The El Portal de Belén Foundation meeting

June 25th P. Gregorio Santana (no relation to Maria) arrived in the USA to be present for the foundation meeting on the 6th of July. P. Gregorio is a young Dominican priest whom I am preparing for the future of the foundation when I no longer will be present. Sometime in the distant future, I hope, but death comes to all of us at one time or another.

Needless to say, P. Gregorio is a great baseball buff so we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Pictures of him and the DR display and Juan Marichal, first DR baseball player initiated in the Hall of Fame are also posted now.

The 6th of July I met earlier with the four-member committee that is working on redesigning our water system at the school and convent in Don Juan. The water in our well is drinkable but when it reaches the faucets it is polluted. We are trying to solve that problem with the hope that in the future we can develop a project to sell drinkable water cheaply to the people in the village of Don Juan. Right now a five-gallon jug of water costs 45 pesos or $1.23. We hope to reduce that cost by more than half. Included are pictures of the four men on this committee. We have set November 9th as the target date to accomplish the first phase of making the water drinkable on demand, as well as available on demand. With electricity off half the time, most often during the day, we must set up our own power supply, a goal for which a plan is in process. First picture is of Ed Hinchey, my cousin, Jim Gascon who has been raising the money for this project.
The second picture is Dave Kobernuss and Jim Ryders.
Also we have included a picture of most of the members of the foundation's board. In the photo of the foundation are Sally True, Tony Eisenhut, Stephen Younger, P. Gregorio, Juan Arroyo and Mike Schafer, not pictured are Peter Koch, Cathryn Obern and Greg Galvin.

Origin of projects

Since 1998,
the welfare of more than 600 children in the Dominican Republican has rested on the charitable instincts of three moderate sized Catholic parishes in upstate New York and Colorado.
The link between these people has been Reverend Ronald Gaesser, a Roman Catholic priest drawn to serve these children and their families in his retirement. Father Gaesser is a remarkable man, but he is only a man, and so worries about these children after he is gone.
The children are students at one day care facilities in Monte Plata ,El Portal de Belen and school for children , Sr.Maria Josefa Rossello
With learning difficulties, one of the poorest provinces of the Dominican Republic is in Don Juan .
As well as a new daycare center and after school program in Hato Nuevo.An area rife with drugs and prostitution because of their extreme poverty.
Drawn from families locked in direst poverty, or from dysfunctional or simply nonfunctional families, these children are provided with daycare, early education, nutrition, and medical assistance in a clinic, while their parents work or attend job training. For nearly all, the school meal sustains them throughout their difficult day.
The Sisters Teresa,Iris ,and Nilda founded daycare center, El Portal de Balen with $595 and borrowed space. Father Gaesser, then serving as a parish priest in Ithaca, NY, connected the daycare with his parishioners; their support enabled them to build and operate a permanent facility for 128 children. Father Gaesser has since added two more parishes in the Auburn and one in Colorado to this support network. These donations support operation of the new Don Juan School for 340 children with disabilities, as well as a convent for the teaching staff of three sisters. One more similar school is planned to open this coming fall in the facility in Hato Nuevo.
The El Portal de Belen Foundation was formed in Ithaca to direct these donations to this effort.
The generosity of these upstate New Yorkers and Colorado has fully funded the operating and capital expenses for the past nine years, and enabled the aggregation of a $300,000 endowment. Nearly all of the administrative expenses of the Foundation are donated, allowing virtually all of these donations to directly support the children in these daycare centers and schools. Now, the Foundation seeks to expand their endowment to $1 million to provide a permanent source of operating and capital funds, and to ensure the future of this remarkable effort to provide the poorest of the poor with hope, and a future.