Trash Mountain Project

Kids With a Hope | Dominican Republic Update

Jon — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:57:55 +0000

It has been 3 days since we left the Dominican Republic and have arrived back in the United States. This trip was to start building the first floor of the technical school at Kids With a Hope. It will be a two story building to be used as a trade school which will train teens and young adults in a specific skill i.e. car and motorcycle repair, sewing, etc to help break the cycle of poverty. The upstairs floor will be able to be utilized as a medical clinic for when medical professionals come to Kids With a Hope to offer continued care of the kids’ needs.

I stood there at the top of the hill on the tech site able to see the trash dump to my left where so many kids have been rescued from because of your help and then I was able to look to my right and see Kids With a Hope. A big thanks to all the people who have been a part of this process to see this dream come true for these children. It was a privilege to come back five months later and see how even the atmosphere in the community has changed. You can ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up and now they may say a doctor or teacher. There is hope once again. But the most important thing is that they can know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior along with meeting the kids’ physical needs. I believe these two concepts go hand in hand. Meet the need and preach the Gospel.

What was awesome was to have a group of believers pray over the tech site after the foundation was laid and dedicate it to the Lord. And then, it was awesome to have a group of professional masons to come to the Dominican Republic and finish the first story of the building. It was by God’s grace that we were there to be apart of such an adventure. Thank you for all of your prayers and support as we each do our part to further the Kingdom!!

Together,

Elaine DeMeo

End of the Year Letter

Jon — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:32:29 +0000

Take a look at a quick wrap up of 2011! Thanks for all your support and dedication to reaching people for Christ!

Christmas Cards from Kids With a Hope

Jon — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:48:20 +0000

As the Christmas season approaches, the children in Santiago, Dominican Republic are making a special card for their sponsors! The kids had a great time and put their own unique touch on each card. Here are some pictures of them creating the cards and a video of them!

DR Technical School Update

Jon — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:20:52 +0000

Today we were up on the tech school land and were taking final measurements in preparation for the teams coming down in January to begin building! We will be starting January 6th with the footers and beginning phases and will then move in to laying block throughout the rest of the month. If you were on a trip with us early last year, you will not recognize this area any longer. The top part of the land will house the tech school while the bottom part will be where our aquaponic program will take place. Thank you to all of those who have helped make this possible!

Ridgepoint Church

Jon — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:41:59 +0000

Yesterday we had the privilege to give an update on what TMP has been up to and where we are going at Ridgepoint Church in Winter Haven, FL. This has been a church that has been with us since the beginning and we had a great time with them. They will be taking two trips with us in 2012, one to Honduras and one to the Dominican Republic. It is only because of local church partners and individuals that what you see being accomplished through TMP is possible. God is so good!

EPOCH | Creativity Division Award Winner

Jon — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:12:23 +0000

This post is a little late but better now then never! We had an incredible time in Atlanta, GA at the EPOCH (pronounced “epic” we found out!) Missions Gala. This was a great event celebrating and honoring ministries around the globe. It was put on my Adventures in Missions and they did a great job hosting this scale of an event. We were there in the first place because we had been nominated by Carol Rose for the Creativity Division award (Thanks Carol!). There were two other great ministries up for nomination within our category and no one knew who was the winner until they announced it that night. The nominations were narrowed down and selected by an unbelievable panel.

Leading up to the announcement of the winners, I kept thinking about how blessed I was to be a part of something that so many people had rallied around and something that God had His hand in in such a mighty way. Then on top of that, I was surrounded in Fox Theater by hundreds of other amazing ministries and non-profits that God was using around the world! Incredible!

It was a black tie affair and the night included a silent auction, international market, dinner, worship, live presentations and an awards ceremony. Leading up to the awards I was definitely a little nervous, but it was a great feeling when we heard we had won! The awards were unique in design because each was a special blown glass art piece. It will be a great keepsake and something to mark that moment for a long time. We hope that this award will bring a greater exposure to what God is doing around the world and through TMP. Thank you to everyone for all your support along the way, and we feel honored to be recognized! For more information on the event you can go here: http://www.epochmissionsgala.com/

Together,

-Jon

///Thank you EPOCH for some of these pictures!

State of the Tribe | TMP 2010 Annual Report

Jon — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:52:53 +0000

Check out our 2010 Annual Report! This will give you a good idea where the money went, how it was spent, and what was accomplished. Thank you to all our supporters and donors for an incredible year! You can download the report by clicking the image below.

SPOKEN Videos

Jon — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:18:54 +0000

We had an incredible night tonight, and we saw over 300 people come out to SPOKEN: A Trash Mountain Benefit! It included new TMP videos, live presentations, live art, and awesome food. Here are the videos from tonight if you were not able to make it!

A Trip of a Lifetime

Jon — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:48:39 +0000

A Blog by Craig:

My trip to the Dominican this summer (July 26-Aug 2) was one that I will never forget. While we were there we had the great opportunity to work with the Kids with a Hope Organization located near the trash dump of Cien Fuegos. Watching the excitement of the children was so radiating that we ourselves could not help to be just as excited as well. The main goal of our trip was basically to spend as much time loving on the children as possible. We wanted to invest our time in something that would never fade away; great memories and new found friendships. And although seven days may not seem long enough, we still managed to accomplish our goal in ways unimaginable.

I have seen videos and pictures for the seventeen years of my life and although they had an impact on me it does not compare to the many sights and smells that you endure during a mission trip. From our community walk to our many bus rides alongside the muddy filth ridden streets of Cien Fuegos each of us were impacted by the normal everyday life for most people living in the Dominican Republic. Although these people would be considered worthless or good for nothing by many people they still managed to show a joy that was so impressionable to witness firsthand. Many of the children had either no clothes or dirty clothes on which we would consider rags. Despite having nothing, I witnessed firsthand the compassion and giving nature of people who would offer everything, even the dirty rags they were wearing.

During our trip we had the amazing chance to get to know a youth group from Kansas as well. Our group from Lakeland Christian School got along so well with the youth group that by the end of the week we all considered ourselves a big family. We made a promise to not only ourselves but to the many best friends we met in the Dominican to venture back the following summer of 2012. I look forward to going again next summer as I count the days down till I return. Hopefully with our many stories and our new perspective we can bring along a bigger group next year so it can be their “trip of a lifetime” just as it was for us.

-Craig

EPOCH Missions Gala Nominee

Jon — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:09:12 +0000

We are humbled and honored to say that we have been nominated for a global non-profit award. We are one of only 18 finalists chosen from 438 nominations, representing 5 continents, 35 countries and 38 states and we have been chosen as one of the 3 finalists in the category of creativity, as a mind imagining new ways to serve.

This event will take place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Fox Theatre! God has truly been at work and we are pumped to get to share it with such a large audience! We hope this global platform will help us tell the story even greater and share with people the great things God is doing. To find out more about this award and the other great nominees, please go HERE.