Dustin's Dream will be celebrating Dustin Chamberlain's sixth heavenly birthday with a chili supper and baked goods auction at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16.
Money raised at the event, to be held at Community Christian Fellowship, will go toward building medical clinics in third world countries, funding medical mission trips and providing medical scholarships for students in Siloam Springs. A special focus this year will be raising money to help cover the cost of adding a laboratory to Heart of Love Clinic in Guatemala City, and to double the amount of support that Dustin's Dream gives the clinic for monthly operating expenses, according to Deondra Chamberlain, Dustin's mother.
The fundraiser will feature a presentation by Dr. Layla Chanquin, director of Heart of Love Clinic in Guatemala, and her husband Pastor Saul Perez, as well as a silent auction, live dessert auction, and a balloon release celebrating Dustin's life.
Dustin dreamed of becoming a doctor and serving as a missionary. In 2011, he was tragically killed during a home invasion while he was home from Baylor University on Christmas break.
Over the past six years, Dustin's Dream has raised money to found the Heart of Love Clinic in Guatemala City. The clinic is located in the largest garbage dump in the world and serves the people who struggle to survive there. The first floor of the clinic was completed in 2014 and the third floor was completed earlier this year.
The addition of the third floor, which includes rooms for pediatric development and speech therapy, brings the size of the clinic to more than 7,000 square feet. Overall, the clinic serves more than 800 people each month and provides general medical care, as well as physical therapy, pediatric therapy and dental services.
Dustin's Dream brought a team of people on a medical mission trip to Guatemala earlier this year. They served at both the Heart of Love Clinic and at a clinic in the rural community of Campur, Guatemala.
Life of Hope Ministry, based in Joplin, Mo., partner's with Dustin's Dream to provide money for monthly operating expenses and schedules mission trips to the clinic throughout the year. Dustin's Dream is in need of more supporters who pledge to make monthly donations in order to meet their goal of doubling the monthly support they give the Heart of Love Clinic, Deondra said.
Dustin's Dream also has a goal of becoming more involved in the local community. The organization recently donated shoes and coats to Bright Futures Siloam Springs for children in need in the Siloam Springs School District.
"People have been so supportive of the foundation and our family, and we know there are needs here too, just like there are in other countries," Deondra said. "We feel that it's important to try to fulfill those needs too and try to give back to the community because they've been very, very supportive of us."
The Dustin Chamberlain Memorial Mission Trip fund has also been set up to support medical mission trips for students at Baylor University. Nursing students from John Brown University are also planning a medical mission trip to the clinic in June.
Don and Deondra Chamberlain are now open to speaking engagements about their experience of losing a child and finding healing from their grief.
More information about Dustin's Dream is available at www.dustinsdream.net.
General News on 12/10/2017