We just returned from another successful humanitarian trip with Dominican Starfish Foundation in the Dominican Republic. This is a list of the things we did, mostly in chronological order. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

1. January 8-March 11,
2019
Dominican Starfish Foundation
Humanitarian Trip
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

2. Where we get our name

3. Sharing toys collected by Sherri Wendorf of
Raymond, Alberta. Some senior ladies in the
community made the Barbie clothing.

4. In November we bought a partially finished home for Rene
and Balina. Finishing work on the home started the day we
arrived in January. We watched the progress.
January 10 January 17

5. The first house we built in 2013 was for Mela. Since
then, we have been looking after her and taking food
to her. Mary in Canada sends money to feed her.
We are now raising funds for home # 80.

6. We make sure our guests have some fun and
free time. Doug went deep sea fishing and we
enjoyed the fish the following day at our BBQ

7. Judy Gardiner made so many beautiful baby blankets
and donated diapers, school supplies and more that
we were able to distribute in the community.

8. We visited the Polanco home many times,
taking guests to see their living conditions. We
are always looking for help as we continue to
raise money to build houses for those in need.

9. We heard of some Venezuelan refuges camping out in a vacant home.
They had come with only one small suitcase and the clothing on their
backs to the Dominican Republic. We were able to buy them a stove, a
fridge, food and household items.

10. We visited Frank’s school several times and took
school supplies, clothing, baby packs, toys, dental
supplies and more.

11. We hosted a business group who came for a week for a
humanitarian vacation with their “Sweet Sheets” company.
We delivered food and sheets in the community.

12. In 2012, when we first started our foundation, we rebuilt
a school in Maggiolo which is only a few minutes walking
distance from the resort. We visit every trip and take
school supplies, toys, food and more.

13. We spent time with a large group, sorting clothing
donations at our Starfish Center in Javillar and we
distributed to members of the community.

14. We shared dinner with Kelvin’s family who
recently moved into their new home that Ray
and Terry Arsenault raised funds for.

15. We worked with Tom Smylie to organize a fundraiser for Denny
who was in an accident. A total of $2450 was raised, most of
which went to help with medication for his mother who is very
ill with cancer. The money was raised with Chairman’s Circle
and Shareholder members of Lifestyle resort.

16. Members of our group brought and donated
iPads to several university students.

17. We visited at Kate’s school several times on our trip with donations of food,
shoes, clothing, school supplies and financial assistance from our guests. One
group spent the morning doing crafts with the younger children. We also took
Kate to our center and gave her clothing for her students and her 7 live-in boys.

18. We raised money and hosted a wedding for
Junior and Marianyi, one of the families we
built a home for last year.

19. We like to take time to visit our “Starfish Families”, the
ones we have helped to have homes and more. It is
nice to see them making their own improvements.

20. This is Antonia’s home. Her home was
sponsored by Lifestyle members. Her old house
fell down the day we got a sponsor in 2016. It’s
so nice to see people keeping them beautiful.

21. We find that when people sponsor a family they
continue to care their “Starfish”. Charlotte and Doug
Palmer have sponsored 3 families and helped with
many others. They visit their families with gifts each
time they come.

22. Jeff and Angela Tabak, some of our guests,
bought much needed new beds for Junior and
Marianyi and their family.

23. We hired machinery and leveled the land where
our future playground will be.

24. We found a sponsor for Juliany and Ravel to have a new
home. We are so grateful to Wade Payne and family for
donating the funds for this house. It was started on
February 1st and finished just as we came home on
March 12. It was great to watch the progress.

25. We got to watch with fascination as the ceiling was
poured on Jose’s home. He is in an area where a
cement roof is code.
During our stay we got to
watch the progress on the
home. It will be finished in
about two weeks.

26. We raised funds for more surgery for baby Carolina.
Unfortunately, she passed away after her 7th surgery
at age 6 months. Her grandpa, Francisco had a
beautiful sign made for our center.

27. Some of our guests, Jeannie, Margaret and
Gloria took Days for Girls hygiene packs that
they had sewn and donated them at Dove
Missions. They were very well received.

28. Also at Dove Missions, Jeannie, Margaret and Gloria
helped plant in the roof-top garden, seeds that they
had brought. They also shared dental packs.

29. We visited and took donations to the Javillar clinic.

30. We sorted donations of clothing, bedding and
towels that Jeannie, Margaret and Gloria brought at
our “Starfish Center” and then delivered them to
families in the community of La Chocolatera. We
also passed out little hats that Gloria had knitted.

31. Sharing bedding and towels at La Chocolatera.
We were surprised that most people chose
blankets first.

32. With some of our guests along with volunteer English
teachers from ILP, we painted Rene and Balina’s home.

33. We donated dental items to the children at
Isabelita school and taught a small class. We
also had toys for all the children.

34. We presented Rene and Balina with their new
home. They have a family of 10.

35. After seeing the conditions of their beds, we raised
money for Rene and Balina to have new beds and
their first ever stove. They were overjoyed!
Their
old
stove

36. We travelled 2 ½ hours to Moca where Bonnie had
purchased a little home for Patricia and Kelvin. We
spent a few hours with them. Two days later we got
photos of the finished home.

37. We met the Toribio family and put out a call to help
them with a home. We got half of the money for their
home the first day from some of our friends. More
friends from another family are raising the other half.

