The Dominican Starfish Foundation organized various initiatives to celebrate Mother's Day and World Hunger Day, raising significant funds to support housing and food needs for families in the Dominican Republic. They successfully built new homes for families, including the Jimenez family, and funded medical assistance for a child requiring surgery. Additionally, they graduated the first group from their vocational training programs, providing them with opportunities for employment.

1. Dominican Starfish Foundation

2. We celebrated Mother’s day in Canada and
the United States on May 9, Mother’s Day in
the Dominican Republic on May 30,
and World Hunger Day on May 28. We created
fundraisers around each of these events.

3. We chose a family to receive a new
home as our Mother’s Day Project.
We created crowd-
funding sites, Mother’s
Day cards, sent emails,
held Facebook
promotions and hosted a
50/50 raffle. Thanks to
generous donors, we
raised the funds required
to build a much-needed
new home for the
Jimenez family.

4. To help fund the Jimenez family home, one of
our board members, Lisa Hunter, organized
our very first Dominican Starfish 50/50 raffle.
There was a total of
$3420 in ticket sales.
The winner of the raffle
was Shawna Reddick
from Lethbridge. She
graciously donated a
portion of her winnings
for the Jimenez home.

5. Initiated by our board treasurer, Jackie Chan, we
promoted giving our mothers here a unique gift
by providing food and assistance for mothers in
the Dominican Republic. Several participated and
Dominican mothers were blessed by this project.

6. On May 30, Dominican Mother’s Day, we
also helped honor mothers there by
providing food and small household gifts.

7. Our crew has
been working
hard on the
second level of
our distribution
center. They
have finished
most of the
parging on this
huge project.

8. The long-awaited playground in Javillar is becoming a reality!!
The initial playground equipment has been ordered! Thank you
so much to the Fackrell family, the Greiner family, the Juuls-
Larsen family and others who have made this possible!

9. One of our biggest challenges in providing homes is
helping those who own no property. We were
blessed to purchase a small home for one of our
construction workers for the price we would
normally have to pay for a plot of land. As we are
able, in the future, we will help him to upgrade it.

10. Jeyson and Angelina were renting the home that we found to
purchase for our worker. This caused a problem for them
because they were trying to build a home for themselves, and it
was far from being completed. They had lost employment
because of Covid and had no recourses to finish building, and
they had no other place to go. We raised funds to help them
get their home to a point where they could move in. Though
finishing work is not entirely done, Jeyson is now employed
again, and they will be continuing to complete as they can.

11. One year ago on May 27, 2020, we met
Lislibeth. With no income and 3 small
children, she was being evicted from
her rental home. Upon requesting
help, we were able to secure donations
for a piece of land with a shack on it,
better than what she was renting. She
and her family lived there until mid-
April this year when we demolished it
for replacement. This is what the new
home looked like May 27, 2021. It will
be complete in early June.

12. The Agramonte home
was started April 12 with
donations of funds and
labor from members of
Hope Humanitarian. It is
now nearing completion.
The family will move into
their new home in early
June.

13. Yrna’s home has been one of our most challenging projects.
In February we discovered that the land we were to build on
wasn’t stable. We had to remove a large hill and build a giant
retaining wall. Finally, the home it is nearing completion!!

14. The Cruz family
home is
progressing
steadily. This
home is being built
for 2 sisters and
their 5 small
children.

15. On May 15 we created a fundraiser called
50 Years, 50 Windows, $50 and raised
$1500 for windows in some of our current
home projects! Thanks to our donors!

16. Food—World Hunger Day
On May 28, for World Hunger Day, we reached
out requesting funds to help feed the hungry.
Thanks to generous donors, we were able to raise
$4000 for immediate and future hunger issues.

17. Education
Our first group graduated from the
Manicure/Pedicure Course and the
Hairdressing Course that was held in
Baraguana. Some graduates have already
found limited income opportunities.

18. Medical Assistance
13-year-old Jovanna had surgery on her
spine on May 22 in Santo Domingo.
Because of generous donations, we
were able to provide the family with a
substantial sum to pay their obligations
for surgery and medications.

19. THANKS TO OUR DONORS
May brought many miracles including another
amazing donation for a complete home!!!