Filling the bus for Dominican school

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11.

Students recite that Bible verse every morning at Batey Central school in a poor section of southwest Dominican Republic. And it’s hope for a better future that New Covenant Presbyterian Church is trying to provide with its latest mission to fill a bus with school supplies to be sent to the Dominican students.

“What’s being provided through this ministry is physical sustenance, but it also opens the door for these kids to be educated and discipled,” said Shawn Rineholt, New Covenant’s worship leader and organizer of the Fill the Bus initiative. “It really does change their future.”

Rineholt knows firsthand how much a program such as this can help the students. He lived in the Dominican Republic for five years as a full-time missionary, moving there in 2010 just before the catastrophic earthquake in neighboring Haiti, just 40 miles west.

The devastation left by the earthquake forced many Haitians to flee to the Dominican Republic, with many settling in the Barahona area where the Batey Central school is located. Many of those now-illegal residents had children, and unlike the United States, the children are also considered stateless.

Batey Central takes in those children, and provides them with a Christian education and a hot meal.

The school was started by Pastor Wilkyns Batista in 2013. Nearly 200 students attended the school in 2020, with enrollment expected to rise for the upcoming school year.

Batista was working as a translator when he met Rineholt in 2006. The two have worked together on missions since 2010.

New Covenant Senior Pastor Robert Dekker said Rineholt’s passion for helping the Dominican school was contagious. He said the church’s 10-person mission committee jumped right on board to help, and the congregation responded with incredible kindness, contributing more than 40 boxes of supplies and monetary donations.

Batista visited New Covenant earlier this month, sharing his story with the congregation at the Aug. 15 service.

“It’s ultimately not just about physical life, but also for eternal life,” Dekker said. “The gospel of Christ is really what Wilkyns’ heartbeat is.”

The school currently serves students from kindergarten through sixth grade. The school’s strong reputation has resulted in a high success rate of getting students accepted into the area’s high schools.

Donations being sought include book bags, non-electric pencil sharpeners, No. 2 pencils with quality erasers, crayons, composition notebooks, glue sticks and glue, scissors, and dry-erase markers and erasers. Other items sought include multivitamins, dress shoes for church and school, hand sanitizer, and plastic tubs for packing items. The church is also accepting monetary donations to purchase items such as desks and shelves. For those who wish to donate, checks may be made payable to New Covenant Church.

The Dominican school is also receiving the yellow school bus as part of the delivery. The need for the bus was the impetus for the entire initiative.

“[Wilkyns] made mention in a Facebook post of his need for a truck, van and a big yellow school bus,” Rineholt said. “The first thing I thought was, ‘We can get him a school bus.’ We got the word out and were provided a school bus; then this church had the vision to fill that bus.”

DEstorage.com made a generous donation toward the purchase of the bus. 

The bus then underwent repairs at International of Delmarva, which wrote off about 50 percent of the work it did.

The bus is an important addition to the school, Rineholt said, as it will improve efficiency for the changeover from morning to afternoon sessions. It will also provide students with the opportunity to take field trips, and be available for use by the church.

Rineholt said he understands some members of the community may be hesitant about donating to a Dominican school when local schools and children are also in need.

“The Bible says to go into all the world and make disciples,” he said. “It also says to go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. This is one of our ‘uttermost parts of the earth’ mission opportunities. This is yet another opportunity to be part of a bigger plan of something else that’s going on. When you see these kids, it’s undeniable that there’s no difference in these children than our own. I can tell you firsthand, it changes their life.”

The New Covenant congregation has filled about a third of the bus so far. Members are now asking the community to help fill the rest.

To learn more about the mission or to donate, call Rineholt at 302-470-0321. A list of needed supplies can be found at ncpchurch.com. There are also opportunities to sponsor a student at the school for $30 per month. To learn more, go to sponsorchildrenofhope.com/children.