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Crossing Borders & Erecting Barriers
On this week’s episode of JustLove, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan speaks with three guests focused on unaccompanied minors and border security. Catholic Charities New York’s Director of Refugee Resettlement Kelly Agnew-Barajas will be on the show. Msgr. and Kelly talk about what impact the Trump Administration’s termination of the program granting temporary legal residence to minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras has had on youth from those countries Msgr. Sullivan and Caryn Ashare, Chief Program Officer of Catholic Guardian Services an affiliated agency of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York will be talking about Catholic Guardian Service’s work. Ashare will be focusing on how the agency provides assistance and support for unaccompanied minors…
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Bringing Light & Hope to Refugees & Victims of Human Trafficking
On this week’s episode of JustLove, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan focuses on supporting Refugees & Victims of Human Trafficking with Alice Min Soo Chun Alice is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Solight Designs – a for-profit company based in New York that manufactures the “Solar Puff” – a portable/ foldable two-ounce flat-packing solar powered light. Msgr. Sullivan and Alice will be speaking to us about her invention of the Solar Puff, what inspired her to invent it, and how the Solar Puff has proven to be an incredibly useful tool for providing reliable, safe and affordable lighting to people and families experiencing humanitarian crisis such as the earthquake in Haiti…
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Villa Altagracia – Apparel Factory & Workers – Day 4
The day began with three generations of the Hodge family, 11 of us, and luggage, crowded into a mini-bus for a two and a half hour trip from La Romana to Villa Altagracia in San Cristobal, located outside of Santo Domingo. The driver had an interesting approach that included driving ten miles in the wrong direction, slowing down on open highways and speeding up in crowded city streets. Oh well.
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Our Visit to Hogar Niños de Cristo – Day 3
Today, we spent the day with 36 boys and young men who now call Niños de Cristo and their dedicated staff their home. We were joined by Donnie Hodge and his wife Ana. Donny is the owner of Altagracia Apparel. I’ll write more about this tomorrow after we visit his “fair wage and working conditions” factory in Villa Altagracia and talk with some of the families whose lives have been changed because of these jobs. Sadly, some children cannot be raised and nurtured safely with their own families for many different reasons. Niños de Cristo provides the “family” for about 40 of these youth in the Dominican Republic. This…
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Our Visit to the GOYA Plant in Santo Domingo – Day 2
Our generous partner in feeding hungry New Yorkers, GOYA Foods, invited us to tour its plant in the Dominican Republic. This provided an opportunity to see one of their busy factories that employs about 500 people. In addition to seeing the hard working men and women on the floor of the plant we also met the factory administrators. We also saw the finca (land) where gauyabas (guava) are grown. I was accompanied on the tour by the director of quality control, a chemical engineer, charged with complying with regulations of both the Dominican Republic and the United States. He said most of the product from this factory is shipped…
