Check Out Our Promo Video!

A video created for promoting Dominican Outreach in our church. Click the vid to see how you can help out the cause!

Song: Hosanna by Hillsong

Christmas Time is Here!

Why not kick off your holiday season with an old fashioned tree search? The Dominican team will be having their very own Christmas Tree sale at Mason County Reformed Church on Saturday, December 4 and Saturday, December 11 from 10am-6pm.
Get a good tree for a good price for a good cause! Trees will be priced between $15-$20! AND there will be FREE hot chocolate! Come on down and start a family tradition. We'll provide the traditional Christmas music, bonfire, traditional crafts, and yummy food for sale. Make your tree shopping like the ones you see in the movies.

Contact MCRC with any questions!

Yard Sale Success!

Thanks to everyone that made it out to our indoor yard sale event this past Saturday! It was a HUGE success, with by far the most stuff we've ever had at a sale! The team managed to raise $1289 from the sale.
Our next scheduled event will be the November 19-20th art show at the Knights of Columbus hall on Jebavy drive in Ludington. We'll be selling crafts and food at the show.
We currently are selling apple pies and caramel corn too. They will be here just in time for Thanksgiving and the holiday season! Be sure to order yours today for your family and friends.
The caramel corn makes a great gift-basket filler for Christmas, and the pies a wonderful addition to your holiday meal.

Plenty of Fall Fundraising

Our trip is set for March 23 - March 31! We have about 30 people going on this one. Many families too! With a group this size, we need to raise those funds! Here are a list of the events we'll be holding to help with our cause:

October 2 and the next 2 Saturdays following that:
Concession stand at the Ludington Soccer field
9am - 2pm

October 23
Indoor Yard Sale
Mason County Reformed Church
8am - 2pm
Bring in your donations starting the 21st to MCRC.
Sales are by donations.

November 19 & 20
Knights of Columbus art fair
We'll be selling food there!
Fri. 9-6pm and Sat. 11-3pm

November 26 & 27
Christmas Tree Sales
At MCRC
Other goodies for sale too!

A 2011 Trip!

A tentative future trip has been planned for March 24-April 1! This would be over spring break for the local schools and West Shore. We have already put a lot of work into fund raising with the fair, yard sales and 4th of July art show. Support letters will be coming around soon! If you would like to support our team, please email me at ashley.mae.ulman@gmail.com.
Your prayers and support would be much appreciated as we plan our next adventure.

Summer of Fun

You can catch the DR team this summer in various places around the area, raising funds for the Kitchen Project.
July 4th weekend - we will be in Ludington's Art Fair, selling goodies and food. Come out and enjoy, while supporting a great cause.

July 10th - the Parking-LOT-Sale at MCRC. Jump on it now to rent a space to sell your stuff! We'll do all your advertising, and provide the space. Rent the space for $25. Or donate your unwanted house hold treasures to the team's sale. This would be a great opportunity to raise funds for your group, troop or club as well! Hurry! Space is limited, and it's first come-first serve!

Last week of July- You can catch the team working the county fair, selling goodies in the stands and selling tickets for the fair. Come say hi and enjoy a day at the fair!

Mother's Day Chocolately Sale

The DR team will be selling chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzel rods to benefit the Dominican Kitchen Project. The cost will be by donation. They will be available between and after services at church this Sunday, May 9th.

Weekend of DR Events!

Come out and support the DR outreach this weekend! We have lots of stuff going on:

Saturday, April 17
8am-3pm
MCRC All-Purpose Room
Indoor Yard Sale
There is an unbelievable amount of stuff crammed in MCRC's all-purpose room!
Everything from baby clothes, toys, books, shoes, kitchen stuff, electronics, glassware, and much more! Also, baked goods and coffee.
Most items are cost by donation!
There is also a silent auction:
Row boat with trailer
Motor boat with trailer
Elk Antlers
1 night stay at Holiday Inn of Ludington
Proceeds go to the DR Kitchen Project!

DR Q&A Session/Informative Meeting
Sunday, April 18 12:30pm
MCRC Sanctuary
This is for the purpose of answering any questions the congregation has about anything DR related (sponsor program, trips, meetings, fund raising, culture, weather, etc)
There will be a light lunch provided. RSVP to mcrc@mcrchurch.org so we can figure out food.

Official 2010 Dominican Video!

Our most recent trip to the Dominican to Brandon Heath's "Give Me Your Eyes".

DR Q&A Session

The team has looked through the surveys the congregation filled out in church a couple weeks ago, and we see just how much interest there is for Dominican Outreach in MCRC, so we have decided to hold a Question & Answer session on Sunday, April 18, following the second service around 12:30pm in MCRC's sanctuary.
There will be a light lunch provided and we will take time to hear any questions you have and answer them! We will attempt to hit on every topic. Feel free to bring questions about the trips, meetings, sponsor child program, fundraising, etc. Come prepared! We are hoping to set a date for our next trip as a result of this session as well!
Hope to see you there!

