Young, strong, enterprising, and with great futures ahead of them, Débora, Carmen, Junior, Bethania, Ricardo, and Mireya to mention just a few, take steps every day in order towards achieving their goals. These older children are part of the group of youth who will soon be independent. We want to recognize that their journey, especially their stay at our home, has been an example, leaving footprints for their brothers and sisters at the home. Within the group, Débora and Mireya just graduated high school from the Colegio San Benito Abad. This is where our pequeños go to finish their high school careers since we don’t yet have a completed high school here on site.

OUTSTANDING YOUTH

A NOTE FROM OUR

NATIONAL DIRECTOR

/ 983249823

Number 1/2012 August 2012

VENTANA A Look at Our NPH Home

Dear readers! It is with great pleasure that we initiate this new project at our NPH home in the Dominican Republic. Our goal is to periodically distribute our newsletter, ‘Ventana – A look at Our NPH Home,’ which will include news about the big and small events that happen on a daily basis at our institute.

We are also taking this as an opportunity to thank all of those who have supported our effort to house and educate pequeños, so that they can become responsible for their own lives and contribute to the well-being and development of their communities when they are adults.

We hope that you enjoy reading our first edition. The next one will be made with the help of our Leadership Group, who since the beginning of this project has shown great interest and enthusiasm at getting involved. -K. Rigney

The 2011-2012 school year ended successfully for our 16 students who were in 8th grade in our school. All of them passed the first phase of their national exams, which means our NPH home achieved a passing percentage that is higher than the national average. We are extremely grateful for the effort of the professors, tutors, and volunteers, who all contributed to the education of these pequeños through their jobs and dedication.

100% SUCCESS

THANK YOU MARCO SIMONCELLI FOUNDATION

Among the 12 houses that belong to our Casa Santa Ana, we have a very special one that is home to 9 pequeños with different health problems such as cerebral palsy, malformations, and other disabilities which require regular monitoring on behalf of our caregivers and specialized medical personnel since the children aren’t able to take care of themselves. Currently, this house is Casa San Matías. However, within a few months, the special needs house will move to a new building called Casa San Marcos in honor of the champion motorcyclist Marco Simoncelli. Marco tragically died doing what he most loved, racing motorcycles in his homeland, Italy.

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A better future for our

special needs children! Marco, throughout his life, was dedicated to helping special needs children. Soon we will have a new house for our special needs children, thanks to the foundation that today exists in his name. This foundation has provided the resources to finish the building and equip it with all that is necessary for its security and comfort for the special needs children at NPH. We want to thank the family members of Marco, especially his finance, Kate. Kate visited our home to see the progress on the project and to get to know our family. She toured the home, spent time with the children and enjoyed a family supper with all of the pequeños during her stay at NPH-DR.

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

This past July, we began our third summer of internships. The objective of the program is to have our youth begin to take an interest in a job and start to adapt to social situations outside of our NPH home. Via this great experience, they are able to begin to think about what they would like to do with their lives in the future. This program has been developed with different businesses, gas stations, offices, hair salons, hardware stores, factories, and nursing homes among other enterprises. It has developed so successfully that we hope to be able to expand it so that even more youth can benefit from the experience.

This summer we had 23 youth in different work locations learning new skills that will serve them in the future. At the end of the experience, the employers as well as youth participants will get together at the NPH home to reflect and share about the experience from both points of view.

We recently welcomed in our first special needs external child. Gerald is a young blind boy who lives with his family in extreme poverty. Every day, Gerald comes on the NPH bus to our home, attends school, receives therapies, eats lunch, participates in school activities or religious formation in the afternoon, and then returns to be with his family in the evenings. Gerald is an extremely interested, intelligent, brave, and motivated pequeño that asks questions every day and is taking advantage of the opportunity that NPH has given him to learn as much as possible and hope for a better life. Thank you, Gerald; you are a great example and motivation for all of us!

GERALD, OUR BLIND PEQUEÑO

During the month of July, our NPH home put on a summer school program. Depending upon the children’s needs, they were divided into two groups. The first of these groups participated in special reinforcement activities for math and Spanish classes, while the second group participated in fun workshops.

The workshops were organized by the teachers and volunteers and included diverse activities with movement (sports, circus, and dance), language (English and French), reading, and arts and crafts as well as pottery, cooking, information technology, environmental studies, geography, and First Aid. There were two sessions of two weeks each, which meant that the students in special reinforcement got to participate in 4 workshops and the

SUMMER SCHOOL

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students without special reinforcement got to participate in 6 different workshops.

The afternoons were organized in an even more fun fashion, where three times a week there were group sports activities. Also, twice a week there were organized free afternoons where our pequeños could choose to ride bike, read a book, dance, play ball, sew, or do another craft.

The summer program finished with a presentation where all of the students showed off the skills they had learned as well as the arts and crafts they had made.

MEMBERS ON OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mari Josephine Rozycki Presidenta Roberto A. Herrera Pablo Vice-Presidente Jorien Brocker Streur Secretaria Vern Conaway Tesorero Kieran P. Rigney Vocal Monseñor Francisco Ozoria Acosta Vocal Alexander Peña Prieto Vocal Dr. Emilio Hasbun José Vocal Father Richard L. Frechette Honorary Member Sandra Rodríguez Honorary Member

If you want to help our NPH home in the Dominican Republic, please visit MyGoodShop.org. There, you can choose from a variety of items that are needed on a day-to-day basis for our Dominican pequeños. With your donation, we will purchase the items locally and send you a thank you message and photo of the items being used.

Give the gift of a future to our children – in a direct and transparent way, with what we really need.

MYGOODSHOP.ORG

The basic purpose of our NPH home and our NPH family is

to house and educate orphaned, abandoned, and in-need

children. We provide them with a permanent and safe home

in which they receive care, food, clothing, medical attention,

and an education in a Christian, family environment based

on the principles of acceptance, unconditional love,

understanding, participation, collaboration, and

responsibility.

Another part of our mission is taking in children and youth

with special needs whether it is because they are disabled

or suffer from another type of physical or psychic disorder.

We are committed to ensuring the best care and education

possible so that our pequeños are happy, feel safe, and

OUR NPH HOME IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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develop their self-confidence and skills as well as an

attitude of solidarity. Our hope is that they can become

responsible for their own lives and contribute to the well-

being and development of their communities when they

are adults.

Additionally, part of our mission and work is to extend

our help to the nearby communities in need. This includes

giving free education in our NPH School to 44 kids and

youth from Batey Nuevo, where there isn’t a school. We

also provide them with a great variety of other activities

particularly through the organization and orientation of

our groups of foreign volunteers, who through NPH put

on specific activities in the nearby bateys.

ESCUELA HOGAR NUESTROS PEQUEÑOS HERMANOS Carretera Ramón Santa Ana, frente al Batey Nuevo

San Pedro de Macorís Apdo. Postal 830, San Pedro de Macorís

República Dominicana 829-962-9931 / 809-435-9272 / 829-380-2197

info.do@nph.org www.nph-republicadominicana.org

Banco Popular – Cuenta # 734/762131 Apadrinamiento de Pequeños: dc.do@nph.org - Donaciones: fr.do@nph.org

WE HELP OUR CHILDREN TODAY FOR A BETTER SOCIETY TOMORROW!

Writing: Rosisert Reyes Mota - Design: Avriel Burlot – Collaboration: Gabriela Santos