In November of 2016, The Dominican Republic declared a state of emergency after floods hit the northern region of the island of Hispaniola, impacting approximately 4,000 homes and displacing over 20,000 people. Here in Wisconsin, Dominican Americans have taken on an effort to provide relief in the short term while building opportunities in the long run.
Dominicans in Wisconsin and Help4Students are two local organizations with different purposes that came together to serve a shared cause. The first began to build connections between people of Dominican descent throughout the state, while the second is focused on providing financial educational opportunities for young people from rural areas back on the island. On December 29th, Dominicans in Wisconsin and Help4Students hosted “Tea For A Cause.” Their goal: fund the use of a 20-foot long Shipping Container Hire to send clothes and other items to the areas of the Dominican Republic most affected by the flooding. They sought to raise $3,000 and collect enough supplies to fill the entire container.
Tea For a Cause was a success. The Dominicans in Wisconsin leadership team and the Help4Students members used the event to share the impacts of the flood, present costs and needs, and gain feedback on how to move forward with future fundraising efforts.
“Often when there are disasters, people post statuses that ask you to pray for the victims. We need prayer; but prayer is not enough alone. We must also help,” says Mariam Maldonado, a board member for Dominicans in Wisconsin.
Together, members of both organizations and their supporters raised over $700. Combined with almost $400 generated through their GoFundMe page, they are over one-third of the way to meeting their goal.
Their work will not stop with flood relief efforts. Help4Students’ goal is to create a scholarship fund for youth in rural areas of the Dominican Republic, but they first want to build relationships with students and the supportive people and institutions in their lives. The long-term goal is to build a pipeline to higher education, whether in their country or here in the United States. Additionally, Help4Students aims to support young people of Dominican heritage in the United States. While the organization is in its infancy, its first major hurdle will be to provide a full tuition college scholarship to one Dominican and one Dominican-American.
“I am delighted to see how this ‘Tea for a Cause’ event brought so many Dominicans in the area together with the intent of helping those in need back in our country,” says Mariant Hildebrandt, board member for Dominicans in Wisconsin. “But most importantly, I am overjoyed to see how this project is fostering fellowship and solidarity among the Dominican community in the entire state of Wisconsin. ¡Si se puede!”
Dominicans in Wisconsin is an organization that aims to connect individuals and communities throughout the state, particularly in larger areas such as Milwaukee or Madison. Like most immigrant communities, Dominicans create networks to help one another adjust and thrive in a new culture. Think of meeting someone new on a college campus, at the mall, or at your job, and finding out that you are both from the same place. You both reminisce over home and you invite them to your family’s house for dinner. They become a member of your extended family: you help them get settled, navigate the K12 system, find a good job, navigate language barriers, and feel like you are at home.
Dominicans in Wisconsin is a formalized version of these informal networks; a public face to bring people together and find these “new people” faster and in greater numbers. Tea for a Cause is one of many events that the organization looks to host in 2017, some social, some service, some cultural.
To learn more about Dominicans in Wisconsin and Help4Students, please visit their Facebook pages. To donate to flood relief efforts in the Dominican Republic, please click here or contact Mariant Hildebrant or Mariam Maldonado.
