We Are Ready For Our Trip To The Dominican Republic

 After months of careful planning and preparation, we are ready to begin our trip to the Dominican Republic.  Our travel party of 15 (Rita Severinghaus has already landed safely in the DR and will be greeting us at the Santiago airport in the early hours of Saturday morning) will be heading to Logan Airport Friday afternoon for our overnight flight.

I will be publishing this blog every day at the end of the day to help us keep a record of our travels and keep parents, family and friends up to date.  I will be including a modest number of photographs, and hope to include several guest authors. I have been fortunate in past years to have decent internet service at our hotel in Cotui, although I occasionally need to excuse students from their devices.

The photos are from our successful packing day last Saturday at the Norwich church.  We filled 13 suitcases with donated medical and school supplies, dental supplies,  sports equipment and clothing. Only two days earlier, we filled a pickup truck and UHaul trailer with a huge amount of donated material (including four wheelchairs and a mattress), which was driven to NJ by recently-retired Leadership Team member Frank Perotti, a veteran of many DR Trips. We have a shipper in New Jersey who will send all of the material directly to Cotui, where our UMD friends will distribute it.

If all goes well, I'll be sending a post from Logan Airport on Friday after we have cleared security and have 2-3 hours at our disposal before we board.

Please feel free to comment and share the blog address:  www.drprojectsapril26.blogspot.com

- Rob Grabill  

coachgrabill@gmail.com





Comments

  1. Frank PerottiApril 16, 2026 at 8:21 AM

    Have an amazing trip! Offering the gift of HOPE is the very best one human can give to another. Supporting English learning and improving living conditions does that! Make sure to have fun too! I will be looking forward to following your journey.

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