Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Transform Lives With Safe Homes
Ñoño Garcia is one of eight children. At just 12 years old, he is unable to live in the same home as his mother because the house is too small. Your support today can help bring new homes to families around the world, so children like Ñoño can be reunited with their families under one roof.
Provide Safe Homes for Families in Need
Safe shelter is a basic human need. In fact, when housing isn’t available, families around the world often become stuck in a survival mode and are unable to work toward greater economic prosperity. For example, in rural Dominican Republic, the poorest people can only afford to build small, insecure, mud-floor shelters that flood during heavy storms. One of the Corporal Works of Mercy is to Shelter the Homeless, so we believe it is important for us to provide the poor with safe, sturdy homes.
That’s why Cross Catholic Outreach’s trusted ministry partners around the world are building quality housing for those in greatest need. In the Dominican Republic, we partner with FUNDASEP, the social outreach arm of the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana in the Dominican Republic to build prefabricated cement homes for families currently living in unsafe, unsanitary shelters.
New homes offer more than safe, secure places for families to live. They represent a new beginning and restore the hope of families eager to build their lives on a firmer foundation!
Cross Catholic Outreach was recently featured on "EWTN News In Depth." Watch the video to be inspired by the Church's work in the Dominican Republic!
On average, our ministry partners can build a life-changing home for $9,506 and any gift is a blessing to make a new home a reality for a family in need. Please help today!
The Dominican Republic’s Housing Crisis
Rural Families Need Your Help
In the Dominican Republic, 40% of the population lives in poverty, and 10% of people live in extreme poverty. Families survive through subsistence farming, working hard to put enough food on the table. Sometimes it’s not enough, with one-third of families being food insecure and 61% of babies between the ages of 6 through 11 months suffering from anemia.
Emmanuel Rosario, left, his brother, and their wives are subsistence farmers who live together in this rented home. They are looking forward to having their own safe homes to raise their families.
Most impoverished families dwell in rural areas, that lack access to basic infrastructure such as quality schools, sanitation and electricity. Under these circumstances the poorest families can only afford to build small mud-floor shelters. Their fragile homes leave them vulnerable to bad weather, vermin and intruders, and children and the elderly frequently fall ill.
Give now to bless families in the Dominican Republic and around the world.
*CIA World Factbook, Global Hunger Index, World Bank Group
Highlighted Partner
FUNDASEP
Founded in 1992, FUNDASEP, the outreach arm of the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, offers the love of Christ to families in need in the Dominican Republic. Founded by the “Backpack Bishop,” José Grullón Estrella, to meet the deepest material and spiritual needs of the poorest families. FUNDASEP has been a trusted partner of Cross Catholic Outreach since 2005, partnering with the ministry to bring food, water, safe housing, agriculture and microenterprise opportunities to transform communities.
“The mission of Christ is to evangelize, to share the Gospel,” Bishop Grullón, now retired, once said. FUNDASEP and Cross Catholic Outreach share a similar vision — meeting material and spiritual needs to glorify the name of Jesus Christ.
Build Safe Homes
Share the Love of Christ With Families in the Dominican Republic and Around the World
Poor families in the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana lack even the most basic needs. Struggling to survive, many of them live in unsafe, unsanitary housing. Cross Catholic Outreach is committed to helping FUNDASEP build new homes for 10 families.
The houses that FUNDASEP builds are prefabricated for easy on-site assembly and made from concrete panels that can withstand up to 90-mile-per-hour winds — a strong defense against tropical storms and hurricanes.
They include:
– shuttered windows
– solid front doors
– electricity
– latrines or modern toilets
Help Us Meet the Urgent Need for Housing
Bernarda Dreams of Safe Shelter
“Our house is in bad condition. Because it rains a lot, the wood has gotten rotten, and the tin has been corroded by rust. I pray to God that he helps,” said Bernarda de los Santos, a wife, mother and grandmother in the Dominican Republic.
Safe housing is one of Bernarda’s most urgent needs — and she is not alone. Many impoverished families in rural communities live in fragile homes just like hers, built from rotten wood, rusty metal, plastic tarps and other scrap materials. Such structures stand no chance against the Caribbean’s frequent storms, leaving families like Bernarda’s exposed to the elements. Their homes are often soggy, muddy, prone to extreme temperatures, and vulnerable to infestations and intruders. Many people spend their entire lives repairing and rebuilding these patchwork shelters that offer little to no protection.
With your support, we can provide strong houses for families like hers around the world.
Become a Cross Mission Partner Today
Cross Mission Partners receive this prayer journal, handmade by those we serve in Haiti!
Use it for reflections and notes to grow in your spiritual life. You’ll also receive a prayer request form to mail back so that we can pray for your needs. In effect, this creates a spiritual bridge to connect you to our sisters and brothers in Christ in the developing world!
Cross Mission Partners also receive a semiannual Mission Update with news, insights and information about the good work and accomplishments made possible by your support.
* Every dollar helps us bless the least of our brothers and sisters throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and South America.
Thank You for Your Special Commitment to Serving the Poor!
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2024, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
What Is Your Legacy Mission?
When you include Cross Catholic Outreach as a beneficiary in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy, you will make a difference for poor communities by meeting both material and spiritual needs for generations to come. Create Your Legacy!