The developing world faces many challenges, but one of the greatest is the lack of access to health care. This summer, we hope to be a part of the solution. From August 15th-25th, we are returning to Dominican Republic with 50 Western-Fanshawe Collaborative BScN students and the Fanshawe College Practical Nursing students. In addition to some regular projects, we will be hosting medical and dental clinics in villages and communities, free of charge. Each day is an adventure, and each day is filled with incredible memories as a result. The trip, affectionately called “Danica’s Dream,” is named after a little girl who inspired the building of a clinic that we continue to support and partner with.
However, we have an urgent need! We need another physician to accompany our medical supplies, to help with clinics, and to share their expertise and knowledge with those who need it most.
Do you know anyone who can help us? Are you a medical professional who may know a doctor that would be willing to invest some of their time this August to be a part of the Hero Holiday experience? Would you be willing to approach your family physician or any doctors that you know, on our behalf?
If you have any suggestions or questions, please contact our Hero Holiday department as soon as possible: nettie@heroholiday.com or call 1-866-432-4464 and ask to speak to the Hero Holiday department.
Together, we can bring love, hope, and change!
Archive for the 'Featured' Category
The developing world faces many challenges, but one of the greatest is the lack of access to health care. This summer, we hope to be a part of the solution. From August 15th-25th, we are returning to Dominican Republic with 50 Western-Fanshawe Collaborative BScN students and the Fanshawe College Practical Nursing students. In addition to some regular projects, we will be hosting medical and dental clinics in villages and communities, free of charge. Each day is an adventure, and each day is filled with incredible memories as a result. The trip, affectionately called “Danica’s Dream,” is named after a little girl who inspired the building of a clinic that we continue to support and partner with.
However, we have an urgent need! We need another physician to accompany our medical supplies, to help with clinics, and to share their expertise and knowledge with those who need it most.
Do you know anyone who can help us? Are you a medical professional who may know a doctor that would be willing to invest some of their time this August to be a part of the Hero Holiday experience? Would you be willing to approach your family physician or any doctors that you know, on our behalf?
If you have any suggestions or questions, please contact our Hero Holiday department as soon as possible: nettie@heroholiday.com or call 1-866-432-4464 and ask to speak to the Hero Holiday department.
Together, we can bring love, hope, and change!
Haitian Orphanage Emergency Project Part 2 - “The Orphan Diet”
Published by June 9th, 2009 in Featured. ClosedSome of you may remember back in December 2008 when the Haitian Orphanage Emergency Project was initiated.
Thanks to the generosity of many, this Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti was able to continue taking care of 68 little children who were in desperate need. Those finances helped to buy food (which was their biggest need at that time, and may arguably still be their biggest need), school supplies, wood to make beds and paid the rent for the building they are in.
Right now, “The Orphan Diet” is part two of a fundraising effort for the basic survival of these children. If you have not heard of the Orphan Diet, click here.
However, we have an exciting announcement to make about this upcoming project: we have a generous donor that is willing to match every dollar given towards the Orphan Diet, up to $15,000! We could turn $15,000 into $30,000! This amount of money will go a long way to getting these children the help they need.
We will be focusing on getting these children medical attention (many of whom have never seen a doctor in their lives), renovating and updating their facilities, buying some much needed food, and more school supplies. You can be a part of this! Within the next year, we are planning our first ever Hero Holiday Trip to Haiti! Please stay tuned to our website for applications, dates and pricing. This trip will be for anyone 18yrs of age and older.
To join the Haitian Orphanage Emergency Project facebook group page, click here.
To see the original video from the Haitian Orphanage Emergency Project, click here.
