I´d like you to meet our dear friend Greg, and his Wife Elizabeth, and their cause Cabarete Kids Fund
There is a big need for help and support in the "other side" of Cabarete, and what they are doing is just great.... I will leave you with Greg´s own words, but for what is worth, I can tell you guys, that this is a real cause and I know for sure your money will definitely end up in the right hands. Morph Kiteboarding fully supports this project.
thank you guys for doing this for Cabarete Boys, they really need it. :)
David Morph.
From Greg´s Facebook .
Where to begin.... Elizabeth and I aren't missionaries--we are kitesurfing tourists in the Dominican Republic until October. On one side of the street is the best kitesurfing in the world--beautiful resorts and lots of fellow tourists from all over the globe. On the other side of the street is abject poverty--beautiful, wonderful people full of love and hope, living literally hand to mouth in concrete shacks with tin roofs. Like you, we always try to commit acts of random kindness wherever we are and whenever we can.
So last night while eating dinner on the beach, Jake, a 12-year-old boy, asks if he can shine my sandals for 25 cents. I get my sandals shined almost daily and pay them a lot more just to help out. So I noticed that Jake had terrible burn scars on the entire left side of his body. I asked what happened. He told me his dad died in a house fire a couple of years ago and he was lucky to survive. Tragic I know. Then I asked if he was excited about going back to school tomorrow with all his friends. Suddenly he lost his winning smile and sadly told me that he couldn't afford school, because here in the Dominican Republic, if you can't afford your school uniform and school supplies, you CANNOT ATTEND SCHOOL without exception. Elizabeth and I were shocked. Obviously in the U.S. and even in Mexico where we spend a lot of time, this is not the case. ALL kids go to school. Not here.
The solution for Jake was easily enough for us to handle. We took him shopping this morning. Everything he needed and a little more. On the way to his house, we met his two younger sisters, and took them along as well. Crisis avoided--for them. But then we went back home, and while observing the street and the beach, we noticed there were a lot of kids, selling fruit and flowers, shining shoes, braiding hair, etc. during school hours. This was not an isolated incident. This is an epidemic problem in the Dominican Republic. Mind you, these kids are not begging or stealing. They are working and doing whatever they can just to survive. They all go to church every Sunday. They are good kids with love in their hearts and smiles on their faces. This is just wrong. It makes me tear up when I think about it.
I posted on Facebook my heartwarming experience with Jake, and was pleasantly surprised that friends like Pam, Glenn, Kathleen, Vince, Mark, Leslie, and others, said they wanted to help.
So today we went to the beach and it took us all of five minutes to find our next "victim" of another random act of kindness. Sandy is 14 years old (picture below). We asked him how things were going with school. His smile disappeared and he said he was hoping his dad was going to be able to afford his uniform and supplies by next week (but he didn't sound hopeful). We asked to meet his dad. Both he and his dad work full time on the beach, cleaning the beach area in front of the restaurants, arranging the beach chairs, putting up umbrellas, etc. The dad held a bible in his hand as he, being notably embarrassed, explained that he was short the money he needed. The average adult wage here is about $5 a day. No not an hour, A DAY. We asked where the school was, and if Sandy could take us there to meet the Director and Sandy's dad agreed.
We met with Paula, the School Director, who confirmed what we feared, that this was a huge problem. Yes, almost everyone is very poor here. But most can afford to put their kids in school. But many can't. She has a list of about 40 families whose kids will not be attending this semester, not because they don't want to go, but because they simply can't afford the $100 worth of clothes and supplies they need. And, there is another school she took us to, where we met the Director, and she has another 60 families in the same situation--all with an average of three kids per family that are school aged.
Paula took us down the street to the school supply store and the owner almost cried when we told her we wanted to help these kids. She sees them standing outside of her store every day, counting their pesos, just hoping to be able to go to school. She agreed to sell us whatever we needed AT COST. Total cost per kid, which includes khaki pants, blue shirt, shoes, socks, undershirt, pencils, pencil sharpener, pens, notebooks and backpack: $50 per kid. FIFTY DOLLARS to send a kid to school for a semester.