Dominican Yard Sale

Even though we have only returned from the DR a little over a month ago, another trip is sure to be on the horizon. The DR team will be kicking off the yard saling season with one of their famous indoor yard sales on April 17 at Mason County Reformed Church.
We are currently getting word out for people to begin collecting things they would like to donate to the sale. Start that Spring Cleaning and bring all your unwanted items to us! We will gladly put them in our sale. The proceeds will go for the Dominican Kitchen Project!
You may begin bringing your items in starting Thursday, April 15.

March 21

You can all look forward to hearing from our team's recent trip at the March 21st services! There will be accounts from team members, videos, and pictures. We will also be presenting opportunities in which you will have to become a part of the team for our next trip, whether in support or in coming on the trip!
We are looking forward to sharing with you!

Missing DR

This last trip has truly blessed me. There were so many people on this trip that I would have never gotten to know otherwise, and now I feel close to many of them. I love how God brings us there to help others, yet I feel like we got more out of the trip. Our team dynamics were awesome - which believe me, this doesn't happen on every trip- we all carried traits and strengths that didn't clash, and that fit well together to do extraordinary work. I wish there were a way to keep that team in my life always, but we all have separate lives, separate jobs, separate responsibilities to tend to... The Dominican is truly a place where I feel most valuable. I think talking with the kids has always been one of my favorite points of the trips. They love you before you even look at them it seems. God will bring me back to this place in His time.

Dominican Republic Pictures

(Group Photo!)

(Another Group photo in the Tres Ojos caves)

(The Leese Family)

(A little froggy friend the girls found)

(A Dominican Sunrise.)

(Jackie's new little friend.)

(On the work site)

(Kobe Bryant? or Jeff Curtis?)

(Some on-lookers of our work)

(George with his sponsor child)

(Eleana and the Leese's sponsor girl)

(Bird eating a lizard)

(A couple of guys, hitching a ride.)

(The girls waiting in the airport)

Back, Safe and Sound

We have arrived back to Mason County in one piece. Our flight got into Detroit around 1:30ish, and we pressed on to arrive back to MCRC around 6.
Pictures to come!

Mucho Concreto

Today we returned to work. More cementing, shoveling, mixing, and sweating. Everyone is still doing really well. We are mostly really sore and tired, but in good, ambitious spirits. Here are some more pictures for you all to check out! Hopefully the

format works a bit better with these:

Some Pics!

Here are just a few pictures of what has been going on. I hope to get more of the actual work up, but since we are all so busy working, it's hard to take many pictures. I'll try and track down someone who has some though! Enjoy these for now!

(Left: Our work site. Those holes are probably about 7 feet deep.)

(Right: One of the filled holes. We'll be filling these times 21, with 25 mixes per hole - that's 100 wheelbarrow trips each, and a lot of water, dirt, cement, and gravel.)

(Left: A small view of the community of Los Alcarrizos)

(Right: Walking over a gross river in the community.)

Today, we took a break for Sunday. We attended an awesome church service in the community and now some of us are playing baseball with some of the kids at the school. Tomorrow, we will be back to work, mixing cement. It is sure to be hot, long work, but we are an ambitous team. Thanks for the prayers!

We've made it!

Currently, we are on our second day of hardcore work here in the Dominican Republic! The last two days have consisted of mixing cement, which for the cement mixing you may be thinking of...nothing like it in the States. We break off into 5 groups: 1 group is shoveling gravel into buckets, another shoveling dirt, one is passing water, another opening bags of cement and passing it to the mixer, and the last group is wheel-barrowing it to where it is needed. About 25 mixes is used to fill one pylons (8x8x3ft) of the kitchen, and there are 22 total. That is 100 wheelbarrows to fill one! We have a very strong team, however, who are determined to get a lot done! The size of the building we are working on is a little bigger than MCRC's multi-purpose room. The guys are hardworkers, literally running wheel-barrows to dump them into the pylons.
We are all doing well, and there have been no major injuries or illnesses. Only minor bumps, scrapes and bruises! God has been good in providing the breeze when we need it the most.
Hopefully we'll be getting some pictures up soon!
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers back home! Know we are all doing great!

Preparing for Takeoff!

The 18 members of the DR team is getting ready to depart for Detroit Wednesday, at midnight. We will depart from Detroit to Miami on a 6:35am flight, and from there to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
I will do my best to keep all of our loved ones updated back home with stories and pictures! We would appreciate all your prayers and support, and thank you all for all you have given our team members and the people of Dominican already! This is one passion that will keep burning in the hearts of many.

God is Good!

So God has provided our funds, and then some, for our trip! Our team has come together with people full of passion and excitement to do the Lord's work! It is ridiculously hard to believe we take off in under 30 days! Thank you all for your prayers and support coming into this adventure and as we go through it!
Stick to the blog for updates on our work progress and happenings while we are down there. I'll try hard to put some pictures up too!