Thrive in Joy’s Spring 2024 Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic
On March 9, members from the Thrive in Joy leadership team along with nine students and two staff members from the USC Caruso Catholic Center (the CC) embarked on the CC's 6th Annual Alternative Spring Break to the Dominican Republic. This life-changing week of service is coordinated through our partnership with Casa Misionera in the Dominican Republic.
Our work focused on serving the 430 students at Tia Tatiana School in Herrera in partnership with VisionTrust, engaging in a food distribution program for families in need with the young adult members of Casa Misionera, and serving the 62 children and young adults living at the Remar Orphanage.
Here are the highlights from each day:
Saturday, Travel Day: We were supposed to arrive in Santo Domingo, but due to flight delays we had to spend the night in Miami.
Sunday, Day 1: We departed Miami mid-day and arrived in Santo Domingo in the late afternoon. We went straight from the airport to Provocon, our favorite place for a traditional Dominican chicken dinner. Since we were traveling with a priest, we had our own private Sunday Mass that evening back at the Mission House.
Monday, Day 2: We enjoyed Tia Tatiana students performing skits and dances at the morning assembly celebrating Dia de las Mujeres Internacional. We started our project which involved building three age-appropriate reading corners and stocking them with books. We also painted a mural on the exterior of a newly constructed area that conceals the daily trash, which is a huge sanitation improvement! That afternoon, we hosted a special lunch for the senior students.
Tuesday, Day 3: We finished our Tia Tatiana reading corners project in the morning and in the afternoon our team, along with Casa Misionera volunteers, assembled bags of food and delivered rice, eggs, canned goods, and other staples to families in need in the Herrera community.
Wednesday, Day 4: After painting walls and doing cement work, we enjoyed the Remar Orphanage version of “Project Runway” where the children and young adults put on a fashion show for us. We then hosted a pizza, cake, and ice cream party for everyone afterwards! We finished off the day at another destination we long to visit on every trip- the famous Bellamar Smoke House gas station barbecue.
Thursday, Day 5: Since we originally planned to visit the Colonial Zone on Sunday but our plans were thwarted due to flight delays, we decided to start our day of R&R touring this history-rich enclave. I don’t know how he pulled it off, but Fr. Matthew’s excellent Spanish communication skills (or was it a prayer?) got us access to The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor before it opened to the public for the day. The cathedral is the oldest in the Americas with construction completed in 1550. Fr. Matthew celebrated a private Mass just for our group, which was one more significant moment of the trip. After Mass, we were able to spend time with our favorite tour guide learning more about the history of the area before meeting the Casa Misionera students at our favorite pizza spot in the plaza. After lunch and some dancing in the plaza to the rhythms of street musicians, it was off to the beach for our final day of relaxing from a busy and most fulfilling week .
Friday, Day 6: We returned to Los Angeles with full hearts, new friends, and much good accomplished!
If you would like to support Thrive in Joy’s work in the Dominican Republic, click HERE.
If you would like to receive information about joining Thrive in Joy’s October 2024 mission team, click HERE.