St. Paul in the Dominican: A calculating gift

Mission | March 19, 2015

In the warmth of the Dominican sun, Brad Holehan leads a class room of future leaders.

DR_CalculatorThese students are tops in their class. In a country wracked by poverty, at least half come from families who live with very low incomes.

Brad is a graduate of Augustana College, and has taught at Doulos Discovery School for a few years now. A St. Paul group that visited the school last spring met Brad, and learned that his class could really use graphing calculators.

The St. Paul Mission Board approved funding for the calculators last fall.

Getting them to Jarabacoa was a bit tricky. Shipping them straight to the Dominican is cost-prohibitive, so a Minnesota church that traveled to Jarabacoa in November offered to load them into their own suitcases and take them on the plane.

This week, another St. Paul group is visiting Doulos. They got to see Brad’s class – with graphing calculators on the desk of each student.

“The spirit of graciousness and gratitude are very present,” said Amy Sivertsen, who is leading the trip to Jarabacoa.

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