could all join us for a Caribbean Christmas next month (and if you ever want to, please let us know. We'll make it happen!), but there's still a way to be part of the festivities even if your Christmas will be white. For every child that attends Noche Bunea, we need to raise $5.50, and this year, we hope to invite 500 children to celebrate with us. Would you consider making a child's night? Or ten? Or 100 :)

To make your donation go even further, December 3 from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm EST is the day to give! Our project is eligible for Giving Tuesday matching funds, and the more that's given this day, the more bonus funds we receive. Donations should be made right here through Global Giving.

For all of our American supporters, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving this week. And for every one of you around the world, thank you for your support!

Until next year,

The Collazo Family (United States Coordinators)

Every year the boys and girls of The Bienvenido Project anticipate the day they will receive a new backpack full of school supplies. Most of the children’s parents or caregivers do not have the resources to purchase these supplies, and without them, they would not be able to attend school. It really is hope in a bag! I’ve personally been involved with this yearly event, and been taught a lot by these kids about being thankful for the little things. For instance, I’ve never placed a lot of value on a pencil before, but in Bienvenido, a pencil means everything to these kids. It really is a special day!

This event is made possible each year by different organizations. We’d like to give a special thank you to Fundación Dale Un Deseo and el Ministerio de adolescente de la Cristianización who helped us provide supplies for more than 100 children for the 2019-2020 school year. ¡Gracias!

Speaking of school, this year we were able to provide scholarships for 22 children thanks to the generosity of our supporters. These children would have been left out of school otherwise due to public schools being at capacity; a scholarship has an immediate and lasting impact! 

A challenge this year was not having enough funds to provide scholarships for all of the children from the previous year. This is the first time in 5 years, since we began the scholarship program, that we had to significantly reduce the number of scholarships offered rather than grow the program. This was not an easy thing to walk out, nor is it an easy thing to share with you. However, if you are reading this it’s because you are part of our team and we want to include you not just in our victories but also in the hardships. 

We hope your take away from this update is two-fold. 

1. We are SO grateful for those of you who consistently give to The Bienvenido Project each month in support of our school scholarship program (as well as those who give throughout the year!). Twelve dollars a month pays for one child to attend school, and as we’ve already shared, the impact is immediate and lasting.
2. We need your help growing our team of financial supporters. If you’ve personally been thinking about doing so, would you consider making this the month that you partner with us in this way? If you already support us financially, or are unable to do so at this time, would you consider sharing our work with at least one other person this month and inviting them to join our team? In order to grow our programs, we also need to grow our network. We can’t do this on our own!

With gratitude,