A special message from Mercy Workshop founder, Allison Hale.
Mercy Workshop began as an outreach ministry to the women exploited in the sex trade on the streets of San Pedro and the surrounding tourist areas. Our outreach team goes out weekly into the streets to these vulnerable women and offers first the love of Christ.
We share His love in tangible ways by offering a job, counseling, and education.
Each woman has several people from our ministry and staff pouring into their lives and walking with them into recovery. They are paired with a case manager, a teacher, a big sister, and a counselor. We rejoice in each step of progress they take. We celebrate the little graduations, the finished bible study books, and the finished jewelry piece!
OUR FOUNDER'S STORY
Allison Hale arrived in the Dominican Republic for the first time when she was 13 years old. Her parents, Doug and Paula Hodges, were missionaries to the city of La Romana. As she matured, a love for this country also grew. She returned every summer even throughout college to work and serve in the different cities of the DR.
In 2009, the women from their church began sharing with Allison the burden of what they were seeing in their town of San Pedro and the surrounding tourist areas. Women in vulnerable situations were in the streets being exploited for sex. After praying for several months, they began to seek out answers to the questions of what was driving the vulnerabilities.
And in 2010, Allison founded the ministry of Mercy Workshop.
