About the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country on the Island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean region. It is well known for its beautiful beaches, baseball players, rhythmic music, and diversity of terrain including rainforest, savannah, and highlands. It is also home to 3.4 million children under the age of 18 years, representing 36% of the country’s total population. Studies conducted by UNICEF and CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) estimate that 1.8 million children in the Dominican Republic are considered poor, or 47% of the entire children’s population.
Due to poverty and other factors, Dominican children face an array of challenges limiting their access to good education, health care, and the possibility of decent employment in the future.
Do You Want to Make a Difference?
We offer you options to bring hope within the reach of a child in need.
100% of your donation goes directly to the intended cause.
Our Plan
Our plan is to open children’s homes that provide more than just food and a roof. We will provide a place where children have a “home,” a family, and an atmosphere where they can grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Our Mission: GO 4 Kids
We want to help!
We want to start by helping those children who are more vulnerable: the orphans, abandoned, and the ones whose parents are not able to provide a safe shelter.
How do we plan to achieve this objective? By staying away from the traditional “orphanage institution” model of a large number of children in a dormitory-like building. Instead, we will create family units with qualifying couples serving as parents.
Each child will have the opportunity to identify themselves with basic family roles and learn skills that are usually deficient when raised in typical “orphanage institution” settings. Growing one home at a time, we will create a small village.
Education
Education is important to us and one of the biggest challenges in the country. We plan to open a school on the same grounds as the children’s home to meet the educational needs of children who are often behind in their education. The long-term plan would be to open the school to community children to expand the scope of our impact in the community.
Where Are We Now?
A branch of GO 4 Kids has been opened in the Dominican Republic to be able to operate as a local non-governmental organization (NGO). With the help of the local volunteer team, land was purchased and we are ready to start building the project.
However, we know the need is real and urgent, so waiting for all the building processes to be completed is not acceptable. We are looking for a suitable rental home to start our first family ASAP.
Current Needs
We need funds to start construction of our first 2 family homes and housing for the staff/offices. Each home has been estimated to cost about $80,000 with basic furniture and the capacity for parents and 10 children. We have already raised some funds which are being used to rent the transitional home, make the necessary repairs to make it child-safe, and buy the furniture. It is a very exciting time for the family of GO 4 Kids, as we are stepping in faith with one goal in mind: to bring hope within reach of children in need.