Our 2019 mission trip starts in 75 days,
so it's time for an update for all of the members of the Home Team -- that's you, and thanks for all of your support for this mission. The 14 Go Team members on the 2019 team are also receiving this message, and have been getting weekly updates on trip details. Those weekly updates are available at the bottom of the
trip planning page
if you would like to check them out.
Information Flyer:
For a short information flyer about Christ Church's mission work in the Dominican Republic in general and the 2019 trip in particular,
click here
.
May 3 is the date of the annual DR dinner and auction
to raise funds for scholarships at the K-8 school we support and for a portion of our project costs. This event will start at 6 p.m. at the Cotton Corner in downtown Valdosta. Tickets @$25 are now on sale. If you are in the area and can attend on May 3, we would love to see you there. The funds for the ticket sales pay for the catered supper, and funds raised through the live and silent auctions support scholarships and project costs. To see photographs of the 2018 event,
click here
. For tickets to the 2019 event, contact Julia Ariail <
juliacariail@gmail.com
>, (229) 563-0074.
You may remember that in late 2018 we had a set
of silver and Larimar crosses from the Dominican Republic that were available to donors of $100 or more to the 2019 mission fund. Those all went to generous donors by Christmas. We now have five more of those crosses (
photograph here
) -- 3 with heart-shaped stones, 1 diamond shape and 1 square-shaped. They are 2” tall by 1” wide. These were made in February 2019 by a master jeweler in Santo Domingo specifically to raise funds for our team. Any that are still available on May 3 will be for sale at the DR Auction. To obtain one of those crosses now, please contact Julia (contact information above).
Project information:
We recently sent $1600 from Christ Church's DR mission fund through the office of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic to Padre Ramón Canela, the Episcopal priest in charge of the conference center, church and school in the village of El Pedregal. He will use these funds to purchase and install 16 wall-mounted fans in the second-floor dormitory rooms where our missioners stay, and also to start construction on the concrete-block bedroom for Pirlulu, our special-needs friend in the village. Pirlulu currently sleeps in a flimsy structure of plywood and poles that is attached to his grandmother's house. When we arrive on June 17, we will complete the final steps on that construction and present him with his new bedroom during a church service on Sunday, June 23.
Trip Fee information:
The 2019 trip fee is $650, the same as in recent years, and is due on April 30. This fee pays for our room and board at the Episcopal conference center for six days, our local transportation by chartered bus. and our hotel stay in Santo Domingo on June 23. It also funds some of our project costs and other incidentals such as our team t-shirts, and taxi rides from the village into the nearby city of Jarabacoa for extra supplies, shopping and sight-seeing. Several of the Home Team members have volunteered to contribute that amount to assist one or more Go Team members in paying that fee, and we sincerely appreciate those offers. If you would like to sponsor one or more missioners in this way, please let Julia know and send a check to Christ Church DR Fund before April 30 (mailing address below).
Julius
* * * * * * * * * *
The planning webpage for the 2019 mission trip
is online here.
All information about the trip will be added to this page just as soon as it is available.
For information about Christ Church's mission work in the Dominican Republic, including a summary report and photographs from the 2018 trip,
click here
.