DDG Companion News | October 31, 2016

Our newsmagazine for September 2016. Click this image to access this issue.
The "Mission Teams" Issue of the DDG Newsmagazine

The September 2016 issue of Compañeros Dominicanos, the DDG's bilingual newsmagazine, has 24 pages filled with articles blog extracts, and photographs from missioners from several dioceses who worked in the Dominican Republic this spring and summer. The issue starts with the text of a sermon about mission work delivered in his home church in Texas by David Morrow, a veteran missioner and the DDG's current treasurer, and then goes on to include writing by missioners from Delaware, Michigan, Connecticut, Central Gulf Coast, Southwest Florida, and South Carolina, along with group photographs of the 25 mission teams that worked alongside Episcopal congregations in the Dominican Republic between May and August, 2016.

To access this issue, click the link below:


DDG Board of Directors Meets in Tampa

The Board of Directors of the Dominican Development Group met for their semiannual board meeting at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Tampa on Monday, October 17, 2016.

Board members and visitors and the dioceses they represented at the board meeting in the photograph above: First row, from left: Bill Kunkle (Executive Director, Diocese of Southwest Florida); Meredith McGowan (Nebraska); Julia Ariail (Secretary, Georgia); The Rev. Deacon Beth Drew (President, Western Michigan); The Rt. Rev. Julio C. Holguín (First Vice-President, Dominican Republic); The Rev. Deacon Alexander Romero (Dominican Republic); The Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada (Dominican Republic). Second row, from left - The Rev. Tar Drazdowski (Nebraska); Tom McGowan (Nebraska); Karen Carroll (Dominican Republic); Sally Thompson (Southwest Florida); The Rt. Rev. Wendell Gibbs, Jr. (Michigan); Joshua Lowy; Bob Stevens (Southwest Florida); Julius Ariail (Georgia). Third row, from left - The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith (Southwest Florida); David Morrow (Treasurer, Northwest Texas.

Photographs from that meeting are in these three albums:

DDG participation in the convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, October 14-15 (Thanks to the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida for making these photographs available)

"DR Night" gathering and dinner at St. John's Episcopal Church in Tampa on October 16

Board meeting at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Tampa on October 17 

The draft minutes and copies of all reports distributed at the board meeting are available here. Please note that these minutes are a working draft and will be considered for approval at the next board meeting in Santo Domingo on February 13, 2017.

The DDG Begins Partnership 
with Dominican Wave Soaps

Click this image to access the website for Dominican Wave Soaps.

Kaleb Kunkle and Chelsea Reppin at the Dominican Wave exhibit table at the convention of the Diocese of SW Florida on October 14-15, 2016.
Dominican Wave Soaps, a fledgling soap-making company located in the San Marcos community near the city of Puerto Plata on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, has begun working in partnership with the DDG to make soap to sell to visiting tourists from cruise ships and members of mission teams working in the area. The company is led by Chelsea Reppin, a recent graduate of Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL, and a veteran member and leader in the Flagler chapter of Enactus, which describes itself as "a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world."

The soap is being made in a workroom of the San Simon Episcopal Church in San Marcos that was built by missioners from the Dioceses of Eastern Michigan, Michigan, and Western Michigan, and employs local residents who buy the ingredients in the Dominican Republic and earn wages making and selling the finished products. Currently the soap is only available in the Dominican Republic, but distribution methods are being worked out to have it available in the United States. 

For more information on Dominican Wave Soaps, check out its  website here and Facebook page here . Its email address is < dominicanwavesoaps@gmail.com >. Watch for more  information  about this partnership in the December 2016 issue of Compañeros Dominicanos.

Fall Exploration Trip Underway on November 3

A map of the Episcopal churches in the Dominican Republic. To use this map interactively, click this image.

The Dominican Development Group conducts exploration trips twice each year to provide mission team leaders and other interested missioners with an overview of many of the facilities and ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic. The current trip will be  November 3-9, 2016, and the path will follow a general south-to-north route from San Pedro de Macorís on the southern coast to the capitol of Santo Domingo and then north to the coastal city of Puerto Plata. 
The next trip will take place from April 27 to May 3, 2017, and will follow a general east-to-west path from San Pedro de Macorís on the east to the border town of Jimaní and the coastal city of Barahona on the west. Another trip in the fall of 2017 (exact dates to be determined) will follow this same route. The cost of these 2017 trips will be approximately US$800, not including airfare. If you are interested in either of these 2017 trips, contact DDG Executive Director Bill Kunkle (contact information below).

Links to online copies of recent issues of the DDG Companion News:
For older issues on the Publications page of the DDG website, click here.

Contact the DDG:
Office: (813) 400-2722 | Fax: (813) 983-5082
Executive Director: Bill Kunkle | bkunkle@dominicandevelopmentgroup.org
PO Box 272261 | Tampa Florida 33688-2261

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