To donate to the Orphan Diet:
Mail Cheques and Money Orders to:
Suite 400, 44 Hughson St. North
Hamilton, ON
Canada
L8R 1G3
*Cheques are payable to ABSOLUTE (Please memo your cheques: ‘the orphan diet’)
By Credit Card (by telephone)
To make a donation via credit card, call toll free 1 866 432 4464
For three summers in the Dominican Republic, Hero Holiday participants worked their butts off to complete our Arroyo Seco school project. In 2006, we finished the first floor, 2007 the second floor, and 2008 completed any final touches on the building including a fence around the building and a safe play ground for the children. This work site was always, by far, a favorite among our participants for one main reason: the CHILDREN. Everyday you were greeted by cheering bright faces, and by the end of the work week one child would have claimed you as their “Gringo”. Most participants dreamed of visiting the school again someday, and one past Hero Holiday Participant got to live this out. Nikki is currently living in the Dominican Republic for the next few months, and yesterday she was able to return to see her favorite school. Here is her blog entry about her visit:
Today was a day I will remember forever. The four of us hired a driver to bring us into Arroyo Seco, my favourite place in the world. Being in Puerto Plata now instead of Sosua, it is quite a bit further and I was really nervous about how I would manage to go out there. I was so excited when we heard that a group was in there today running a clinic. The group is led by Phil and Donna, of Servant’s Heart, an organization that we know well as they work closely with Hero Holiday and help us plan most of our work. Liz decided to come with us and it turned out really well as she was able to network with them and get to know more about their organization- which is a great way to learn and team up with each other.
I was trying not to get too excited this morning as we were getting ready. It is a weekday and so the kids, I knew, could be in school. I have only been in the DR during the summer and did not know that (like Ethiopia) kids go to school for half days here (this was a great surprise!) As we drove up Bella Vista road to the school, I saw Danny standing in front of his aunt’s house. I stuck my hand out the window and waved, and his mouth dropped open and he started screaming and running into the house 
calling Frangelis. We continued down the road to the school and parked. Within a minute I could see Frangelis’ aunts and cousins peaking down the street to see if it was me. We were waving from down the road as I walked up to their house, and all the sudden Frangelis came out of the house and came running at me with a huge smile and jumped into my arms. It was such an amazing moment- I missed her so much and to be able to hug her and kiss her and tell her how much I missed her was so wonderful. Frangelis is a shy girl. That is sort of what drew me to her two summers ago when we met. Last year when I saw her first again it took her a little while to warm up to me. This year, she just ran and jumped into my arms and was so happy and excited and took no time at all to warm up. We stayed at the school for several hours and it was just a fun and happy time, walking throuhg the village and seeing all of ‘my’ kiddies again.
I had made photo albums for several of the kids from the village with photos from the past few years. The kids took me around to their houses, showing their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their cousins, the photos. They were SO excited about them. Frangelis, like most of the other kids, goes to school in the afternoon, so I was able to see and spend time with her, Elise, Hernardo, Tata, Minerva, Danny, Luisa, Noberto, Jennifer, Andony, and Alessandra. Juana, one of the girls who I became very close to, and Jessica, another one who is very special to me, were both at school (they are too old to go to the Arroyo Seco school so go down the road), so I didn’t get to see them. I left their albums with Frangelis so she could deliver them this afternoon when they get home. We walked through the village and toured the school and it brought back so many memories. It was absolutely amazing to see kids in uniform sitting at the desks I had helped to paint in the room I had helped to construct, singing and learning and calling my name through the window. That village is just such a special place for me and it was amazing to see each child again and see how they are doing. Such a fantastic day… I am just so happy from getting to see those kids again.
You can read more about Nikki’s adventure in the Dominican this summer from her blog site:
www.heroholiday07.blogspot.com
or her experiences in Ethiopia:
www.ethiopia2009-adana.Youth Making a Difference Fund Raiser JUNE 4, 2009
Published by April 9th, 2009 in Mainpage and Featured. Closed
Last summer, my brother Sean and I visited the Dominican Republic with Hero Holiday. It was an amazing, life changing experience!
Using only pickaxes and shovels, Sean and I, along with another 120 teenagers and adults, worked on building a school and the foundation of a new house. On other days we worked alongside refugees at a dump collecting garbage. We wore long pants, ankle-high boots, and thick work gloves while the majority of the locals rummaged through filth in sandals and without gloves. We were able to double some of the workers wages for the day and their gratitude was more than evident on their smiling faces.
The day we visited the orphanage for the physically and mentally handicapped was the hardest emotionally. With one caretaker for every five children, there is barely enough time to provide even the basic needs for these children.
