You Can Be Part of
THE CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS LA ROMANA MISSION
SPONSORED BY
THE FIRST CHURCH IN STERLING
AND
WAMS,UCC
MARCH 1 – 9, 2008
You are invited to join a combined group of medical team personnel who will run clinics in the barrios of La Romana, Dominicans Republic, and in the sugar cane bateys (villages); and construction workers who will continue work on building the Good Samaritan Hospital for the Haitian/Dominican poor.
Trip Leaders: Jonathan and Shantia Wright-Gray
978-422-6256,
jonathanwg@gmail.com shantiawg@gmail.com
Total cost: $1,150
A deposit of $200 is due with application by Dec 1. The balance is due Jan. 30
The trip cost includes your complete travel, room and board.
[The cost of the trip does not cover all of our group mission expenses. We need at least $200 more per person for construction materials, buses, medicines, translators, etc. There are many ways to raise this additional funding - we hope you will join us in some of our group fundraising efforts and solicit donations on your own.
Each participant is also invited to collect donated vitamins, over the counter medications of all kinds, sewing and knitting materials and summer weight clothing for adults and children.]
The trip is from Friday night, Feb. 29, to Sunday night, Mar. 9. Bus transportation to Kennedy Airport, NYC, is provided from Sterling, MA. Each week includes both medical and construction personnel. Teenagers (usually 16 and older) are welcome if accompanied by a parent or another responsible adult (may be assigned by trip leaders).
At the end of the week, the group will move to a local hotel for Saturday night, with time for relaxation and reflection on the mission experience.
Whatever your skills or background, you could be part of this year’s experience.
Central Mass. La Romana Mission is a church-related, ecumenical effort partnering with two dozen similar groups and with a Haitian Baptist Church in the city of La Romana. Such trips have been happening for over 15 years. It is organized locally by the First Church in Sterling and WAMS,UCC, but welcomes participants regardless of their religious affiliation.
A REFLECTION:
In March, 2007, 36 people from Central Massachusetts—from high school students to senior citizens—embarked on a Caribbean trip like no other. These volunteers gave a week of their time and paid over $1,000 to work very hard in the hot sun and encounter the sadness of poverty. And they also had the rich experience of meeting people whose happiness and faith is often contagious, and watched the barriers of language and cultural differences melt away into friendship. They lived and worked together as a real community with people they didn’t know at all before, and discovered what it really means to give of oneself for others.
The Rev. Shantia Wright-Gray
Mission Educator and WAYS Coordinator for
Tthe Worcester Area Mission Society, UCC
shantiawg@gmail.com
978-422-6256 home/office
508-450-2001 Cell
48 Main St.
Sterling, MA 01564
