The Los Toros Foundation has for more than 25 years collaborated with the small community of Los Toros in the Dominican Republic. The community leaders have kept education & health improvements at the top of the priorities list. Through working together clean water is now a reality. Young adults have been able to attend the university & graduate with degrees that allow them to give back to their home community. Expectant mothers have support & medical care. A library & sewing center have been built. A dental program teaches oral care & children begin to learn English. The sewing center provides a certification program for individuals who can become tailors and start a home business of sewing & alterations. And all of this through donations from people like us and people like you! No paid staff; all monies are used for projects & scholarships. This is a life changing endeavor!
The Los Toros Foundation supports the village of Los Toros, Dominican Republic by ongoing communication and by frequent visits and meetings with the people in the village and with representatives of the Foundation in Los Toros to determine their needs and priorities. We also provide supplies on these visits for their Sewing Center, schools, dental clinic, and the prenatal programs in Los Toros and two neighboring villages.
The Los Toros Foundation also provides full and partial scholarships to qualified applicants, in addition to full and partial housing, transportation and food costs for students.
The Foundation also provides financial support to install cement floors in homes, repairs to homes and to replace homes.
We provide funding for repairs to the the Sewing Center, Mission house, church and library; and also to replace invisors that provide electrical power to the dental clinic, Mission house, Sewing Center, church, and library.
During our visits to Los Toros, we also meet with representatives from the Foundation in Los Toros to discuss their needs and priorities. During the adult and young adult trip in spring we also conduct English classes for students and adults, visit the sick and provide dental hygiene clinics in Los Toros and two neighboring villages.
During the January trip, the Beca Scholarship committee in Los Toros and representatives of the committee from Grafton conduct interviews and evaluations with current and prospective students to determine qualification for full and partial Beca scholarships.
The Los Toros Foundation has worked with and helped the people of Los Toros for over 25 years. The leadership in the Los Toros Foundation is very strong and continues to advocate for their needs and those of their neighboring villages. Our Los Toros Foundation in Grafton has built a very close bond with the people of Los Toros and continues to provide support to meet their needs.
I've been honored to be able to work with the scholarship program of the Los Toros Foundation. Over the years, we have provided full and partial scholarships to university students from the village of Los Toros, Dominican Republic. 100% of the donations that we receive go directly to funding our students. We have many graduates who are now, in turn, working as professionals to help strengthen their families and their community.
The Los Toros Foundation has been working for over five years. It has an excellent scholarship program . They helped me greatly with my education.
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The Los Toros Foundation Inc. has been serving the poor in the Third World country of the Dominican Republic as well as people from Haiti for over five years.
We believe that it is worthy of notice that this organization has very low operational and fund raising costs that are completely covered by members of the board of directors. No part of any donation is used for operational or administrative costs. All fund raising costs are covered by the members of the board of directors. Simply put, $100.00 donated to LTF is $100.00 donated to the poor.
This is a life changing organization - education programs as well as a life saving - heath and prenatal programs as observed by medical professionals.
Review from Guidestar
I have been involved in this Foundation for more than 20 years. The power of this amazing foundation resides in the people of Los Toros in the Dominican Republic. Their faith, organization and perseverance have allowed the Foundation to grow and flourish. 100% of all donations go directly to the programs. Emphasis is education. The Foundation sponsors college scholarships and has been instrumental in getting a new high school in Los Toros. It has also provided funds to build a library, a church, a sewing center, and a community ( mission) center. It also funds a food program, home repairs, and new homes for the homeless. In addition it funds a prenatal program for new mothers, which has dramatically reduced infant mortality. This Foundation has changed and continues to change the lives of both volunteers and villagers.
Mike Weber, Volunteer and Board Member
For the past thirty years, the Los Toros Foundation has been working with the village of Los Toros in the Dominican Republic. It reaches out to many aspects of the village's needs including erecting a sewing center where villagers can complete a one year government approved sewing certificate enabling them to create personal clothing, household needs (curtains, pillows, bed spreads, etc) and most importantly, they are able to start a home business of creating and repairing sewn items.
A scholarship program was created where over 50 adults have graduated in fields as varied as agriculture engineering, doctors, lawyers, teachers, electrical engineers, etc. There is a Beca (scholarship) committee in Los Toros and one at St. Joseph Parish in Grafton who work jointly to screen scholarship candidates for need, dedication to their education, past education history and commitment to their community. When questioned, villagers will tell you education is most important to them as it is a pathway to financial freedom, bettering their community and creating an educated community that can make solid decisions and learn how to intercede for themselves. Through our efforts and encouragement a new High School was erected so that the grade school facility could be used for day long classes rather than a half day for High School students and a half day for elementary students using the same building.
Twelve students in the Beca program who have full scholarships live in Santo Domingo, the capitol, in a condo just two blocks from the major university where they attend classes.. There they have strict rules to follow and rotate cleaning, cooking and shopping duties to support the house. This is their student "family" and they have responsibilities just as they would if they were living in the village.. The Beca Committee in Los Toros monitors the students by making monthly visits. The Committee in Grafton holds periodic SKYPE meetings with the students and with the Beca Committee in the village.
I first became interested in this mission outreach in 2008. At that time I had a strong interest in the education aspect of the Los Toros Foundation and joined the Beca (Scholarship) committee, soon becoming it's chair. My first visit to Los Toros was in 2009 where I was overwhelmed by the poverty of the people and yet how they always had a smile and hug for me when I met them, even though they might not know from where their next meal was coming or how they were going to keep dry when the rains came because they ran out of materials and money to complete the roof on their house. At that time there were so many needs for so many people.
I returned to Los Toros four more times, as my position with the scholarship committee required annual evaluations of the scholarship students. I would work with the committee in Los Toros in evaluating the students' progress and in getting to know them, offering encouragement and support. How meaningful it was to each student to receive a Sendik bag with notebooks, pens, pencils, a few power bars to supplement their missed meals while in classes, a planner to keep track of their classes and hygiene products for themselves - all donated by parishioners back in Grafton. One year the student highlight was to have their picture taken to show to the parishioners back in Grafton when I returned. I am no longer the chair of the committee as I now work in fund raising for the program while still serving on the Beca Committee and as a Los Toros Foundation Board member.
There are many more worthy prospective students than there are scholarships available. Many worthy students wait for years before we are able to work them into the program. And that is why I continue to support this program so strongly and provide so much time as a volunteer, Board Member, donor, fundraiser and advisor.
Rather than doing and giving everything to the villagers, the Foundation works to teach the citizens to do things for themselves and to work with the systems already in place i.e. the government.
So many success stories...education, healthcare, community development, university scholarships, housing, clean water....the list goes on. The great thing about donating to the Los Toros Foundation is that ALL workers are volunteers! Other than a few very minor expenses like wire transfer fees, all money donated goes directly to helping the poor better their lives.
"Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Teach them how to fish, they eat forever."
While the foundation certainly helps to provide a few fish to those in great need, much more effort goes into teaching how to "fish".
The Los Toros Foundation has been working together with the people of the village of Los Toros in the Dominican Republic for more than 30 years. The people there determine their needs and manage the implementation of the projects there. Education (scholarships for post-secondary education), community development programs, and resources (a community library and sewing center were built) are among priorities they named. There are no paid staff. It is all volunteers. After graduating, some scholarship recipients are now teachers or have started their own businesses in the village. I have been a volunteer since 2014. It is worthwhile work! - Joe S.
