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As the sun melted into the beautiful blue Caribbean Sea and lit up the sky in a majestic orange, the ladies of Casa de Campo raised their glasses of eggnog and toasted to the end of a successful year, and to a very merry Christmas!
The occasion was of course the Christmas Café de la Leche, hosted every year by Xiomara Menéndez who founded the Hogar del Niño nearly 40 years ago. With eggnog a plenty, as well as cider and sangria, and a magnificent buffet of Christmas treats, the magical Christmas Café de la Leche did not disappoint, and nor did the generosity of the attendees whose donations of candies will be given out at the Hogar del Niño’s Christmas party this week.
And while the merry Casa de Campo community enjoyed the last Café de la Leche of 2014, we took a moment to reflect upon the foundation’s numerous achievements of the year.
You see not only did 2014 mark the year in which Xiomara Menéndez was honored as the “adopted daughter of La Romana”, in recognition of her dedication and commitment to education in La Romana, but this year the Hogar del Niño took one big leap towards improved education for children all across the Dominican Republic.
For example, in July, Xiomara Menéndez joined by her daughter Xiomara Matos broke ground on what is being labelled the “Hogar del Niño 2″. This “Estancia de Infantiles”, a project funded by the government’s Social Security program, will be ran by the Hogar del Niño and will care for an addition 1500 children from zero to 5 years old. And that’s just the beginning of much more to come.
Merry Christmas! And congratulations to the Hogar del Niño!
The following collection of images were taken by Alejandro Heredia at the Chrismas Café de la Leche hosted by Xiomara Menéndez at her Casa de Campo villa in Bahía Minitas.
