LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic - Shoe donations from the Haverford College community enabled junior Emma Bracker to brighten some lives in the Dominican Republic on a service trip over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bracker, a member of the women's lacrosse team, has taken part in the service opportunity provided by her high school, the Watkinson School (Conn.), for the past four years. The traveling party brings medical clinics, food and other donations to Haitian sugar cane cutters and their families living in the Dominican Republic. The Watkinson School works with the Good Samaritan Hospital in the city of La Romana to bring Dominican and American doctors out to the company towns where Haitian workers live, otherwise known as bateys.

Bracker and her family joined the group at large doing medical clinics and construction on the bateys during the week-long volunteer effort. The locals are commonly plagued by parasetic illnesses that enter through the feet as well as foot injuries from walking around barefoot. Bracker and her companions look to alleviate this problem by distributing the donated shoes at the conclusion of each medical clinic where 150-200 patients are seen a day.

Bracker extended her service project to the Haverford community this year and Haverford responded with more than 100 pairs of shoes.

"The trip makes me realize how easily we can improve someone's life by giving them an item as simple as a pair of shoes," reflected Bracker. "We take things like clean water, accessible medical care and adequate clothing for granted, but with the help of the Haverford community, our group was able to help provide these basic necessities for the people in the bateys."