29 October, 2013
SANTO DOMINGO, D.R. (October 28, 2013) – A delegation from the Batey Relief Alliance’s Board of Directors and executive team met yesterday with Dominican Republic’s First Lady, Mrs. Candida Montilla de Sanchez. Present were Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s founder and CEO, Nexcy D’Leon, President, Togarma Rodriguez, Secretary, Edilgardo Pena, Treasurer, Maria Virtudes Berroa, Executive Director and Elis Cepeda, Director of finance.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss with the First Lady the conditions under which thousands of vulnerable children and their families are living in the country’s urban and rural communities, including the bateyes (sugarcane plantations rural communities), and the work BRA is doing to address serious issues severely affecting the population, including diseases and HIV/AIDS, poverty, unemployment, teenage pregnancy, infant mortality and hunger. “The First Lady and we discussed clear partnership opportunities between BRA and her office to carry out specific programs in the province of Monte Plata, including blindness prevention, agricultural development and preventive healthcare,” said D’Leon.
D’Leon informed the First Lady about BRA’s Community Complex, located in the Municipal District of Don Juan—a project supported by the Dominican State Sugar Council (CEA) and funded by the Lions Clubs International Foundation, Clinton Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture, as one of a kind in the Monte Plata region and the first within rural batey communities. According to De’Leon, the Complex is divided into two sections: a 300-acre of agricultural organic production of crops and animals, and a six-building compound that includes a modern medical center with areas to deliver primary, specialized, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, surgical, ophthalmology, dental and emergency care; perform laboratory tests; and conduct research, training and educational activities; a cafeteria, offices (administrative, program and cooperative), a warehouse, a public garden, and a kiosk to sell agricultural products. Upon fully built, the medical section alone, will have the capacity to service annually more than 60,000 patients throughout the Monte Plata region and beyond.
The Batey Relief Alliance—member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), United Nations DPI Section and the Global Health Council—for the past sixteen years, has raised more than $80 million; recruited hundreds of volunteers; and created strategic partnerships with local governments, grassroots groups and international agencies, including US Agency for International Development (USAID), US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to develop programs in health and HIV/AIDS, food security, women empowerment, water and sanitations, blindness prevention, education and disaster relief—improving the health and lives of more than 1.6 million people living in 268 vulnerable and impoverished communities in the United States, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Peru.
To learn more about BRA’s work, like on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Batey.Relief.Alliance; follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bateyrelief; and visit www.bateyrelief.org.