One little boy made a profound impact on me. I went to his crib and said “Hello”. When he did not respond I tried singing to him. I started quietly, with “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” He began to move his arms and legs slightly. Before long his arms were wrapped around me. He touched my face and encouraged me to keep singing. It’s true… “All you need is love”.
There’s no feeling quite like waking up every morning knowing you’re going to spend your day making a difference in people’s lives. After having experienced this feeling, there is no way I could NOT go on Hero Holiday again.
The “Youth Making A Difference” fundraiser will help make it possible for my brother, Sean, and I to relive this life-changing opportunity. A large portion of the proceeds will also go to the Absolute organization to assist them in continuing to take others like my brother and I on Hero Holidays, just one of the ways in which they are helping to make this world a better place.
We hope to see you there!
~Melissa
The idea is to try and get a slight glimpse of what living is like for most of the world. TJ, Nikki, Tara, Josh and Kristi have created a scenario that they are willingly putting themselves though in a desperate attempt for better understanding.
The shack is made of cardboard, plastic, and an old truck canopy and has a dirt floor. Their ’shower’ is an old torn blue tarp, a pail and a small cup.
Each student will stay in shack for four days. While there they will be:
- working hard labor jobs for nine hours a day
- making 100 pesos ($8) per day
- buying all their water and food
- cooking everything on an open fire with wood they find in the neighborhood
- paying rent and other misc bills like (repaying a loan shark and medical expenses)
They have no electricity, no entertainment items, some simple dishes and one luxury item… a small can of bug spray just in case the earwigs, spiders or snakes decide to move back into their shack with them. They will be ’showering’ at least twice in the four days as well as doing their laundry by hand on the final day.
This morning at 6am was Kristi and TJ’s departure to the shack. What you see in their hands was all they were allowed to take with them.
Here they are settling in to their new home! And look… a stray dog has all ready befriended them.
Their first job of the day was to clean up all the garbage around the property where they are staying.
Stay posted as we will update their progress a couple of times each day. I am looking forward to seeing what supplies they will buy tonight with thier first day’s wages. Stay tuned later today, we will check in with them around supper time again.
What’s Going on in Adam’s Head?
Published by April 2nd, 2009 in Team 1, Think Day and Featured. 3 Comments
Hope, value, dedication, purpose,and love.
To accomplish anything great in this life, all of those character traits are needed. The funny thing about those character traits is that you never really know you have them until challenges arrive!
Team One has had some challenges recently. As many of you are aware, we didn’t make it out west for our tour. On March 3rd, in Minnesota, our tour bus hit some black ice driving along the I-94. We flipped, rolled and destroyed our bus. Thankfully, none of us were seriously injured and we can go back to life as normal- if we want to.
This accident has thrown us some challenges- the band we were touring with, along with our sound guy decided to leave after the accident to spend time at home. The rest of us decided to keep going. For Team One, we believe nothing worth doing comes easy and we believe in the message we share with students all across Canada. We can’t stop now - there is too much to do!
So here we go… we have a new tour and a new team. The Ocean Buried is now touring with us. They have done a great job so far in the shows we have had here in Ontario! We are all super pumped to have them with us! With a band, we also need a sound man; so now we have Jesse. Jesse literally dropped everything he was doing to join our team! He is an amazing guy and has been a great help these past few weeks.
Hope, value, dedication, purpose, and love.
In Absolute, we share a message that we get to choose who we become. Every day, life gives us opportunities to become who we want to be. Those choices rarely come through easy events. Growth comes through the difficult times, and we all have them. How we respond shapes who we become.
And…that is why we are all excited to get back out on the road!
See ya on the road!
