Testimonial from Reid Gooch

There is no substitute for getting on the plane. If you want to learn about our world and the world’s people you must go there – leave everything that is familiar, comfortable, and secure, settle down in a foreign land and jolt your reality, force yourself to soak in another place and adapt to it. Volunteering for the DREAM Project will give you this opportunity.

And when you’re doing that, when you’re walking through impoverished neighborhoods, experiencing the world’s average standard of living, you may become angry and frustrated and motivated to contribute your skill sets in order to help enrich the lives of those less fortunate than yourself and in some meaningful way positively influence their future. Volunteering for the DREAM Project will give you this opportunity also.

Looking back on my eleven months in the Dominican Republic, it is impossible to fully convey the enormity of the experience and how it impacted who I am now. As a DREAM Volunteer, I was placed in an incredibly hectic and unruly environment and challenged to make it better. In order to succeed I was forced to alter myself, become more conscious of how I interacted with people, be they students, teachers, parents, Dominicans, Haitians, or tourists. I had to overcome my own stereotypes and preconceived beliefs about foreign cultures while encouraging others to do the same. I learned to communicate trust, friendship, confidence, discipline, compassion, and comedy despite not always knowing the proper vocabulary. I witnessed first hand how a relatively small group of dedicated people has the potential to create real change in a community.

I returned to the United States with a renewed excitement about my life. The perspective I gained while working for the DREAM Project has deeply affected my future plans, directing me towards a lifetime involving myself with non-profit work. I recently began medical school, which will provide me with a universal skill set that can one day help me to help others who suffer in every part of the world, including the Dominican Republic. I will use it. The DREAM Project has shown me where to begin.

I often share my experience with people and they are jealous, wistfully remarking how they “would have loved to have done something like that”. They are right; they would have loved it. It is a life-changing experience. But it will not happen by itself. First you need to get on the plane.

–Reid Gooch

DREAM Volunteer 05-06
Puerto Cabarete, Cabarete