Process | 03.03.2025 – The Least of These Ministries

According to Oxford, the definition of ‘process’ is “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.“ I’ve been in Barahona, Dominican Republic for two months and I’ve been involved in many processes setting up my home and working in the Bateys.

On my Facebook page, ‘Jacquelyn Stranathan,’ you can read about and see some pictures of some of these processes: getting appliances and furniture, laundry, making café, signing contract for electricity, signing up for an account to receive mail, and getting internet installed. Each one is a part of settling in a new place and in my case a new country.

The process I want to share with you in this entry is how we receive one type of food we distribute. Roughly half of the food (rice, beans, and eggs) that we distribute is purchased in-country from local suppliers. The remainder of the food, called Manna Packs, is provided by Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), a nonprofit organization empowering volunteers to pack meals for those in need in nearly 70 countries, hungry for food and the Word.

The beginning of this process is packing the packs. After an FMSC packing event, the boxes are loaded onto pallets and then into a shipping container. The container is locked up tight and a truck brings it to be shipped to the country in need. In our case Dominican Republic. Once it arrives at the port, usually near Santo Domingo, the container is loaded onto a truck, still locked, and makes its way to Barahona.

*Carefully raising the wires to clear the truck!*

Once in Barahona the driver calls Ricardo and we get ready to receive it. The first obstacle is to navigate the low-hanging wires near the entrance of the Ministry Hub. When it arrives the container is unlocked and the unloading begins. The container is unloaded using a tried and true method developed by Wilton and Ricardo using chains, heavy duty packing straps, and the ever so important forklift.

*The forklift is used to pull the pallets to the edge, where the forklift can then lift them from the container.*

There is currently only one array of pallet racks for food storage in the warehouse. When the Ministry Hub construction project is completed, a second array will be added, giving us the capacity for a full container of Manna Packs along with other items requiring storage.

Once the container is completely unloaded into the warehouse area of the Ministry Hub, the process of taking the pallets to the bateys begins. The vital part of our Ministry. Matthew 25:40— “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the Least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Come and view the process for yourself. Our next team is coming April 21 to 26. I’d love to see you.

Blessings,

Jacki