Nourishment Program for FUMSIL
Donation protected
FUMSIL is a nonprofit organization that operates along the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is the sole provider of healthcare to over 14,000 people.
I had the opportunity to travel through Aquinas College with a few fellow classmates and work with the organization. We were all blown away. With so little, they do so much.
A large part of what they do is provide medical clinics once a month in 23 communities along the Haitian/Dominican border.
At these clinics, children are weighed and placed into 4 categories: Normal, Leve, Moderately Malnourished and Severely Malnourished. If a child is severly malnourished, the best is done to get the parents permission to release the child to FUMSIL, and then they are transported to a nourishment center in Elias Pina, where they would stay until they were brought back to health. This is a considerable task.
In discussing the issue with the Jessica Carlile, an Aquinas Alum and our host during our stay there, we discovered that for $10,000 a year, we could help FUMSIL provide this service:
Every two weeks, children who have been labeled moderately malnourished would be visited at their home community in the mountains, supplied with food to get them through the next two weeks and a medical checkup. Doing so prevents them from ever becoming severly malnourished. This means not only will they not be taken from their families, but also that their growth and development can be kept on track.
Knowing this, myself and few others from the trip have set out to fund the program for 1 year. The $11,000 goal recognizes the small percentage that gofundme takes and will ensure FUMSIL has all they need to make sure they can provide this service to the kids who need it.
We cannot explain to you what it is we saw or the way it has effected us. What we can say is we have been moved to action and that alone says something. We hope you will be moved to action as well. Gifts from $5 to $500 dollars (or more) are appreciated. You have no idea how far your few dollars goes in changing lives in the Dominican Republic.
Building Bridges of Hope is the American branch of FUMSIL. Their website (www.bbohdr.weebly.com) is a great resource if you'd like to find more information about both organizations.
I had the opportunity to travel through Aquinas College with a few fellow classmates and work with the organization. We were all blown away. With so little, they do so much.
A large part of what they do is provide medical clinics once a month in 23 communities along the Haitian/Dominican border.
At these clinics, children are weighed and placed into 4 categories: Normal, Leve, Moderately Malnourished and Severely Malnourished. If a child is severly malnourished, the best is done to get the parents permission to release the child to FUMSIL, and then they are transported to a nourishment center in Elias Pina, where they would stay until they were brought back to health. This is a considerable task.
In discussing the issue with the Jessica Carlile, an Aquinas Alum and our host during our stay there, we discovered that for $10,000 a year, we could help FUMSIL provide this service:
Every two weeks, children who have been labeled moderately malnourished would be visited at their home community in the mountains, supplied with food to get them through the next two weeks and a medical checkup. Doing so prevents them from ever becoming severly malnourished. This means not only will they not be taken from their families, but also that their growth and development can be kept on track.
Knowing this, myself and few others from the trip have set out to fund the program for 1 year. The $11,000 goal recognizes the small percentage that gofundme takes and will ensure FUMSIL has all they need to make sure they can provide this service to the kids who need it.
We cannot explain to you what it is we saw or the way it has effected us. What we can say is we have been moved to action and that alone says something. We hope you will be moved to action as well. Gifts from $5 to $500 dollars (or more) are appreciated. You have no idea how far your few dollars goes in changing lives in the Dominican Republic.
Building Bridges of Hope is the American branch of FUMSIL. Their website (www.bbohdr.weebly.com) is a great resource if you'd like to find more information about both organizations.
Organizer
Hanna Dugan
Organizer
Grand Rapids, MI
