Flip Flops for Friends - 2016 - Final Thoughts

Lucy, Wascar, and I covered an incredible amount of ground this week and touched the lives of many!  

In 5 days, we went to 6 cities, 5 schools, 2 orphanages, 2 nursing homes, 1 clinic, 1 hospital,  1 Rotary  meeting and 1 church. We were able to give out every single one of the 2000 pairs of Flip Flops, 200 back packs filled with school supplies, 200 bags filled with school supplies, 60 boxes of femine products, 150 Tee shirts, 25 baseball hats, 75 soccer shirts, school supplies that filled 5 large bins, 12 soccer balls, 40 frisbees, and a countless number of hugs!! 

To have the opportunity to provide for others and give back is a gift!  The ability to do this with my daughter and friend is outstanding!  Lucy was truly in her glory being able to help the children in the schools and the community!  Every child she spent time with, or spoke to put a smile on her face and has etched a memory in her mind that will last a lifetime!  This project came from seeing a picture of a child in need and has gone further than any of us every expected!

We were the people that were on the ground meeting with those in need, but we could not have done any of this without the support of our family, our friends, the Rotary Clubs in Providence and La Romana, the Rotary Zone 24/32 and our community partners - to you we say THANK YOU!!!

Pictures to follow tomorrow!  Until next time!!! 

~Jenny and Lucy

Flip Flops for Friends 2016 - Day 5

On to Santo Domingo and Bani!  Today we were on the move, going to the capital of the Dominican Republic and then onto the small southern town of Bani.  Wascar has a connection in Providence that has worked with and is familiar with the area of Bani, and told us about the extreme need of the people in this area.  When we arrived we were greeted in a room with approximately 500 people!  Mostly school aged children and their parents.  To say they were thrilled was a sheer understatement! The children greeted us with song and kind words of appreciate for all that we brought to them! Each child received either a backpack or bag of school supplies and either a pair of flip flops or a soccer or tee shirt!   We were also able to donate a few sports balls and jump ropes!  A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few pictures from our time with these amazing people!

Flip Flops for Friends 2016 - Day 4

Today is a National Holy Day - Nuestra Sra. de  La Altagracia.  We visited the city of Higuey, we had planned to meeting with the Mayor of Higuey, but unfortunately she was celebrating the mass of Nuestra Sra. de Altagracia with the President of The Domician Republic.  I guess if we had to be bumped for anyone that was a good excuse!  That said we enjoyed spending time with the Mayor's staff and going to a school, a boys orphanage and a nursing home run by the Dominican Nuns! 

Lucy and Me were both thrilled and enjoyed different parts of the day!  Because of the holiday this was are only stops of the day, so we were able to check out the local La Playa (the beach)!  Even thought it was late in the afternoon, the sun still felt good!

Here are today's pictures!  Tomorrow we are off to Santo Domingo for more donations!

 This is the Higuey town center and a display depicting the Caterdral of Higuey and Nuestra Sra. de Altagracia

  Today's donations included over 200 school supplies and Flip Flops!

The Boys Orphange

Tee shirts for all the Seniors!

Our crew for the day... Mayor Karina Aristy's staff

Flip Flops for Friends 2016 - Day 3

Today was all about the schools! We went to four schools and were able to give school supplies and flip flops to 375 students today!!  The first school was Buen Samaratino, which is a very special school that is close to the heart of our friend and La Romana Rotarian Sendy Guerrero!  There were six classrooms with children ranging in age from 4-14.  

Next stop was a repeat visit from last year to the Escuela y Guerdiaria Mi Refugio which is a small school on the outskirts of La Romana.  We visited this school with our friend Daniel Barret from the La Romana Rotary Club and the Good Samaritan Hospital!

Our third and fourth school was with Wascar's Brother Angel and his family! The first school was in Hato Mayor and the second was in El Seibo.  This is in the northern part of the country, high i the mountain area of the northeastern part of Dominican Republic.  The second school that we went to was part of a Foundation that is run by Angel's wife's family.  We went to visit the family after the school and learned that not only do they own a large majority of land in the area, they also have been in this area for over 100 years.  Additionally they operate a winery, a chocolate factory and many agricultural fields.  They picked cacao for us and had us try it, a very different experience for me!  

The children waiting patiently to receive their flip flops and school supplies!

Fresh Cacao 

Throughout the day it was amazing to see Lucy enjoying the time she was spending with new friends and giving out all of the supplies she has collected over the past few months!

Tomorrow we will be going to Higuey, and meeting with the Mayor, a local school and an old age home!

