In 2011, St. Rafael the Archangel, in Milwaukee, chose the Dominican Republic as the focus of their Lenten coin collection. They teamed up with Luz Para Educación (Light for Education) to help bring the "gift of light" to students and families in three communities there: Los Toros, Las Yayas, and Sabana Yegua (the last is a part of La Sagrada Familia Parish).
Below is an excerpt from Luz Para Educación, explaining the project:
"Luz Para Educación is an educational, health, and safety project which assists American families to sponsor a solar light lamp for a student in the Dominican Republic. A lamp can be sponsored for $18.75 USD (700 RD). The four outcomes of the project include: increasing a students’ ability to study, read, and write at night thus increasing their success in school, reducing the risk of home fires due to candle and propane lamp accidents, decreasing the risk of respiratory problems from smoke and carbon monoxide fumes, and helping the families to save their minimal financial resources…by using solar light lamps. Noting that, a typical Dominican family spends between 1300-3000 RD, per year, on propane alone.
The solar lamp project was motivated by the words and prayers of Padre Feliciano Mendez Geronimo, who grew up in Los Toros and is currently a Priest in the Diocese of San Juan and the Parish of Nuestra Senora De la Alta Gracia in Las Yayas. We will bring lights to three designated schools: including, Los Toros School, Juan Pablo Segundo school in Las Yayas, Azua, and the Sabana Yegua school community connected to the Parish of La Sagrada Familia. The sponsorship includes an electronic tax donation letter acknowledgement and an electronic template for a Luz Para Educacion solar lamp gift certificate. The certificate can be printed by the donor and then given to a designated person as a “gift of light.”
The lights are imported by two graduates of the Los Toros Foundation BECA program: Miguel Mendez and Jose Christian Agramonte. Miguel is a CNC technician in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Jose is an Engineer in Santo Domingo. Miguel’s brother, Padre Feliciano, brings the solar lights to the rural communities as he shares the message of Jesus Christ. These three gentlemen have long desired to use renewable energy to transform the lives of their fellow Dominicans. Miguel, Jose, and Padre Feliciano reference the message of “hope” that they were given through educational scholarships by the Los Toros Mission of St. Joseph’s Parish in Grafton, Wisconsin and private educational support.
An urban school, in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee called St. Rafael the Archangel, recently designated this solar lamp project as the focus of their Lenten 2011 coin collection. The students have discussed the project as a part of Catholic Social Teaching models for implementing social action projects."
If you are interested in learning more about the project or donating a lamp, e-mail luzparaeducacion@gmail.com or visit the Los Toros Foundation website.
(Please note, clicking the link to the Los Toros website will direct you away from the World Mission Ministries page and off of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's website. Any questions or problems with the content or links of the Los Toros website should be directed to the site's authors.)