Dominican Starfish Foundation from Canada and Pal Humanitarian from USA are combining efforts to build a new distribution and community center in Javillar, Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.

1. Dominican Starfish Foundation and Pal Humanitarian Services
are combining efforts to build a distribution/community center in the community of
Javillar, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Both are registered charities and all
donations will receive tax-deductible receipts. 100% of all donations go directly to
the projects. (For Canadian donations, donate to Dominican Starfish Foundation and
for US donations, donate to Pal Humanitarian) We are looking for corporate and
individual sponsors who would be interested in supporting the new center.

2. Louise ZoBell, the founder and Executive Director of Dominican Starfish
Foundation, has been volunteering in the Dominican since 2008. Dominican
Starfish Foundation was created in 2012.
Through donations and the help of others, DSF has raised money and has built a
school, a library and 46 homes in the Dominican Republic. Three more homes
are funded and will be built in the coming months.
Pal Humanitarian has been working in other areas in the Dominican Republic for
many years. They have been helping the cocoa farmers with distribution. They
joined with Dominican Starfish Foundation in 2014. They, and their contact
groups, have participated in funding 5 of the homes and the library.
Both groups have provided thousands of pounds of clothing, shoes, hygiene kits,
baby packs, school supplies and household items for distribution.
We have outgrown our first small distribution center, built in 2012. We are
currently making plans for a much larger center in Javillar. We have acquired the
land for the buildings and have a projected opening date of March 20, 2018.
The following two pages are preliminary drawings for Phase 1 of our center. This
is for illustration purposes only.

5. The land is located in the heart of the Javillar community and is approximately 2300 sq. ft.
This is the community where we have built the majority of the homes. Many people live in
poverty in this area.

6. Some before and after pictures of the work of Dominican Starfish Foundation
and Pal Humanitarian

7. Phase 1 Plans
Our ultimate goal is to build a 3-story building on the property. The second story
would include an apartment for the director and classrooms for vocational study. The
third floor would also be classrooms. Our immediate goal is to build the first floor of
the building. Our estimated cost for this, based on the history and size of our
buildings, is $50000 USD.
1.Distribution Center
2.Community Center
3.Office for the Foundations
4.Kitchen
5.Bathrooms

8. Distribution Center
Each year, thousands of pounds of clothing, shoes, hygiene kits, baby packs, school
supplies and household items are brought to the Dominican for distribution.
We need a place where these can be stored, hung and displayed for distribution. As
in the past, we will continue to ask those who receive donations to do a service in
the community, such as cleaning the streets, helping a neighbor, helping in the
hospital, etc. We have seen a huge difference in the community since we instigated
this with our first center in 2012.
We also want a place where people can volunteer their time. People who are
receiving homes and other benefits will have a place where they can offer service
back to the community.
We are constantly being contacted by others vacationing in Puerto Plata to find a
location for leaving donations. We would like to set up Humanitarian Tours at the
various resorts, so people can come to our center, drop off donations, and see the
other projects we are working on in the community.

9. Pictures from January-March trip 2017. There were over 6000 pounds of donations given.

10. Community Center
In Javillar, there is not a venue where people from the community can come
together for weddings, funerals, family gatherings, etc. This center would be
made available to provide that service.
In the center, teaching can occur. We would like to teach sewing and other
vocational skills to help people become self-sufficient.
There are groups of people who come who are willing to teach English classes.
This would be a venue for these classes.
We would like to set up a small consignment store, which would be for
Dominican-made products only, to help people to support themselves.
The cruise ships coming into the Dominican also sponsor humanitarian side-
trips. This could potentially bring guests to visit our center, donate and
purchase products.

11. Foundation Office
In order to be a registered, official foundation in the Dominican Republic, we
must have a physical location and telephone number. Our official foundation in
the Dominican could qualify us for government assistance in our programs.
In the foundation office, we would provide a video presentation of foundation
activities to promote assistance and donations from others.
The administrative work of the foundation will be located here.
Meetings can be held with the director to plan humanitarian activities and
donations.
KitchenA small kitchen in our center will help facilitate community events.
At times, the foundation cooks meals to donate to others. For example, every
Christmas we cook and serve a pasta dinner for the children in the area.

12. On-going costs.
We would like to pay a director to manage our center. This wage could
possibly be $300 USD/mo. All other work at the center would be on a
volunteer basis by the people in the community and humanitarian-minded
guests who come to serve.
Water and electricity will cost approximately $100/mo.
We intend to have ongoing donations to cover these costs. We currently have
monthly donors. We will be looking for additional generous donors.
Thank you to all who have donated
and who are considering donating to
help move this work forward in the
Dominican Republic.