Edwin Ortiz Capstone

For my capstone, I decided to raise money and awareness of poverty in the Dominican Republic by holding a sneaker drive and customizing sneakers to raise money to donate to a charity designated to helping those in need in the smaller areas of the Dominican Republic. The reason I decided on this capstone is when I was 12 years old my mother took my brother and me to the D.R. for the summer. One of the days we were there we visited the small town where my grandma is from, they called it “El Campo” which translated to English means “The Farm”. It was a rural area where everyone survived off of their crops and animals. When we got there we said hello to my family who were all barefoot (by choice) and as we sat on the porch some kids ran up to the house, my aunt told them to show us where they lived. When we followed the kids they brought us to a small shack with dirt floors and only two rooms. I was able to raise over $300 to donate to charity before COVID-19 and am planning to hold my sneaker drive during the summer.