Volunteering to help build a school in an impoverished area of the Dominican Republic changed the life of David Bartz of Holts Summit.
"After this uplifting experience," Bartz says, "I'm definitely not the same person. It was such a joy to see the happiness of youngsters and others in this area that has so little. We were welcomed into homes. Even if they had nothing to eat but a sugar cane, they willingly gave it to us."
Bartz works as a church consultant for Lifetouch Church Directors and Portraits of Holts Summit. The national firm specializes in taking group and individual photos at schools and churches around the nation. Bartz works for the church division of the photo firm.
Lifetouch, Inc. teamed up with World Servants, a non-denominational faith-based mission foundation, and organized a group of 40 volunteers from around the nation to travel to Constanza, Dominican Republic. While there they built another floor on a middle school the same organization constructed last year.
The 40-member group included about 10 representatives of Lifetouch, about 10 from World Servants Foundation, and the rest were volunteer school principals and administrators from around the nation.
Bartz and a volunteer from Bolivar were the only Missourians on the trip.