MISSION OF MERCY

Valley’s 910th joins in delivery of clothes to Dominican poor

Thirty percent of people in the Dominican Republic live in poverty.

STAFF REPORT

BROOKFIELD — Retired cardiologist Dr. Paul A. Wright of Brookfield teamed up with the Air Force Reserve’s 910th Airlift Wing in Vienna to collect and deliver 45,000 pounds of clothing to the poor of the Dominican Republic.

Dr. Wright, a Notre Dame University alumnus, spearheaded the clothing drive among Notre Dame alumni and students that collected the clothing this spring, summer and fall. When he saw the effort was succeeding, Dr. Wright approached Col. Karl McGregor, commander of the 910th Airlift Wing, and asked the reserve unit to transport the 22.5 tons of clothing to the Caribbean island nation.

The project was approved and handled through the federal Denton Program, in which the Department of Defense can be authorized to provide military transportation of privately donated humanitarian cargo to foreign countries on a space-available basis at no cost to the donating agency or organization.

The 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna and the Air Force Reserve’s 911th Airlift Wing in Pittsburgh designated one C-130 cargo plane each to deliver the clothing to the Dominican Republic earlier this month.

“Initially, I thought it would be much more complex. It took a considerable amount of phone calls and e-mails to Washington, but they walked me through the process and made it as simple as possible for this humanitarian mission to be workable,” Dr. Wright said.

Although the Dominican Republic’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the Caribbean, 30 percent of its citizens live below the poverty line. The country shares a border with Haiti, one of the poorest, least-developed and least-stable countries in the Americas.

Large numbers of poor, illegal Haitian immigrants add to the Dominican poverty burden, said Capt. Brent J. Davis, 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs officer, who accompanied the 910th C-130 on its relief mission.

Dr. Wright, 58, a medical ethics lecturer, retired from his medical practice a year ago to develop medical clinics for the poor with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, mostly in Latin America.

The project’s primary purpose was to help the poor. But the alumni also wanted to challenge Notre Dame students with a project that seemed impossible. The students thought 5,000 pounds of clothing would be a tough goal. The alumni set the goal at 40,000 to 50,000 pounds, Dr. Wright said.

“We wanted the students to feel it was an impossible project in order to show them that the impossible isn’t impossible if you are passionate and compassionate enough,” he said.

He was one of Mother Teresa’s cardiologists when she was in the Americas, and had worked with her in various parts of the world from 1992 until her death in 1997.

Dr. Wright said he would never have been involved with the medical and relief projects were it not for divine intervention several years ago.

“Initially, I met Mother Teresa in Tijuana, Mexico, and there she clearly explained to me the purpose of life — to serve humanity and God within humanity, and that we are committed to serve Jesus Christ in the poorest of the poor,” he said.

In addition to the Notre Dame alumni and students, Dr. Wright said a widespread group, comprising various consignment stores, the Retired Teachers Association of Trumbull County, local area schools, the Girard High School athletic department and robotics team, local senior citizen and church groups, Kmart and Schneider National Trucking Co., participated in the endeavor. Also, he said area Rotary clubs and the St. Vincent de Paul Society helped load and unload trucks.

By September, Dr. Wright and McGregor had chosen Dec. 5 as a realistic date for which to plan to transport the clothing, and in late November, the 910th’s 76th Aerial Port Squadron received hundreds of boxes filled with clothing. The cargo arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic’s capital, and Santiago on Dec. 6 and 9, respectively, Davis said.

In the meantime, Dr. Wright had contacted the Dominican Republic’s Rotary organization, which has 64 clubs in the country, and asked it to develop a distribution plan for the clothing from the two cities.

“The clothing will help the children of families of the lowest income class — thousands of children,” said Arturo Perez, executive director of the Rehabilitation Medical Center in Santo Domingo.

“This effort is very welcome because there are so many kids here that don’t have any clothes,” said Sister Andrea Martinez, a nun serving at Mother Teresa’s 27 February community home for the poor.

Dr. Wright said some of the clothing also was distributed to Haitian refugees, allowing those that choose to go back to Haiti to be clothed.

“We decided to give clothing because it’s so accessible. And, we have found that clothing improves a person’s appearance making it easier to go out to church and school and work, to essentially break the poverty cycle,” he said.

“I’m especially grateful to the Dominican Republic military, specifically, the considerable support provided by Dominican Army Lt. Col. Ruben Goico, who is a Rotarian,” Dr. Wright said.

He said the project could not have been accomplished without the Air Force Reserve’s airlift capability.

“What impressed me the most about the Air Force Reserve was the tremendous compassion they have for humanitarian missions. They made ... it their priority despite the continuing war efforts,” Dr. Wright concluded.

He estimated the value of the clothing at about $8 per pound, or some $360,000; and said the cost of getting it to the Dominican Republic was only about $5,000.

Dr. Wright said he views the Dominican project as kind of a pilot for other organizations.

“We want to create a Web site to connect Notre Dame clubs nationally and internationally. Maybe other universities or organizations will want to do something similar,” Dr. Wright said.

XCONTRIBUTORS: Capt. Brent J. Davis, 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, and William K. Alcorn, Vindicator staff writer.