2015 Pilgrims

2015 Pilgrims included Mickie Post, Ken Post, Julia Rescott, Celina Rescott, Dale Rescott, Francesca Scutari, T.J. LaDuca, Nick LaDuca, Wendy LaDuca, Dr. Jeff LaDuca, Joe Netti, Frank Netti.

Reflections from Celina Rescott, 2015 Pilgrim

It was my second time going down, and it still did not cease to amaze me. To describe this experience in words is really a difficult task. An experience of such stature really cannot be put into words, but to understand it, one has to embark on the journey themselves. You can hear all the stories as I did, but it really doesn’t prepare you for what you see and what you experience.

What we actually do down, physically, isn’t that hard of work. We painted two churches and some book shelves for the school. We also brought a meal to an outside community Los Lanos. It was communities such as this where I saw the unsightly living conditions. Many of them weren’t wearing shoes on their feet, had dirt under their nails, and their living spaces were but a one room space among 8 others in what was called a batee.

We brought down about 6 or 7 suitcases full of clothes and distributed them to the 3 different outside communities we visited. It was chaos once started handing them out. Hands were grabbing things left and right. It was overwhelming. They were so eager to attain these new but used clothes. We managed to organize the distribution to a point, more so the next time we went to hand them out.

At one community, I noticed a man sitting a ways away from the clothes distribution so I took a pair of pants that looked about his size and brought them over to him. He seemed very grateful, smiling at me in thanks, my answering smile was grand, overcome with emotion by that I could make a person so happy.

We also handed out toothbrushes and floss along with the clothes. What was astonishing was that many of the kids didn’t even know what to do with the toothbrush.  Very few, if any, had any clue what the floss was. I remember watching one little boy actually try to eat it. Funny as it was, it was troubling to watch, knowing that this simple health convenience to us was, but a mystery to them.

The most important element of our trip, as it always is, was the relationships we made with the people. The families we lived with, and I speak, I am certain, for everyone else, as well, in saying this, really become a second family to us. After my two trips there, I really do consider it a home away from home.

But even aside from the families, each and every person we came in contact touched me on a level I never would have thought possible. Their smiles, their joy in seeing us, it touches a part of you that sometimes may not be so prominently about back here in our ordinary lives.

One thing's for certain though, the Dominicans are not to be pitied. I see them and I see pure, genuine happiness. With what little they have, they are still extraordinarily happy because they have one another. We find ourselves in a very materialistic society, but what really brings happiness is the closeness of others. It’s a simple lesson that is taught to each and every person that goes on this trip.

And so I highly recommend that each and every one of you in this church today consider going on future trips. Even the most type A people can get something out of this trip. It opens your eyes to what’s going on in the world outside our privileged lives. We have so much more than we realize and so the burden lies with us to share what we have with those less fortunate.

If this trips doesn’t seem like it’s for you I eagerly implore you to participate the Adopt A Child program. This would entail sending $120 to a child in Don Juan each year to pay for their breakfast and lunches at school. It’s a great program for people who wish to send their help but cannot actually go on the trip.

And with that, thank you very much for your time and I hope you’ll seriously consider helping out our fellow Dominicans in any way that you can. Thank you.

Reflections from Jeff LaDuca, 2015 Pilgrim

Jiberish, Jiberish, Jiberish.

That’s what I heard when I went to mass in the Dominican Republic.   I don’t mean any disrespect to those of you that speak Spanish.   But I don’t, and that’s all I understood as mass started.  But as mass progressed I realized that there was an opening prayer, a first reading and responsorial psalm, a second reading and a gospel, and a homily.   There was the creed and a collection (always a collection).   There was a liturgy of the Eucharist, the Our Father, Eucharist, and a closing.  And as I looked around at the strangers around me I was struck by the fact that there were “old church ladies” (no offense), young families and mothers trying to coral their toddlers, school age children, and men, some of whom were dragged by their wives and families.   They all had eyes, and a nose, and ears and a mouth.  They all had arms and legs, and aside from being much tanner than we are, they looked like us.   And while after several days in the community I had come to understand that several of them had walked a mile or more to be there, or had taken a motor scooter, maybe three or four on one bike, or had rode their horse or mule, they were there worshiping the same way we do.   And while some of them had not eaten 3 full meals in a day, or ever known a hot shower.  And some lived with a single 40W light bulb in their homes, if they were lucky enough to have electricity.   Some came from homes with a bathroom and a toilet, but many lived with outhouses and buckets to flush whatever toilets they may be lucky enough to have.  They were all worshiping the same we do every week.   And they were happy.  It struck me that no matter where you are, God is there with you and our faith is universal.  

As missionaries to the Dominican Republic, we were there to clothe and feed the poor.  And while that is good, Fr. Ron and his ongoing mission to spiritually feed the people of these communities is equally important.  I pray that we as a faith community will continue to remember our brothers and sisters in Don Juan and the surrounding areas as they gather on Sundays and worship as we do.  And that we continue to support their spiritual and physical needs with our generosity. 