Adam Churchman, Road Team Manager, Team One
Absolute in 2008 - Video
Published by December 30th, 2008 in Newsletter, Other Sites, Mainpage and Featured. 0 CommentsIn 2008, we were a part of some incredible moments! Together, we were a part of life-changing projects, opportunities, and memories. Through our High School Assemblies Program (Think Day), we saw hope come alive and we were able to spread the word on how we can all be a part of change in our world as we did over 340 presentations in schools across Canada. Through Hero Holiday, we worked alongside of 600 students and adults who participated in one of our 14 trips. Each of us came on Hero Holiday to accomplish change and inspire hope in communities in Mexico, Dominican Republic and Thailand. Together, in 2008, we built 20 homes in Mexico, completed one school and worked on two others in Dominican Republic, worked on a Children’s Home in Thailand for victims of child prostitution and exploitation, and we brought food, clothing, supplies, hope and dignity to many children, families, and communities in these countries. We even managed to release our first book, One: A Face Behind the Numbers. It has definitely been a busy year in Absolute!
2008 has also been a year of incredible events in our nation and around the globe. We live in a world of change, and while change may be inevitable, that does not mean that we need to give up and forget about those who need us the most. We can each play a part in restoring hope and building a future for those who don’t seem to have much hope for a future. Because of all that we have experienced together, we truly believe that hope can change everything, and we have been a part of that change. However, the truth is that we cannot continue to do this without you. We need you to help us move forward. The children and the families in the communities we work in need us to continue to push forward to bring change.
Check out this AMAZING REMINDER of all that we have accomplished together this past year!
For those reading this in an email, click on the link below to view the video.
Absolute truly needs your partnership. We are unable to do this without you. Without financial partnership, our programs and projects would not be able to reach the Canadian High School students that we do, nor would we be able to host our Hero Holidays, build our projects, or reach the communities that we currently operate in. Without your help, we would not be able to continue to see lives changed, hope realized, and history being made. Would you please consider helping us for the year ahead? We cannot do this without you.
We are looking for people, just like you, to commit to $10, $20 per month or more. A little goes a long way, and with a little you can help to make a HUGE difference.
For more information on how you can partner with us, contact our office at 1(866) 432 4464. As well, you can donate online through our paypal account. Just go to our donation page at http://absolute.org/donate and follow the link.
We look forward to what we will accomplish together in 2009!
Great Opportunity - Road Team Assistant Positions Open!
Published by December 8th, 2008 in Employment, Volunteer and Featured. 5 Comments
Road Team Assistant
Do you have a desire to be a part of what Absolute is doing in high schools across Canada? Would you like the opportunity to travel across our nation, meet amazing people, become an advocate for change, and be a part of something that is helping to shape the next generation? Why not consider joining an Absolute road team for the Think Day spring 2009 tour?
We have openings for Road Team Assistants for our Jan 19 to May 30 2009 Canadian school tours. Here is a brief description of the position:
- Qualifications:
- Good Public Skills: willingness to share your story and speak in front of crowds
- Team Work and Interpersonal Skills: able to work well as part of a team and interact maturely with other team members
- Willingness to learn new skills in both the technical requirements and the interpersonal opportunities that Think Day offers
- Compensation:
In addition to a small bi-weekly stipend, we will provide free housing while local in Hamilton (you provide your own food), and we will cover food and lodging costs while touring.
For more information, contact christal@absolute.org.
Welcome to Corporate Saturday!!! A new band joining our Tour.
Published by November 11th, 2008 in Team 2, Road Team Blogs, Student Zone, Mainpage and Featured. ClosedAbsolute would like to welcome Corporate Saturday to our Think Day tour. They will be joining Team 2 on their tour across Canada.
Over the past three years, Corporate Saturday has worked hard to establish themselves in their hometown of Windsor, Ontario, and they are now looking to do the same across the country while touring with Absolute! They recently released their first full-length album entitled, “Looking at the Same Stars” and won The “Best Young Songwriters” award at the 2008 Toronto Independent Music Awards. Corporate Saturday’s current line up consists of Rob on drums, Brendan on guitar, Austen on vocals and the newest member, Bobby, on bass. Together they form a tight knit musical family with the common goal of making good music and spreading a positive message. Being inspired by the Absolute presentation early in high school, the band later decided to apply for a position. After three years of hard work and practice , Corporate Saturday is ready to hit the road for the first time with Absolute!
For more information and to hear a couple songs visit,
www.myspace.com/
Absolute sadly says good bye to All Left Out and wishes them luck on their UK and Japan tour in the up in coming months. You guys ROCK!
