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So Much More Than Clothes
Christian Academy of Indiana senior Julia Lostutter shares why she’s seeking
the community’s assistance and how you can help
BY JULIA LOSTUTTER | COURTESY PHOTOS
Last year, I had the opportunity of going to the
Dominican Republic on a school mission trip with
Score International. Going into the villages and
orphanages and seeing the devastation of poverty
truly broke my heart.
One thing I noticed most of all was the hardships
that a significant number of women and young girls
face there. Many young girls are seen only as being
good for having children and were growing up with
no other life skills, forcing them into prostitution
as a means to make money.
This terrible reality has stuck with me and filled
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my thoughts since June of last year. I am currently
planning my return trip to the Dominican this
summer, and I really wanted to think of a way to
bless these young girls and women who had tugged
at my heart so many months ago.
Recently, my boss, Olivia Rice, the owner of
Styleheir, a new women’s clothing boutique located
in Floyds Knobs, was looking for a place to donate
some of her own children’s clothes. She wanted to
give them to other little ones who were in real need.
As we talked, my thoughts went immediately to the
girls in the Dominican Republic and, specifically,
girls in an orphanage that I had visited. Many
orphanages for girls go underfunded because the
government turns its resources elsewhere, thus
creating a need for things as simple as clothing.
The girl’s orphanage that we had visited, Pasitos
de Jesus, is located in Boca Chica and was started by
a woman named Dalma Florian. It houses girls with
disabilities and girls taken from homes of abuse.
It started with just one girl but quickly included
dozens, ages one to 18. Remembering the impact
that Pasitos de Jesus orphanage had on the girls’
lives made me want to bless them even more and
ensure that a basic need of theirs was met.