Flip Flops for Friends 2016 - Day 2

Today we visited our old friends from Batey 105 and Batey 106.   Over the past view years these two Bateys have been close to our hearts.  Along with Wascar and other Rotarians we have built many latrines and water stations, that continue to be used regularly and are still in working order!  Last year we brought flip flops and it was amazing some of the residents still had the same flip flops that we gave them last year!! Unfortunately there were still many children that needed flip flops and were thrilled with the donation !  Also we brought lunch for all the children, which was something that truly was a blessing for these children!  Lucy loved playing with the children and the children loved playing with and showing Lucy their homes.

 

This afternoon we received the order of school supplies that we purchased with the donation from The Rotary Zone 24/32!  With this money, we were able to purchase 200 backpacks filled with notebooks. Pencils, colored pencils, eraser and pencil sharpener.  We also purchased 200 bags filled with the same items all to be donated to the schools we will be visiting over the next few days!  Thank you again to the Zone!

Finally tonight we visited the Rotary Club of Rio Dulce!  We have visited with this club many times and it was good to see our Rotary friends again!  

Tomorrow we are off to schools, both in La Romana and El Sable.

Flip Flops for Friends 2016 - Day 1

Today was my birthday, and the best gift of the day was the ability to be able to give back to other and share the experience with my daughter!

Collecting flip flops, school supplies, feminine products and clothes over the last several months and seeing them here in the Dominican Republic ready for distribution was outstanding!  After we picked up most of the boxes we went to The Clinica de Familia, in La Romana.  There we met with Rotarian and Director of the Clinic - Mina Halperin and her team to distribute Flips Flops for the children and Feminine products for all who are in need!

Through a very generous donation from Rotary Zone 24/32 we made a stop to purchase school supplies to be distributed to children at the end of the week (more to come on this)

Later in the afternoon we went to an orphanage - Fundacion Ninas y Ninos de Cristo.  Here at this orphanage we met with some of the children.  There are 100 children that live at the orphanage, and were in such need of the Flips Flops, clothes, soccer balls and frisbees!  They were so excited and so appreciative of the donation.  We toured the facility and was extremely impressed with the organization, cleanliness and how polite the children were.  Lucy was especially impressed with one of the girls who spoke English very well, and was also 12 years old!

Our final stop of the day was to Hogar de Ancianos Padre Abreau Nursing Home!  Unfortunately we arrived later than we expected and half of the residents were already sleeping.  But the residents that were awake were thrilled to receive their brand new Seven Stars Bakery Hats and New Flip Flops!

Overall it was a great way to spend my birthday!  Tomorrow we are off to the bateys!  Hasta Mañana!

The Flip Flops are on the Move!

The boxes have been packed (32 in total) and are now on their way to the Dominican Republic!  We are so thankful to all of the amazing people that have assisted in collecting Flip Flops and Supplies and helping to make this all possible! 

Lucy and the boxes ready to go!

Lucy and I are so grateful to the following Companies and Groups who assisted us this year! 

Seven Stars Bakery, St. Elizabeth's Community, Old Navy (Warwick Mall), Home Loan Investment Bank, Benny's, WPRI 12, Beacon Mutual Insurance Company, Scott Elementary School, Robert Anthony Salon, Drs. McManus and Pratt, Coastway Bank, Salon Xtreme, DiLeonardo International, Natural Essence Salon, Girl Scouts Troop 186, Providence Picture Frame, Wells Fargo Bank, Secure Future Tech Solutions, East Side YMCA, Providence Rotary Club, Rotary Zones 24 and 32, Pocho Express Shipping, Pat Germani, Tony Mendez, Wascar Montilla, Michael Friedman, Beth Eustis, the Bianco Family, Christine Sturdevant and of course all of our of friends and family!!

Thanks in part to all of these people we were able to collect 2000 pairs of flip flops, 130 notebooks, 400 pencils and colored pencils, 40 pencil sharpeners and erasers, 60 soccer shirts, 25 soccer balls, 30 large packages of women's sanitary needs!  All of these items will be delivered directly to the people on the bateys in the Dominican Republic!  The children and families whom some have never worn any time of footwear prior to this donation.  Children and adults will also have the opportunity to have their own school supplies when they are taking part in learning to read and write! These items that we think of as every day items these children and adults are so thankful for receiving from us and from you! 

Thank you for continue to follow our story and help those less fortunate!  You have made a big difference in someone's life by your small donation and act of kindness! 

Thank you!

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