Mission “Books for Love”: ACCOMPLISHED

I am proud to say that in the past week, I took part in a beautiful mission during which over 300 books, 30 coloring books, 12 sets of flashcards, 20 packs of crayons, hundreds of pairs of shoes, nearly 1000 outfits, lots of school supplies, and lots of love were distributed to the wonderful people of Las Matas de Farfan, Dominican Republic.

Over the past 4 months, I have been running a mission project that I called “Books for Love.” I was aiming to collect 150 items from an Amazon registry I made that was mostly comprised of books but also included some coloring books, flashcards, and school supplies. These items were to be brought to the guadaria (preschool/daycare) that I have been doing work in since I was 17 years old.

This project meant so much to me. Education and literacy are very important to me and I wanted more than anything to be able to to promote that in a little village that has become so dear to me.

The original goal was to be able to bring 150 books to add to the very small existing library in the guadaria and to give each child a book to take home. The goals changed very quickly. Over 120 books were purchased in the first week that the project was active! I also learned soon after that the age range of the kids in the guadaria had shifted from 3-10 to 2-5; most of the kids could not read.

The results of my little book drive alone were outstanding. Our church collects the clothes, shoes, and vitamins, but the generous people who participated in the drive donated a total of over 300 books and $300 to cover shipping costs. We had so much extra money from shipping that we were able to buy even more books!

Thank you all for your support. It means the world to me and to the hundreds of kids touched by this project.

Here are some pictures of the books and the trip!

The group (minus me because I was watching our luggage on the bus) stopped to see Sr. Pilar. She is 93 and moved to Las Matas from Spain to be a missionary. Her order moved her back to Spain when she was 70 but before long, she insisted to go back to the DR. She continued to serve until last year when she had to move to the capital for medical reasons. She is a saint!

“Mamita” or “Abuelita” has been going on the mission trip to Las Matas twice a year for nearly 15 years. She brings the street people clothing. One woman gave this chicked to her as payment for the clothes. Suzie became our mission mascot.