Alternative Spring Break: Helping Install Water System in the Dominican Republic

A group from Florida Tech spent spring break not on the beaches or sleeping late but toiling in the heat of the Dominican Republic to help a community in need.

Father Randall Meissen, chaplain and director of the Catholic Campus Ministry, Claudia Velazquez, executive assistant to COES Dean John Harris, COES students Julian Herrera, Elias Orellana and Ryan Lapolt and alumna Alexis Hopkins spent March 23-30 in the rural community of La Cucarita.

There, in collaboration with ongoing development projects directed by the mission office of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, they helped residents install a water system to bring clean water from a nearby mountain spring to households in the town.

“We helped alongside participants from the local community in digging trenches and installing pipes along the steep route,” Meissen said. “It was a great experience of hard work, service and cultural exchange with our brothers and sisters in Dominican Republic – not to mention a testimony to the impact civil engineering knowledge can have at solving the practical challenges with uplifting communities.”

Because the trip coincided with Holy Week, the Florida Tech group also participated in celebrations of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday with the nearby communities of Los Fríos, La Cueva and Las Lajas. Meissen presided at several of the Spanish-language services for the communities on those days.

As they headed to the airport to fly back to Florida, the group took an excursion to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, which is the oldest cathedral in the Americas.