In the long run, maybe I actually understood more than I had initially realized. 

Gracias por su atencion.  Salud y vaya con dios. 

Jeff LaDuca

2012 Pilgrims

Front row, left to right: Janna Fiermonte, Mallory Colella, Celina Rescott, Ed Galka Second row: Anne Adessa, Sue Vanderpool, Dale Rescott, Meg Ganey
Back row: Marsha Heitzman, Marybeth Galka, Brian Colella

2011 March Pilgrims

Left to right: Sara Colvin, Pat Messina, Penny Anderson, Lynda DeOrio

2010 Pilgrims

Sister Chris, Ed, Mary Beth, Tyler & Mike Galka, Nick & Judi Valvo, Dale, Marissa & David Rescott, Anne Adessa, Anna Dziedzic, Meghan Graney

2009 Pilgrims on their way

Thoughts and prayers going with this year's pilgrims as they make the annual journey to the DR! This year's group is Michele and Regan Cuddy, Katie Moran, Anna Comitz, Janna Fiermonte (interpreter), Linda and Desiree McConnell, and Sister Chris.

Trip Report - 2008 - Lynda and Frank - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The day has arrived...we're headed to Don Juan in the Dominican Republic for the Mission from the Heart trip, 2008. Pilgrims making the trip this year from Sacred Heart and Saint Ann are pictured above:

Back row, left to right:
Shawn Doyle, Dave Rescott, Frank DeOrio, Lynda DeOrio
Middle row, left to right: Pat Messina, Kathleen Doyle, Meghan Churney, Mary Doyle, Katie Collier, Dale Rescott
Front row, left to right: Penny Anderson, Pat Collier, Marissa Rescott and Charlie Greene.

Our trip begins; we leave home at 4:00 AM, with Penny Anderson. Our Delta flight leaves Syracuse at 6:00 AM with a stop in JFK. We are delayed for an hour, and arrive in the Dominican at 2 pm. In the airport, we bought a $10 tourist card, with cash, went through customs and got our luggage. We were told to keep the luggage claim tag that the airline rep gave us in Syracuse, with the original boarding pass, to get out of the airport.

Father Ron, Sister Veronica and Johanna from Mustad met us at the airport, along with Jamie Dunnick, our interpreter, and her friend Katie Esmark, who arrived earlier on a separate flight. Our suitcases went into a pickup, the tarp was put over it...and then we headed to Mustad for a tour...

Then to the village of Don Juan, our home for the next several days. Traffic through the city of Santo Domingo is crazy; drivers pay no attention to what we would consider "rules of the road," in and out of lanes, passing on left and right. People selling everything from windshield wipers to cell phone chargers, and they walk right up to the vehicle in the street. We saw many half finished buildings, and were told by Father Ron this is common. Power lines are a mess...



Here's some pics of the village...

We went on a tour of the convent in the village - this is the chapel in the convent...

We were all taken to our host families, and introduced. We are staying with Chica. Dinner was ready, which was chicken, plantains (which look like bananas, but taste and are treated like potatoes), and cane juice.

The house is a cement block home, with three bedrooms. There is a bathroom, but no running water. There is a sink in the bathroom, a toilet, and a shower stall. There is a huge rain barrel in the shower stall, along with a five gallon pail, which is filled with the rain water. The toilet is flushed by pouring water from the five gallon pail into the toilet; the paper goes into the wastebasket. This was explained to us by Jamie, who came into our home with us to introduce us to Chica and help us get the "lay of the land." Chica does not speak any English, and we speak only a few simple Spanish phrases. We have a double bed, and have to sleep with a mosquito net over us.
There was no power when we went to bed at 9:15. Just had an oil lamp in our room. We were using our portable fans all night, as it was so hot. Lots of music and talking outside. Dogs bark into the night; they sound very protective.

Thursday, July 24 - Our work begins...

Up at 7 am with the sounds of Burnet Park Zoo...some yelping noise in the backyard (found out it was a puppy!), the roosters crowing, and the pigs eating next door...speaking of which, they joined us in the house before breakfast - just walked right in the back door! Chica opened the front door, and shooed them back next door, where they belonged.

Breakfast was coffee (half a cup, black, but sweet); fried plantains, cheese and rolls. Chica ate with us - you can see in this picture, that the windows just have louvers on them - no screens, which explains the need for the mosquito netting at night. She always set a beautiful table for us, with a nice tablecloth; you can see I always had my Spanish/English dictionary close by! After breakfast, we headed to church at 7:30 AM.

From there, we walked to the school to get our instruction on what our projects would be.

Some people painted in the school...

Penny and I cleaned some of the school toys, with some helpers...

Frank, Charlie and Pat put together the bookshelves that the parish had sent down, and set up the two basketball hoops, one of which was put to immediate use!



