Giving Back Responsibly and Celebrating High Quality Educators

Newsletter

March 2018

Sueños 2018

DREAMing Big in NYC!

As DREAM has grown to educate more than 8,500 youth in 27 communities throughout the Dominican Republic, our global community has grown as well. This month, we celebrated that community side by side with our Pulitzer Prize winning Honorary Chair Junot Díaz, honored as DREAMer of the Year, for his new Children's Book, Island Born. Our Corporate DREAMer of the Year was Bill Friedman, an original Peace Corps volunteer in the DR and President of Beachwold Residences. Finally, congrats to actor Taye Diggs and Shane Evans, who received the DREAM Educators of the Year award, which was presented by Misty Copeland, Principal of the American Ballet. Thank you to all our DREAMers that attended, along with our sponsors Fast Enterprises, Event Planner to the Stars Kathy Romero, UBS, Brugal, RC22 Foundation, Dominican Republic Tourism, Beachwold Residences, JetBlue, Univision and Latino Network Coalition.

Free Medical Services for the Community

We would like to express our gratitude to a group of doctors from Health Teams International (Canada) Inc. who came to run a medical operative in the Callejón de la Loma (Cabarete, Puerto Plata). More than 50 DREAM Montessori students and some DREAM staff received medical care. The group provided pediatrics, dermatology, dental services, and pharmacy services for free to the community. They also provided all our students with toothpaste, toothbrushes and instructions on how to brush their teeth correctly. Thank you to Dr. Tom Harle, Dr. Mark Stevens, Dr, Barbara Wahn, Ian Wahn, Shanon Helliman, Karen Stephens, Jennifer Gerard, Dr. David Saley, and Dr. Mahassen Ghobrialé for taking such great care of our students, staff and the community. And a very special thank you to Suzanne Chitwood for all of the work you did to organize the clinic.

Cigar Country Benefit Opens Another Montessori Program in Santo Domingo!

Thanks to our sponsors from the Cigar Country Benefit Top Dominican Cigar, DREAM has partnered with Centro de Educación Inicial, San Martin de Porres, to offer more than 50 young learners a path out of poverty. This is an exceptional Montessori Program, with all new materials, structure, trained staff and love. Thank you to Dupuy, Alvarez y Sánchez, Synchro Logistics, CEPM, CCN, Legacy Aviation Services, Dufry, Elever, UPS and Banco Progreso...estamos juntos!

Global Connections, Giving Back Responsibly

The season of Global Connections has started and DREAM has had amazing visits so far from Millwoods Christian School, Harrison High School, Framingham University (Four Winds) and George Washington University. Whether these partners are learning about our local communities or Dominican/Haitian complexities, we are so proud to make these special connections, all while contributing more than US$65,000 to our partner communities. To learn more, click here.

High Quality Teacher Training

In our continued effort to provide high quality teacher training, a group of 50 local English teachers from the Puerto Plata area are participating in an English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher Training Program. Through the US Embassy supported grant, teachers have completed an extensive four-week online training program, face to face training with teacher trainers from World Learning and over the months to come, we will conduct in-class observations. A graduation ceremony is set for May 2, 2018 where officials and representatives from the US Embassy, MINERD and UTESA will attend.

Carnaval Cabarete - Bringing Carnaval to the Community

We are honored and proud to have been a part of Carnaval Cabarete again! Twenty-five students from local schools, foundations and the community of Callejón de la Loma participated in the parade which started at Las Cuevas in the Callejón de la Loma, travelled down the main street in Cabarete and concluded on Cabarete Beach. Thank you to all of the organizers, sponsors and especially the community in Callejón de la Loma for helping make this great community and family event happen for Cabarete!

DREAMer of the Month

Nirelis Puello

Nirelis Puello stands out in every DREAM program in which she is involved. Her journey with DREAM started at age 17, when she became a Deportes Para la vida (DPV) trainer in her hometown of La Romana. In 2014, she became a regional coordinator for DPV, and in 2015 helped start our UNICA program. Finally in 2016, she was hired full time after graduating from college. From DPV to UNICA to facilitator for our Mi Mundo Magazine, she has been a valuable asset to the DREAM team. Out of her many responsibilities, her favorite thing is learning from her students. Recently, she read about a writing contest for women authors held by the Embassy of France in Santo Domingo. She entered the contest with a poem about her mother, describing her as a very strong woman. Out of more than 200 participants, Nirelis stood out once more and won first place. She received many prizes like a new phone, poetry books by Dominican women authors, and more, but the prize she valued most was the recognition and being able to share something so dear to her heart. Congratulations Nirelis!

Donors of the Month

A special thank you to all who gave this month, including:

Lectorum A. Correa   Natalie Beadle   Sheldon Blumenfeld
Mirtha Cabral   Jose Calderon   Damary Checo-Brillant
Ahra Cho   Beachwold   Univision   DR Tourism   Fast Enterprises
Erik Cima   Graciela Dauhajre   Dr. Georges de Menil   Victoria de Menil   Raquel del Rio   Emma Feigenbaum   Four Winds Tours & Travels
Robert Friedman   William S. Friedman   Friends of Finborough
George Washington University   Global Glow   Latino Network Coalition
Green Tech High Charter School   Robin Groth   UBS
International Baccalaureate Students   Bruce Jakubovitz
Glenn & Victoria Keller   Andrew Killmer   Deborah Koch   Abhijit Kodey   LitWorld International, Inc.   Atle Lohrmann   Christopher Lopez
J. John Mann   Patricia Pacheco   Annie Piche-Smith   Robert Rothenberg
Pablo Salame   Scott Siegel   Swisher Dominicana   The RC22 Foundation
Celines Toribio   Richard Weber   Carmen Rita Wong   Louis Rendulich

Suzanne Chitwood   Dr. Tom Harle   Dr. Mark Stevens
Dr. Barbara Wahn   Ian wahn   Shanon Helliman   Karen Stephens
Jennifer Gerard   Dr David Saley   Dr Mahassen Ghobrialé
Harrison High School   Benjamin de Menil   Geraldine de Santis
Kianny Antigua   Erin Garner   Edrington Americas   Wine Emporium NY
Kathy Romero   Casa de Campo   JetBlue   Ultravioleta
Villa Windsong   Casa Colonial Beach & Spa   Vacation for Change
Millennium Resort & Spa   The 40/40 Club

and all those who bought tickets and that donated through our Sueños 2018 fundraiser.

A special thanks to our Shared Responsibility Partners!