Last year Mindy Dow was looking for a one-time project that she could tacked. What she got was a long-term commitment as a volunteer with Orphanage Outreach. Orphanage Outreach, based in Scottsdale, is a nonprofit organization that works to give orphaned and abandoned children around the world a chance for a better life, said Tom Eklund, founder and executive director.
Volunteers help by becoming sponsors or traveling on missions and getting to know the children.
The children there are in tremendous need of the basic essentials, but mostly, they are starving for love and attention. On Thursday, she is taking her second trip to the Dominican Republic. The fact that I survived my mission, lived to tell about it and had a blast in the process relieves any fears they may have about going. Orphanage Outreach works with several orphanages in the Dominican Republic to provide the children with basic necessities, a quality education and the skills to become self-sufficient, Eklund said. Mission workers have spent most of their time at an orphanage in Monte Cristi but are assisting other orphanages, also, he said.