Principal to volunteer in Dominican

Columbia Falls Junior High School principal Dave Wick will head to the Dominican Republican later this month with educators from across the U.S. to work on finishing a school in the mountains there.

The trip is financed through Lifetouch Memory Mission, a national provider of school and family photography. Wick said he was chosen through his involvement with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, where he sits on the board.

About 50 other educators along with Lifetouch employees will finish the second floor of the vocational school, Wick said. The group will be in the Caribbean island country from Jan. 26 to Feb. 3.

Volunteers will take funds with them to buy supplies and other goods for locals and to support the local economy, Wick said. In the past, volunteers have even left their suitcases behind.

“One person I talked to left everything behind but the clothes on his back,” Wick said.

Since its inception in 2000, Lifetouch Memory Mission has supported volunteers to rebuild a village in war-ravaged Kosovo, repair homes in Appalachia, establish a children’s center in Jamaica and construct a bridge for the Navajo in Arizona.

Volunteers have built 12 schools across Haiti and the Dominican Republic and provided on-site assistance to victims of natural disasters throughout the U.S., including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, floods in the Dakotas, fires in California and tornadoes across the Midwest.