So what to do now? I'd love to just cut them all a check but we aren't rich. I've got $1,000 I can spare and we have time to make it happen. We've had over $800 in donations from friends in just the first day. Elizabeth and I aren't missionaries and don't have a church funding us. We have never asked anyone for anything ever since we were married eight years ago. But we really need your help with these kids.
Here's the math: 100 families times three kids on average per family times $50 = $15,000. $15K and we take every single kid off the street and beach in this town and put them in school. We can do this people. We can't save the world, but we can save these kids, right here, today.
Will you help? You can send money to my paypal account (greghovey@hotmail.com) or mail a check to Elizabeth Hovey, 2114 W. Grant, Box 96, Tucson, AZ 85745. If you are dead broke right now, and believe me with this economy I understand, can you at least repost this on your facebook page? Time is of the essence because school started today. Every kid we help, we will post their pictures and bios, and post our receipts for their supplies. 100% goes to the kids.
God Bless You All.
______________________________________________________
So last night while eating dinner on the beach, Jake, a 12-year-old boy, asks if he can shine my sandals for 25 cents. I get my sandals shined almost daily and pay them a lot more just to help out. So I noticed that Jake had terrible burn scars on the entire left side of his body. I asked what happened. He told me his dad died in a house fire a couple of years ago and he was lucky to survive. Tragic I know. Then I asked if he was excited about going back to school tomorrow with all his friends. Suddenly he lost his winning smile and sadly told me that he couldn't afford school, because here in the Dominican Republic, if you can't afford your school uniform and school supplies, you CANNOT ATTEND SCHOOL without exception. Elizabeth and I were shocked. Obviously in the U.S. and even in Mexico where we spend a lot of time, this is not the case. ALL kids go to school. Not here.
The solution for Jake was easily enough for us to handle. We took him shopping this morning. Everything he needed and a little more. On the way to his house, we met his two younger sisters, and took them along as well. Crisis avoided--for them. But then we went back home, and while observing the street and the beach, we noticed there were a lot of kids, selling fruit and flowers, shining shoes, braiding hair, etc. during school hours. This was not an isolated incident. This is an epidemic problem in the Dominican Republic. Mind you, these kids are not begging or stealing. They are working and doing whatever they can just to survive. They all go to church every Sunday. They are good kids with love in their hearts and smiles on their faces. This is just wrong. It makes me tear up when I think about it.
I posted on Facebook my heartwarming experience with Jake, and was pleasantly surprised that friends like Pam, Glenn, Kathleen, Vince, Mark, Leslie, and others, said they wanted to help.
So today we went to the beach and it took us all of five minutes to find our next "victim" of another random act of kindness. Sandy is 14 years old (picture below). We asked him how things were going with school. His smile disappeared and he said he was hoping his dad was going to be able to afford his uniform and supplies by next week (but he didn't sound hopeful). We asked to meet his dad. Both he and his dad work full time on the beach, cleaning the beach area in front of the restaurants, arranging the beach chairs, putting up umbrellas, etc. The dad held a bible in his hand as he, being notably embarrassed, explained that he was short the money he needed. The average adult wage here is about $5 a day. No not an hour, A DAY. We asked where the school was, and if Sandy could take us there to meet the Director and Sandy's dad agreed.
We met with Paula, the School Director, who confirmed what we feared, that this was a huge problem. Yes, almost everyone is very poor here. But most can afford to put their kids in school. But many can't. She has a list of about 40 families whose kids will not be attending this semester, not because they don't want to go, but because they simply can't afford the $100 worth of clothes and supplies they need. And, there is another school she took us to, where we met the Director, and she has another 60 families in the same situation--all with an average of three kids per family that are school aged.
Paula took us down the street to the school supply store and the owner almost cried when we told her we wanted to help these kids. She sees them standing outside of her store every day, counting their pesos, just hoping to be able to go to school. She agreed to sell us whatever we needed AT COST. Total cost per kid, which includes khaki pants, blue shirt, shoes, socks, undershirt, pencils, pencil sharpener, pens, notebooks and backpack: $50 per kid. FIFTY DOLLARS to send a kid to school for a semester.
