Mitchell group gets firsthand look at result of charity efforts

Area residents recently had the rare chance to see how small sacrifices can pay huge dividends in the lives of those less fortunate.

From Oct. 4-13, Deb Weitala, a ministry associate at Mitchell’s Northridge Baptist Church, and others accompanied Impact Lives — a Minneapolis-based food relief organization — to the Dominican Republic to finish a job that began last spring.

On April 16, volunteers turned out at the Corn Palace to participate in an unprecedented food packaging enterprise.

“We were hoping for $72,000 in donations and 750 volunteers to package 235,000 meals,” said Weitala. “But 1,200 volunteers showed, raised $82,500, and packaged a record 330,000 meals for Impact Lives.”

The protein-dense food packages contained rice, soy and dried vegetables, and no junk- or processed foods. One box costs $52 and it can feed a family of six for a month, said Weitala.

Packaging the food was only half the battle; getting it to where it was needed was the other.

In October, the food was airlifted to the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo and then trucked to the Hato Mayor province in the eastern part of the country. Dominican Vice President Rafael Alburquerque personally ushered the shipment through airport customs to ensure the urgently needed food supplies would not be maliciously diverted or held up for graft.

Weitala said she and the others had been told what to expect, but the desperate reality of need overwhelmed expectations.

“At first I thought that seeing that kind of poverty and that kind of need would break me,” she said. Instead, she and the others were buoyed by the welcoming spirit of a people who struggle daily to merely survive.

“You see pictures of people struggling with poverty every day, but what you don’t see are the hearts of these people.”

The town of Hato Mayor, in the province of the same name, was an ill-defined collection of small shacks with few amenities. Construction consisted of tin and other scraps of building materials.

“You would not believe the size of these homes,” said Weitala, who recalled visiting the home of a woman with 14 children. “They lived in a space no larger than my bedroom.”

Weitala said her team of 13 workers endured 100-degree temperatures and minimal accommodations during a tough but rewarding experience.

Janell Tolly, who works as a microbiologist at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital, is the wife of former Northridge pastor John Tolly. The family will soon move to serve a new church in Prior Lake, Minn., but Janell wanted to first experience an Impact Lives trip.

“My purpose was to go and see who we were giving food to,” said Tolly, who served as the group’s photojournalist. “It was neat to see the food we personally packed handed off to the people, to see who they were and how it would affect their lives."

Speaking through translators, the workers learned that the island’s families share hopes and dreams similar to their own.

“But they just don’t have our privileges; they’re starting from so much less. The food gives a boost up to sustain them and gives them a chance to get on their feet,” she said.

Consultants stayed behind to help and direct farming and building projects.

“It was a great experience,” said Tolly, who called the nondenominational Impact Lives “a good organization.”

The next Impact Lives packaging event will be May 8, said Weitala, and volunteers will be needed.

Donations for the project can be sent to Impact Lives, P.O. Box 2548, Maple Grove, Minn., 55311-9998, or through Weitala at Northridge Baptist Church, 996-4937.

Tags: impact lives, corn palace, news, local, charity