God’s love, transforming deepest need into thriving joy
the good
Comprehensive care for children in Dominican Bateyes
Together, we can share the mercy and hope of Christ with vulnerable children and their families in Dominican bateyes, and in our 178 communities like these around the world. By giving to The Good Samaritan campaign, you will empower us to continue making a profound difference in the lives of thousands of impoverished children, families and communities.
With Cross International, you can reach children and families in communities like these with life-changing, comprehensive care. We are so grateful for your heart to bless those in desperate need!
Bring critical care and life-changing support to vulnerable children and their families
The Good Samaritan
Empowering Our Thriving Kids Initiative
Life in the Bateyes
In 2024, an estimated 500,000 people, or 7% of the population of the Dominican Republic, live in more than 400 bateyes.* A batey (bah-tay) is a settlement around a sugar mill – crude, company-owned barracks home to sugarcane cutters and their families, who are primarily Haitian immigrants.
Impoverished and vulnerable, Dominican bateyes are hidden communities on the outskirts of society, cut off from urban areas by miles of sugarcane fields as far as the eye can see.
Children in the bateyes are often food insecure. If their families are forced to move from field to field looking for work, their schooling can be disrupted. It is also common for two to three families to share one small house. For children, there is a lack of infrastructure to thrive – which is why the ministry of Cross International is so important. In the bateyes, schools and medical facilities are operated almost entirely by ministries and humanitarian organizations.
Cross International believes for children to fully and sustainably thrive they need stable families, strong communities and active faith lives. To this end, we help equip children in 12 countries, like those living in Dominican bateyes, with the relief and care they need to grow healthy and strong. Our Thriving Kids Initiative is how we move vulnerable children, families and communities around the world from deepest need to thriving joy – which we define by opportunity, abundance and hope. When children are valued and provided for, and when families are empowered, then communities can begin to transform.
In the bateyes, we have pursued this vital work for nearly a decade – and together we are making a powerful impact!
Join us as we continue to bring life-changing, comprehensive care to children through The Good Samaritan campaign, as part of our Thriving Kids Initiative.
Inspired by the parable, our efforts start with healing wounds, providing essential medicines, medical care and healthcare support to thousands of children, their families, and their communities in the Dominican Republic. We continue to offer hundreds of children in two bateyes comprehensive care through nutrition assistance and education from Christian teachers, laying the foundation for a flourishing future.
Medical Care
Nutrition
Education
Give generously
Together, we can build a world where vulnerable children, families and their communities can thrive!
- $21,000 helps make a significant impact for impoverished children and their families
- $11,250 helps provide healing to children and their communities
- $6,700 helps provide hope for those in critical need
- $4,200 helps make a substantial difference so children can begin to thrive
Or whatever amount God places on your heart
“…and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds…"
— Luke 10: 33b-34a
If you have any questions about how to give, need to make any changes to your account, or need any kind of assistance with your gift, please call us at 1-800-391-8545 (M-F 8am – 5pm, EST) or email us.
Your generous gift will be used to support the Cross International project(s) indicated through June 30, 2025, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the initiative, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry and may be used in the following fiscal year.