By Kim Libby

Seventeen members of the Deerfield community recently returned to the U.S. following the extraordinary completion of a building project in the Dominican Republic with a non-profit organization called Cambiando Vidas. The Deerfield Team consisted of co-leaders Kim Libby (English Department) and Sheryl Cabral (Math Department), a group of eleven students representing all four classes, and Beth Bishop (College Advising Office) and her family.

Departing from Deerfield right after winter exams in the earliest hour of Saturday, March 7, the team met the director and visionary of Cambiando Vidas, Jose Abreu, in Santo Domingo and traveled to their base in San Juan. For the next six days, everyone drove back and forth to a building site in rural Las Chargas, where they helped local masons and community volunteers construct a four-room, cement home for Polin and Lody Arnaud and their three-year-old son, Leury.

Representing Cambiando Vidas’ first team of high school students, the Deerfield students tied the organization’s record when they completed the home in just four days! On the fifth day, the team painted the Arnauds' new home, and by the sixth and final day, they had begun digging and filling the foundation for a home scheduled to be built next week by a team from Elon University. An extraordinary effort by all participants!

On March 30 and 31, Jose Abreu will visit the Deerfield campus for the second time this year to speak to our community about the work of Cambiando Vidas and the success of Deerfield’s service trip.