Offer Hope for 300 Youth in the Dominican Republic

Have you ever seen the smile of a child who just learned how to read and write on there own? That was the radiant smile we saw from ten-year-old Miguelina this week!

Our after-school program, Sala de Tarea, or "homework room", teaches kids to read and write in small, interactive groups led by qualified tutors. It's an important program because many kids in the community never learn these skills even if they attend school. Through Sala de Tarea, many have sucessfully learned to read and write!

Miguelina came to the project two years ago when she was eight. At the time she had never attended school and she didn’t know how to read or write. Her father had abandoned her family and she lived with her younger brother and her mom, who worked as a maid. Miguelina often misbehaved, didn’t listen to her mom, and would get into fights with the other kids in the neighborhood. Her mom wasn’t sure what else to do and considered taking her out of the community to see if she would fare better somewhere else. Instead, Miguelina became one of the recipients of our school scholarships and joined one of our Sala de Tarea groups.

Although Miguelina initally didn't enjoy attending school because she was the oldest in her grade and didn’t know how to read and write, she always looked forward to coming to Sala de Tarea because she loved her teacher and liked the activities—especially writing on the white board.

The day Miguelina declared she knew how to read and write, she was beaming. In fact, she’s been beaming every time we’ve seen her since. She says school is more fun now, and her favorite subjects are math and social studies. Her mother is just as excited, and says she is very happy that Miguelina has been able to attend school and learn to read through our programs.

Our programs at The Bienvenido Project are meant to provide our kids with the skills and resources they need to excel long-term, in every area of their life. Miguelina’s home life has improved, her self-esteem is higher, and she can now complete her school homework and be successful as a student.

Thanks to support from our donors, we are able to provide similar experiences for many other kids beyond Miguelina. The impact is real— their smiles say it all!

And speaking of financial donations… SAVE THE DATE! For those of you interested in making a donation towards our school scholarship fund for the 2018-2019 school year (or towards any other part of our program), on Wednesday, July 18^th one-time donations will be matched 50% and reoccurring donations 100%!!! Plus we’ll be competing for additional bonus funds for raising the most funds, most donations, or most reoccurring donations. It's a great day to make your donation go even further and have an even greater impact.