Solid Rock International, an organization that runs medical, educational and outreach missions in the Dominican Republic, was officially founded in 1992 but has roots that go back 50 years before that.
In the 1940s, a group called the Evangelical Mennonite Church Conference made a commitment to support 40 years of missions work in the Dominican Republic. At the end of that time, one of the group’s missionaries decided to stay on the island and set up a medical clinic in San Juan de la Maguana, the capital of the San Juan province. More than 51 percent of children in this region of the country were malnourished at that time.
In the 1990s, Solid Rock International was created to support that mission and to provide resources to the community. Solid Rock now also operates a satellite clinic and several Christian schools that are educating more than 2,500 children.
In addition to these permanent endeavors, Solid Rock facilitates short-term mission trips for about 60 groups a year. Most groups come for a week and stay at a guesthouse at the organization’s headquarters in San Juan de la Maguana.
Many of the groups consist of teams of surgeons, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who spend a week on-site performing operations, seeing patients and delivering medicines. These experts work alongside 25 Dominican locals at the clinic.
Opportunities exist for mission-minded people of every profession and age range. Solid Rock hosts numerous programs that include vacation Bible schools, in which participants interact with 100 to 150 children each day and sports camps, which also offer a lot of face time with children in the community. Adult groups can take part in construction projects and other outreach missions. Teams traveling with Solid Rock International can work in schools, medical clinics and building projects in the Dominican Republic.
For more information contact Solid Rock International at 419.956.4077 or www.solidrockinternational.org
