The James Experience

The Samartan Foundation was founded by Elio Madonnia, a retired Toronto businessman, visiting the Dominican Republic. What he witness and saw moved within him a compassion to make a difference in the lives of the poor and impoverished.

"I was strolling," he remembers, "along the streets of a small town called Sosua, near Puerto Plata, when I was struck by the extreme poverty of the houses in the area. Those weren't even houses, they were little more than shelters, roughly built, with no water, no lighting, with earthen floors. It was squalid. I felt the Lord telling me: 'What will you do for these people?' It was a lightning bolt. I answered: 'My Lord, I'll give them a house.'"

Now, almost twenty years later, more than 650 families have enjoyed a fresh start with a new home, over 7 villages built and others are under construction, providing not just houses but communities where people can live, worship, learn and provide.