It is incredible to see what a dream, many helping hands, and a lot of sweat can build! Hero Holiday Dominican Republic has had the privilege of seeing many amazing experiences, but perhaps the measurement of it all is in what is left standing after we have finished.
In 2006, we came across a man with a dream, and realized that we could help that dream come to pass. When our CEO , 
Vaden Earle, met Pastor Garcia, it was beside a small square trench with a tent canopy over it, and it was a 
school, church, clinic, and community centre all in one. As he listened to Garcia tell him about his community’s dream to have a safe and sufficient school for their children, Vaden realized that we could do something to help, and so, in July of 2006, hundreds of teenagers set to work to make a community’s dream come true. Today, we can be proud of what we have accomplished together, as 
we see the results of our hard work, sunburned shoulders, and many incredible memories! There isn’t a Hero Holiday participant who doesn’t remember how to mix cement by hand, thanks to this amazing project!
Today, The Arroyo Seco School has 80 students, and the number continues to grow as each year another class is added. Today, we see a building that is build from bricks and cement, but the foundation of it is embedded in a dream to see a community begin to get lifted out of poverty and be given hope for their future. To all the Hero Holiday participants who helped to make this a reality, we want to thank you and commend you for all your passion and hard work!
In 2007, we were introduced to another community with a dream of also seeing their children educated and lifted out of the grip of desperate poverty. 
As we continued to work on our Arroyo Seco Community School, we also began a second project in Cangrejo, and in true Hero Holiday style, we threw the same passion and fervor into seeing another community being offered the chance to see their children educated and safe. The Cangrejo School project is really unique, as it will also be able to
offer unlimited access 
for physically disabled students, due to the location and construction plan. We are excited to see it come to completion, and as we continue to partner with the community of Cangrejo, we are continuing to grow in our understanding of what it takes to change the future.
This summer, as we have finished up Arroyo Seco, and continued to work on Cangrejo, we have added two more projects that we are proud to be a part of…
In a small community called Nazareth, an organization called Dominican Advance was able to build an amazing school that is seeing 100+ students getting educated. However, in Dominican Republic, in order for a school to be certified at the highest 
level, they need to have a fence around their property, so Hero Holiday willingly agreed to partner with them for the manpower to get the job done! Starting this fall, the students attending there will now be receiving an education that is certified with the Dominican Government and that will open doors for them that didn’t exist before this. The project in Nazareth also involved helping to stock a clinic called Danica’s Dream, that has been built by our partners Phil and Donna Williams. The clinic serves this poor community with a doctor and with medication that they would otherwise be unable to access. Danica’s Dream is
named after a little girl that Hero Holiday had the privilege of knowing for a few short
days in the summer of 2007. However, her young life was taken from a simple and preventable disease, that had she not been in poverty, could have been entirely avoided. Danica’s life gave the inspiration for the clinic, and the building now stands as a testimony to how she impacted all of us.
Our second new project this summer has been to help with a housebuild for our friend, Bernard. Bernard has worked with us 
in Dominican Republic since 2005 as a mason and interpreter, and he is a valued friend of Hero Holiday.
Bernard also has a dream that he has been working on: a house to provide temporary shelter for street children and child soldiers. He has been working with orphans and children at risk for the past 5 years, and is now wanting to build a house where he is able to provide a safe place for them as they wait for what is next. Bernard’s project has been MUCH hard work, but MANY incredible 
memories! As he came to say good bye to our participants, he was at a loss as to how to express to us what it has meant to have this kind of help and assistance with building this house. However, we all understood and
could see how thankful he was, because we saw it everyday in his life. As we have worked with him for the past four years, he has shown, time and again, how committed he is to helping the poor and exploited in Dominican Republic and Haiti, and we are proud to have been a part of this project this summer.
Each year, Hero Holidy is full of amazing individuals who have realized the power of making a difference and that there is strength in numbers, and it is because of each of them that we were able to finish what we started. There are many opportunities that will come and go in each of our lives, but the opportunity to make a difference should never be overlooked. Thanks so much to all of you who have helped to build the future for these communities. You truly are heroes, and you really have made a difference!
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