38. We started a fundraiser to get Mundo a leg. Zoe
Palmer, age 16, from Edmonton is spearheading
this effort. We learned his story. Every day he
is out on his crutches cleaning the streets. He
has a little fruit stand to support himself.

39. We hosted 7 students from the pre-med club of the
University of Lethbridge. Their first project was to
share food packs in the community of Javillar.

40. Royce and Melody Woodruff brought their whole family of
19 to the resort. They gave much service in the community.
Their grandchildren had done fundraisers for school supplies,
baby packs and more. Kate’s school touched their hearts.

41. The pre-med students painted Colasa and
Antonio’s home.

42. We found a sponsor for Trinidad’s home. It will need a lot of
time and help. Diane who has been paying the rent for two
years will try to raise money for them to get a home of their
own. The have 3 little children. Her husband was in an
accident making it difficult for him to work or get a job. A
small lot has been donated to the family.

43. The Woodruff family and the pre-med students
delivered more medical supplies to the clinic in
Javillar. It is amazing what little they have there.

44. We are so grateful to Andy and Sarah Pereneck. They visited
Javillar with us and donated funds to finish the Polanco family
home. We have taken many people to see the home this trip
with the hopes that it could be the next one started. We
appreciate everyone who has donated to make this happen!

45. 16 of us took down the Polanco house in 40
minutes. In the end it was just pushed over.

46. The Polanco home was started the day after we tore the
old house down. It was great watching the daily progress.

47. The Giauque family brought over 100 pairs of
black shoes for school. These are such needed
items. We were able to distribute them to
school children.

48. We hosted a wedding for Ali and Manuela. The
money was raised by Sharon Jones and her friends
who also raised the money for their home.

49. With a large group of our guests, we purchased
and delivered 77 food packs, dental packs, toys,
and more to each family in La Chocolatera.

50. Many people from the resort donated items for
distribution. These beautiful baby packs came from
Trish Boylan. She also donated dental care packs.

51. John and Kathy Enman donated 9 suitcases filled with
clothing and other items. We were able to sort them
at the villa and share most of them with Winston and
Leo for the communities where they help.

52. Esperanza has a small business selling bras. It’s her only
source of income. We were able to take more than 100
new bras to her, some which we brought and some
donated in the items from John and Kathy Enman.

53. We found a sponsor for Nelson, Belkes and their
family. They live in such a desperate situation.
Their home in so tiny and only has 3 walls.
Some of our
guests, Brad
and Kristie and
Dale and Joyce
have chosen to
sponsor this
family.

54. Sharon, Sherilee, Debbie, Anne, Robyn, Mark, Steve
and Lynette donated 3 large duffle bags of ball
gloves and equipment to a team in Puerto Plata.
The children were over the moon excited.

55. Pearl Giles, director of Pal Humanitarian who
partners with us took donations of IV boards
and other items to the hospital.

56. We presented to the volunteer English teachers from ILP
about the work of our foundation. There are 32 teachers
volunteering their time for 4 months. Many past groups
have raised money for houses, roofs, paint and more. After
our presentation we took them to see two of the homes we
want to sponsor. Some of them expressed a desire to help.

57. We are still looking for a sponsor for our carpenter,
Tiberon. He has helped with every building project
and lives in such bad conditions. His wife has health
issues as well. Their home is being eaten by termites.

58. We hosted Elder Sam Johnson and his wife Kathy Johnson for
a day at the villa. They are humanitarian missionaries for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. There is a
program with LDS charities to help with prosthetics. They
are going to help Mundo get a leg!!! Zoe will raise the money
for his transportation and other expenses.

59. We went with Tonya Greiner and Lindsay Wright and
their families to Baraguana, a Haitian Village. We took
80 food packs to deliver to each family. Lindsay had
made 150 hygiene packs. Both groups also shared toys.

60. We raised money for a young missionary to have
surgery. He was serving in Mexico but had to return
for adenoid surgery. Two kind donors from our
group, Kent and Kevin made this possible. After his
surgery, he will be able to return to his mission.

61. Mary and Bruce Cahoon raised the money and
donated so that Clarens could have a piece of
land in Baraguana to build a home in the future.

62. We announced to Tamara that her home would start next
week. We don’t have all the funds yet but she is being evicted
from her rental place. Her husband is wrongfully jailed in
Columbia from a fishing expedition gone bad. The marking of
the land has already taken place.

63. The Polanco home looked like this the night before
we left to return to Canada. This was 8 days after we
tore the previous home down.
We learned something
interesting about the
grandpa in this home. He is a
volunteer fire-fighter. He
walks about 3 miles to work
every day. They give him a
2500 peso allowance for food
which is $50 US per month.
He doesn’t eat there. He
saves the money to help his
family.

64. We found a young sponsor to help Brenda go to English
school. She is 10 years old and lives with her great-
grandma, Francesca, who is nearly blind with glaucoma.

65. We donated money to Freddy so that he can paint his
home. It was one of the first ones we built and his
income is so meagre. He now has a wife and baby.

66. We continue to support 3 university
students, 2 in medical school and one
as a lab technician. We also support
two young people in English school.

67. We continue to feed 6 senior citizens on an ongoing
basis with our “Feed a Senior” program.
We are also helping 2 families to pay their rent.

68. A big thank you to so many who made
this yet another very successful
humanitarian trip. You are truly
changing lives, “one starfish at a time”.