By Kaitlyn Nuebel

Between widespread poverty, water shortages, and soil erosion, multiple barriers stand between the country’s citizens and a better future in the Dominican Republic. Children and adolescents who grow up in dysfunctional and impoverished families face even worse odds of overcoming this adversity.

Fortunately, a portion of these children and adolescents have been able to find refuge at Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio, a residential education center that trains students in the trades. However, even in this nurturing environment of growth and friendship, residents are not immune to the country’s lack of resources. It’s not uncommon, for instance, for students at Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio to suffer from foodborne illnesses spread through unsanitary practices resorted to during supply shortages.

Brothers’ Brother Foundation helped the school prevent breakouts of foodborne illnesses by providing the school’s food service workers with latex gloves. Boxes of these gloves may not seem like a school staple, but without them, unexpected illness – and the resulting missed days of school – become yet another barrier standing in the way of students’ emotional and intellectual growth.

“We were blessed to receive the food service gloves and be able to provide them to this wonderful institution,” Kellee Brown, an in-country partner representative of BBF partner Food For The Poor. “These are always needed and were immediately put to use.”

A staff member at Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio, a school in the Dominican Republic, wears food service gloves sent by Brother’s Brother Foundation to prevent students from contracting foodborne illnesses.