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Archived Newsletters
June, 2007
June, 2007
Elliot Foundation Newsletter – June, 2007 - by Eugene Leenders
My Elliott Foundation news letters are intentionally written to a person that is involved with the Elliott Foundation.
It brings out my best writing skills and adds a personal touch. This letter is addressed to Joe Kennedy, grandson
of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. Derek Elliott, president and CEO of Sun Village Resorts and Maxim Bungalows and
Co-Founder of the Elliott Foundation, introduced me to Joe Kennedy. Joe, at the time, was a volunteer with the
Peace Corps for two years in the Dominican Republic near Sun Village Cofresi.
Hola, Joe Kennedy, Warm greetings from Eugene Leenders in Canada. I just returned from my 20th mission
work vacation at Sun Village to move the Elliott Foundation projects forward. Derek Elliott believes in networking
with other organizations to help fulfill our mission to create thriving communities in the Dominican Republic.
Children can be given a chance for change by giving communities support through health care,education,
alternative income for families,clean water and sanitation. It’s like adopting a whole village to give children a
chance for change. An important part of this process is to hold humanitarian conferences at Sun Village Resorts
to provide a forum for networking with local and international humanitarian organizations. Derek also supports
the vision to give Sun Village Resort guests opportunities to visit Elliott Foundation projects to raise awareness,
donations and participation. The Damajagua Waterfalls tourist site will be on our list of sites to visit because your
effort is now directing income from the tourists to the community. I express a deep thank you to Derek for his
support and for introducing me to you. He is a super fellow and a great net worker.
The Rio Damajagua (Damahaguah) Waterfalls – Visit - www.27charcos.com
You moved mountains at the Damajagua Waterfalls tourist site as a Peace Corps volunteer to make it safer for
the tourists; to protect it environmentally and to bring more income to the community. After you did your
presentation at Sun Village in May of 2005 about the need to improve the safety of tourists, the Elliott Foundation
raised for you the $10 thousand that was needed for life jackets and helmets. The urgent need for this was driven
home when we heard about the Canadian boy, Adam Vitaterna, who drowned at the waterfalls in January of
2005. I recently contacted his parents, Andrew and Marilena Vitaterna. They developed a website in honour of
Adam to promote safety at the falls. When I visited the website, I felt a need to post the story about your efforts so
that it would also be a part of the healing and forward moving process. I would like your blessing on that initiative
as well as the Vitaterna family. I am sure that Adam would like everyone to experience the falls as a safe and
uplifting experience. In November of 2006 Elmond Jean and I went to experience the waterfalls. It was a
challenging but awesome experience. I recommend it highly to tourists. The lifejackets and helmets made me
feel safe. It adds a fun dimension to the humanitarian visits to our projects. Thank you for promoting Sun Village
Cofresi on the website as the best resort by far to stay at in the region. Visit – www.adamvitaterna.com and
www.27charcos.com
The DREAM Project – a major education initiative for the Dominican Republic
Here is an update about ‘The DREAM Project’ – The Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Project. You
highlighted this organization also on the waterfalls website. Its focus is on raising the bar of education in the DR
by working with the DR government to develop model schools across the country staffed by master teachers who
mentor teachers in their region. I visited its office in Cabarete an hour east of Sun Village Cofresi. In April of 2007,
I attended the inauguration of the first model school and teacher training centre and met the founder, Patricia
Thorndike, who is from Ithica in New York State. The Elliott Foundation will be keeping in close contact to network
with them when they are ready. Thank you, Joe, for highlighting this organization on the waterfall website.
Your networking efforts are bearing fruit. Visit – www.dominicandream.org.
Humanitarian Networking Conference at Sun Village Cofresi
It is still my dream to organize and hold humanitarian networking conferences at Sun Village Cofresi. This will
give the organizations a forum to meet and network and thus raise the bar in the level of humanitarian service in
the DR. I would like to invite Canada’s Governor General, Michaelle Jean, to visit the DR and give the opening
address at the first conference. She is a great humanitarian and represents Canada which is a multi-racial and
multi-cultural functioning society. Her recent trip to Africa has helped societies there to heal and move forward by
embracing a more inclusive outlook that welcomes all people in building a better society. I recently had the
opportunity to hear Michaelle Jean speak at a conference in London, Ontario in Canada and was greatly
impressed. I will do my best to invite her to the DR. At the same conference in London, Ontario, I heard another
great speaker, Arun Gandhi, grandson of the legendary leader of India. I was so moved by Arun’s speech that I
gave him my Elliott Foundation information. To my surprise he emailed me to express an interest in speaking at
the first humanitarian networking conference. I visited Arun at Rochester University in New York State where he is
guest lecturer. I invited him to do a forward for the movie Swept Under that I will write about in the next letter.
