Jose Wejebe, host of ESPN's hit show Spanish Fly, recently joined us on our Adventure Trip to the Dominican Republic.  Be sure to check out Jose's article about the adventure.

Charlie Levine of Marlin Magazine also joined us on the DR Adventure.  Stay tuned for his feature article coming in next month's issue!

A team of 12 selfless volunteers traveled with us to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, spending the last week of July providing aid to impoverished children and families.  Our hosts, Brad and Brooke Jenkins of Alliance 29:11, are heavily involved in both identifying and providing for the widespread needs of this area.  With their guidance, our team was able to distribute various school supplies, clothing, and toiletries.

We spent our time in the D.R. enjoying very meaningful work, such as the construction of showers in Munoz, a community where the residents bathed in the same stream from which they would often drink.  Austin Davis, Charlie Levine, Scott Mullins, Michael Whitten, Adam Newquist, and Steve Barlow enjoyed the laughter of children dancing when the faucets were first turned on! 

Because the local water source is tainted with deadly bacteria, parasites, and waterborne diseases, we budgeted a great deal of our resources to provide for over 50 families to receive water filtration systems!

Another significant portion of the funding available for this trip went toward building a means of shelter for Muriel, a mother of 8 children, the youngest being only 18 months old.  Upon our arrival, we found her existing “home” to be rotten and completely infested with termites.  Without a floor and very little furniture or even enough beds, they were pretty much living in mud.  Over the following three days John Sisk, Rex Simpson, Brad Jackson, and Steven Ritchie along with Jose Wejebe and Mike Torbisco constructed a much improved dry and secure place for this family to live.  By the end of the project, many of Muriel’s friends and neighbors joined our team and eagerly assisted with the house as well as construction of a bed and table from the remaining scrap lumber!

We found the Dominican people to be very friendly, appreciative, and helpful.  In addition to these relief projects our long-term desire is to raise the funding necessary to build and maintain orphanages so that cycles may be broken and future generations impacted.  The sport fishing community has the opportunity to be a part of making a lasting difference in the lives of the less fortunate.  For this trip alone, our industry came together in a big way.  Specifically, Rick Alvarez, of the International Billfish Shootout along with Andy New of the Marina at Cap Cana donated a portion of tournament proceeds to Reel Life Adventures to be used specifically for humanitarian needs within the D.R.  Bill Shedd and AFTCO got involved by donating around 100 shirts to be distributed to the poor.  In addition, Charlie Levine and Jose Wejebe joined our team for hands on involvement along with a first-hand look at what RLA is all about.  Stay tuned for a feature story in the October issue of “MARLIN” as well as some incredible video footage with Jose!  Many thanks go out to these two outstanding guys for their involvement and the incredible exposure they are providing!

Our trip concluded with our signature day of big game fishing, where Steven Ritchie and Scott Mullins each landed their first blue!  As we celebrated the accomplishments of the week over dinner at the beautiful Cap Cana Resort, we all agreed that our time here was very well spent and that we would definitely be back next year!