So what to do now? I'd love to just cut them all a check but we aren't rich. I've got $1,000 I can spare and we have time to make it happen. We've had over $800 in donations from friends in just the first day. Elizabeth and I aren't missionaries and don't have a church funding us. We have never asked anyone for anything ever since we were married eight years ago. But we really need your help with these kids.
Here's the math: 100 families times three kids on average per family times $50 = $15,000. $15K and we take every single kid off the street and beach in this town and put them in school. We can do this people. We can't save the world, but we can save these kids, right here, today.
Will you help? You can send money to my paypal account (greghovey@hotmail.com) or mail a check to Elizabeth Hovey, 2114 W. Grant, Box 96, Tucson, AZ 85745. If you are dead broke right now, and believe me with this economy I understand, can you at least repost this on your facebook page? Time is of the essence because school started today. Every kid we help, we will post their pictures and bios, and post our receipts for their supplies. 100% goes to the kids.
God Bless You All.
______________________________________________________
--Greg and Elizabeth Hovey
The poverty down here is mind blowing. Here's me and our 12-year-old friend Jack, whose dad died in a house fire a couple years ago and Jack had 3rd degree burns over 20 percent of his body. Jack shines shoes for 25 cents a pair. School is not mandatory here. If he can't save up enough for a uniform and school supplies he can't go to school. That's 400 pairs of shoes he would have to shine each semester just to go to school. We wish we could just adopt all of them. I'm happy to report that Jack is going to school this year. His favorite subject is math.
EDITED: Please share our new website and help if you can:https://www.facebook.com/cabaretekids
— en Cabarete, Dominican Republic.EDITED: Please share our new website and help if you can:https://www.facebook.com/cabaretekids
_____________________________________________________
The generosity of my friends is overwhelming. I have never done anything like this before and I can't tell you how much Elizabeth and I (and especially these kids and their parents) appreciate it. The first day of this fundraiser has raised over $2000 and has taken 40 kids off the beach and street and put them into school where they want to be and belong. We are going to spend all day tomorrow getting these kids their uniforms and school supplies, taking pictures, posting some of their bios, and meeting with 20 families chosen by the Two School Directors in Cabarete, who they know for certain have kids who are not in school presently because their parents can't afford their uniforms and supplies.
A special thanks to Leslie and Mark, Glenn, Art, Pam, Darren, Kathleen, Vince, and everyone else (sorry I know I am missing some of you) who have donated to this awesome cause.
For those of you new to this Project, kids in the Dominican Republic must have uniforms and school supplies before they are allowed in school and many cannot afford them, though they are selling fruit and flowers, shining shoes and braiding hair for a few pesos a pop. All kids have to go to school--its the law in the U.S. and Mexico, but it isn't here.
If you can help with money, until I get my official donation site set up, you can donate to my paypal account greghovey@hotmail.com, or send a check to Elizabeth Hovey, 2114 W. Grant Road, Box 96, Tucson, AZ 85745. Please private message me if you are sending a check so I can go ahead and get these kids in school with my funds, and I will reimburse myself with your check when it arrives. I will post all the receipts, and the great news is the local supplier of uniforms and school supplies has agreed to sell us everything at COST so it only costs $50 per kid instead of the $100 we were paying before ourselves.
If you can't afford to donate I totally understand. Things are rough right now everywhere. Can you at least like the page below and repost? Our goal is $15,000, which will put every single kid in this town in school who isn't already. THREE HUNDRED KIDS!!!!! We won't have any kitesurfing pics, political statements or cat memes to post until we meet our goal haha. I know we can do it, together. God Bless You All.
Cabarete Kids Fund
Meet Carlos. He is one of the many kids we are helping. He was blinded in one eye last year from an ordinary eye infection that wasn't treated because his parents couldn't afford a common antibiotic. We can't fix his eye. But we can send him, and kids like him, to school.
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