In late February, 41 team members from Florida-based healthcare provider AdventHealth journeyed south to volunteer on a project in the Dominican Republic. The group operated five medical clinics in the nation’s capital, Santo Domingo, in neighborhoods with limited access to healthcare. Their services were widely popular, and by project’s close they had treated 1,000 patients. Non-clinical team members painted a classroom building at the Ciudad del Cielo school campus that Maranatha is constructing in northern Santo Domingo.
“My prayer is that each of our volunteers experienced love, joy and peace during this trip and shared it with others,” remarked AdventHealth director of global missions and Maranatha board member Monty Jacobs. “I hope they were able to reflect on the important things in life during the trip, and returned to the United States energized and recommitted to living our mission with purpose.”
In May of 2024, an AdventHealth team laid block walls for Ciudad del Cielo campus buildings during a service project. Several volunteers who served on last year’s trip returned this time to continue work on the school. “The campus is really taking shape and will be a major blessing to the community it serves,” said Jacobs. “Being able to return to the school to see the progress and to help advance it closer to completion was really special. A big thank you to Maranatha Volunteers International for allowing us to be part of this major school project.”
AdventHealth regularly coordinates international projects for their team members. However, many of those projects have been centered around medical services. In the past two years, Jacobs has worked with Maranatha to provide opportunities for non-clinical staff to serve through construction. “Over the course of these two mission trips, over 70 volunteers from AdventHealth were able to experience our organizational mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ in a different way,” he said. “They were able to see the impact that this school will have on the surrounding community. Some of our team members were originally from the Dominican Republic, and it was very meaningful for them to be able to give back and be part of a project that will help educate the next generation of Dominican leaders.”
Maranatha has a long history of working in the Dominican Republic. In 1980, after the destruction of Hurricane David, Maranatha constructed 160 houses here. In 1992, the Dominican Republic was the site of a watershed moment of growth for Maranatha, when the organization coordinated the construction of 25 churches over 70 days. Dubbed “Santo Domingo ’92,” it was the first time Maranatha concentrated on one place for multiple volunteer projects. Later efforts occurred in 2003 and 2013, and in 2022, Maranatha returned once more and has been working there since.