The Hogar-Escuela Rosa Duarte is located in the outer skirts of the city of Santo Domingo, which is the capital of the Dominican Republic and is located on the south shore of the island.

Established in the 1940’s in an extremely impoverished area of the Dominican Republic, with the mission to help poor and abandoned girls, the Hogar-Escuela Rosa Duarte has been operating continuously since then, subsisting only on government subsidies and sporadic private donations.

Notwithstanding all the day-to-day challenges, today a total of 126 girls call this humble place ‘home’. These girls have either been abandoned, abused, battered or orphaned.

On its day to day operation, classes up to the 8th grade are offered both to the girls in the home as well as to children in the surrounding community from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. In addition to the school, simple medical and dental attention is provided to the community from the grounds of the school in collaboration with the local Department of Education and Health Services.

In the afternoons, the girls in the home are given psychological attention as needed and they also participate in other classes given to train them to develop different working skills, such as hair styling, sewing, arts and crafts, and minimal computer knowledge among others.

The home is made up of 9 ‘casitas’. Each one of the ‘casitas’ houses 12 to 14 girls and a ‘casita mother’ who is usually an ex-student and current teacher at the school.

Necessities are many and any type of contribution will be very thankfully received and heartfelt and put to good use. Or, if you so prefer, the following is a guideline for donations:

• US$ 27.00 will provide nutritious meals for a month to 1 girl.

• US$ 330.00 will provide nutritious meals for a month to 1 complete Casita.

Or you can donate any amount that is most suitable to your budget. It will be gladly utilized to cover many of the different needs of the home.

The Girasoles Foundation is a 501(c)(3) approved charity organization. Donations are tax deductible.