Lunch...break at noon; Chica came to get us. She served us rice, beans and sweet sliced plantains. Back to school at 1:30 to finish up the projects.

	The students of the school were watching, and wanted the pictures off the box (behind these girls)...
so Frank used his knife to cut the pictures out for them.

We finished our projects around 4 pm, and went by school van to a nearby church (don't remember the name, perhaps one of the other people can put it in the comment for this post) for mass. Marissa and Mary played their flutes; we were welcomed with hugs. There was a huge rainstorm during mass, didn't seem to phase anyone but us visitors...
Were dropped back in the village park; Katie brought out her bubbles, which the kids enjoyed...
Pat took some pictures, which the kids were anxious to see...
Chica came to bring us back about 7:30 pm, which was good, as we had no idea how to get home from the park! Dinner was a chocolate drink (she showed us the cacao tree at lunch, on the way back to school), some sort of fried orange sausage, and mashed plantains. We went to bed shortly thereafter; we really can't communicate with Chica except for a few hand signals. There was no power again.

Friday, July 25 - Our projects continue...

We woke up to the roosters "cock-a-doodle-doo" at 5:55 am...this is the view out our bedroom window...

...and here is a proud Chica with her roosters, which is our alarm clock every morning!

Breakfast was fried eggs and grilled bread with orange juice and that tasty coffee again. Chica does not eat with us; she has the table all set, and she sits in the living room while we eat. When we were almost finished, she brought us a plate of pineapple with a honey syrup.

We headed to the school and found the kids were already there, waiting for us...

We divided into groups - some continued painting in the school, and Charlie and Frank went to paint the farmacia, which is owned by the church. The remainder stayed at the school and played with the children and taught them how to use the sports equipment that had been sent down earlier...hula hoops, jump ropes, baseball, basketball and soccer equipment...


At noon, Chica came to get me; Frank and Charlie were still painting. Chica's daughter went to get Frank; lunch was rice with chicken, plantains and fruit. Frank headed back to finish painting with Charlie, and I stayed at the house until 2 pm, which was our meeting time at the school. Chica's daughter took me to the farmacia.

Frank and Charlie had been painting...

and were being watched, the entire time, by the pharmacist (with the curlers in her hair) and some villagers...

When we went back to Chica's so Frank could get cleaned up, it poured, and I was able to get some pictures of how the rain barrels catch the rain off the roof...

The rest of the group had met back at the school at 2pm to decorate for the party with the students; due to the rain and Frank's painting, we didn't get there until 2:30. About 100 students showed up, and we made visors with them, that Dale had brought with her. The kids sang and danced for us, and ended with big hugs for all in our group; we celebrated with cake and punch.

We went to 5:00 pm mass, then headed to Via Mia for a youth group presentation of their local culture - songs and dance.

The youth in our group shared in a "cultural exchange" with the youth of the DR...

...followed by dance lessons!

They prepared a buffet dinner for us. We returned to the village, unloaded the groceries that Sister Veronica had bought in town for our host family dinner on Sunday, and were all dropped off at our homes. We collapsed into bed at about 11 pm.

Saturday, July 26 - Trip to Los Llanos

Chica called us for breakfast at 7:30, which was bread and butter, and a big bowl of fruit - pineapple, melon and grapes. We walked to the farmacia (by ourselves! finally getting our bearings!) to be picked up to go to Los Llanos to paint....we always see such interesting things on our walks...

We had to go in two pickup trucks due to the remote location.There were five of us inside the cabs of each of the two trucks, and the rest in the beds of the trucks. It took 45 minutes from Don Juan.

When we arrived, there were about 10 cement block homes, and a store.

This is the church in the village...it may be a future Mission from the Heart project.

Sister Veronica wanted us to prime the front of the homes, then paint them, alternating yellow and blue. It was very hot; 100+ degrees; we did the painting, with help from the villagers.

We were brought coffee by the villagers, and also had a lunch of hot dogs and punch. It started to rain about 1, so we moved in the shelter of the store porch, and spent some time visiting and singing with the villagers, led by Sister Veronica.

What follows are some of my favorite pictures of the trip...

Frank ended up giving one of our watches to this young teenager, who was very interested in it...

Then we were off towards home around 2:15, stopped at Tripli San Pedro to celebrate their feast of St. Ann. The villagers rang a bell when Father Ron arrived, and they all came to mass; the church filled within 5 minutes. There was a baptism and a presentation of an infant.

We headed back to Don Juan after mass, and arrived back to the park around 5 pm. Our kids brought out sidewalk chalk and bubbles; Pat M and Charlie played hopscotch!

Frank and I headed home about 6:30; Chica had dinner ready, which was chicken, mashed plantains and orange juice. Frank showed Chica, her son and grandson the pictures in the camera that we had taken today; we went to bed around 8:00.