Handfuls of Hope aims to do mission work in the small, poverty-stricken village of Catalina in the Dominican Republic.
Beyond the bubble of resort life in the Dominican Republic, reality sets in quickly on this Caribbean island.
A 15- to 20-minute drive inland reveals scenes of poverty, starvation, scarcity and destitution. Many are living in shacks made of sheet metal with no access to electricity or drinking water.
A group of Central Jersey residents, part of the organization Handfuls of Hope, is hoping to make a difference by doing mission work in the small, poverty-stricken village of Catalina.
St. Paul Lutheran Church in Flemington and Calvary Chapel in Middlesex are working with Handfuls of Hope, a Hillsborough-based Christian-organization, to send volunteers to Catalina this summer. St. Paul Lutheran Church is sending 12 volunteers; Calvary Chapel is sending 14. In total, 82 people will be traveling with Handfuls of Hope from July 9-17.
Volunteers will construct an addition to a school, distribute meals to the village and orphanages and do mission work. Many going are in their early 20s, but all ages are welcome to take part.
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The school addition is thanks to Handfuls of Hope's Donald Coords, founder and president of the board of directors, who received a letter from eighth grade students asking if it would be possible to build a ninth grade so they didn't have to leave school.
Coords said he felt this was proof the work they have been doing there for so many years has made a difference.
"It was confirmation from God that we are doing what He wants," Coords said. "In 20 years of taking this trip, this was the life changing moment."
The current primary focus of Handfuls of Hope is to expand the K-8 school if their funding allows to help in its operations throughout the school year.
Enrollment at the kindergarten through the eighth grade school has more than doubled from 147 to 338 students. Funds collected will not only pay for the addition of a ninth grade, but also cover teacher's salaries.
Coords said he wants to see the work they have been doing grow beyond the village, with the opening of more churches and help centers. His hope is to have a school that goes through the 12th grade so students will learn skills that allow them to get jobs and help transform the communities they live in.
Recently, Handfuls of Hope implemented a new mission - Isaiah 58 - partnering with Feed My Starving Child, which donates over a 250,000 meals to remote villages around the world, including the Dominican Republic. The goal is to help end hunger.
Coords came up with the idea when he and his wife visited a local hospital and spoke with a mother whose 3-year-old son died of malnutrition.
The organization also traveled to the Dominican Republic in January with 77 doctors to provide medical and dental care to residents. In three days, they provided treatment to 2,400.
College Sophomore and volunteer Lindsey Yarrington has been on both trips, and will be making her sixth summer mission trip this month.
Yarrington said after her first experience with Handfuls of hope, she decided that she wanted to purse a career in ministry.
"Handfuls of Hope is the literal hands and feet of Christ working in the lives of the people of the Dominican Republic," Yarrington said. "It's a huge privilege for me to have worked with them for so long and be so emotionally and spiritually involved."
Coords said the program's focus is on impacting lives of people in the Dominican Republic and the volunteers.
There are other volunteer and mission trip opportunities, including:
- Appalachian Service Project - A mission trip that sends over 17,000 volunteers from around the country to help repair homes for low income families.
- The Center for Student Missions - The center sends approximately 300,000 volunteers to help the poor and needy in urban areas.
- Operation Smile - Three Mount Saint Mary students - Anna Makowski, Julia Hadley and Abigail Mackessy - have taken part in Operation Smile, an organization that "provides free life-changing surgeries for children with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities," according to its website.