That letter will be addressed to Craig Kielburger, the founder of Free the Children. Craig is in the movie Swept
Under.
My Elliott Foundation news letters are intentionally written to a person that is involved with the Elliott Foundation.
It brings out my best writing skills and adds a personal touch. This letter is addressed to Joe Kennedy, grandson
of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. Derek Elliott, president and CEO of Sun Village Resorts and Maxim Bungalows and
Co-Founder of the Elliott Foundation, introduced me to Joe Kennedy. Joe, at the time, was a volunteer with the
Peace Corps for two years in the Dominican Republic near Sun Village Cofresi.
Hola, Joe Kennedy, Warm greetings from Eugene Leenders in Canada. I just returned from my 20th mission
work vacation at Sun Village to move the Elliott Foundation projects forward. Derek Elliott believes in networking
with other organizations to help fulfill our mission to create thriving communities in the Dominican Republic.
Children can be given a chance for change by giving communities support through health care,education,
alternative income for families,clean water and sanitation. It’s like adopting a whole village to give children a
chance for change. An important part of this process is to hold humanitarian conferences at Sun Village Resorts
to provide a forum for networking with local and international humanitarian organizations. Derek also supports
the vision to give Sun Village Resort guests opportunities to visit Elliott Foundation projects to raise awareness,
donations and participation. The Damajagua Waterfalls tourist site will be on our list of sites to visit because your
effort is now directing income from the tourists to the community. I express a deep thank you to Derek for his
support and for introducing me to you. He is a super fellow and a great net worker.
The Rio Damajagua (Damahaguah) Waterfalls – Visit - www.27charcos.com
You moved mountains at the Damajagua Waterfalls tourist site as a Peace Corps volunteer to make it safer for
the tourists; to protect it environmentally and to bring more income to the community. After you did your
presentation at Sun Village in May of 2005 about the need to improve the safety of tourists, the Elliott Foundation
raised for you the $10 thousand that was needed for life jackets and helmets. The urgent need for this was driven
home when we heard about the Canadian boy, Adam Vitaterna, who drowned at the waterfalls in January of
2005. I recently contacted his parents, Andrew and Marilena Vitaterna. They developed a website in honour of
Adam to promote safety at the falls. When I visited the website, I felt a need to post the story about your efforts so
that it would also be a part of the healing and forward moving process. I would like your blessing on that initiative
as well as the Vitaterna family. I am sure that Adam would like everyone to experience the falls as a safe and
uplifting experience. In November of 2006 Elmond Jean and I went to experience the waterfalls. It was a
challenging but awesome experience. I recommend it highly to tourists. The lifejackets and helmets made me
feel safe. It adds a fun dimension to the humanitarian visits to our projects. Thank you for promoting Sun Village
Cofresi on the website as the best resort by far to stay at in the region. Visit – www.adamvitaterna.com and
www.27charcos.com
The DREAM Project – a major education initiative for the Dominican Republic
Here is an update about ‘The DREAM Project’ – The Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Project. You
highlighted this organization also on the waterfalls website. Its focus is on raising the bar of education in the DR
by working with the DR government to develop model schools across the country staffed by master teachers who
mentor teachers in their region. I visited its office in Cabarete an hour east of Sun Village Cofresi. In April of 2007,
I attended the inauguration of the first model school and teacher training centre and met the founder, Patricia
Thorndike, who is from Ithica in New York State. The Elliott Foundation will be keeping in close contact to network
with them when they are ready. Thank you, Joe, for highlighting this organization on the waterfall website.
Your networking efforts are bearing fruit. Visit – www.dominicandream.org.
Humanitarian Networking Conference at Sun Village Cofresi
It is still my dream to organize and hold humanitarian networking conferences at Sun Village Cofresi. This will
give the organizations a forum to meet and network and thus raise the bar in the level of humanitarian service in
the DR. I would like to invite Canada’s Governor General, Michaelle Jean, to visit the DR and give the opening
address at the first conference. She is a great humanitarian and represents Canada which is a multi-racial and
multi-cultural functioning society. Her recent trip to Africa has helped societies there to heal and move forward by
embracing a more inclusive outlook that welcomes all people in building a better society. I recently had the
opportunity to hear Michaelle Jean speak at a conference in London, Ontario in Canada and was greatly
impressed. I will do my best to invite her to the DR. At the same conference in London, Ontario, I heard another
great speaker, Arun Gandhi, grandson of the legendary leader of India. I was so moved by Arun’s speech that I
gave him my Elliott Foundation information. To my surprise he emailed me to express an interest in speaking at
the first humanitarian networking conference. I visited Arun at Rochester University in New York State where he is
guest lecturer. I invited him to do a forward for the movie Swept Under that I will write about in the next letter.
That letter will be addressed to Craig Kielburger, the founder of Free the Children. Craig is in the movie Swept
Under.
