Welcome to the Foundation For Peace

Building Foundations. Sharing Hope. Working for Peace.

The Foundation for Peace reaches out to thousands of people in a personal way to strengthen communities and churches and to help individuals through the provision of healthcare and education with our partners in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya.

Through these efforts materially-poor families are able to send their children to school, obtain health care, eat, drink clean water, and build a better life for themselves.

You can help strengthen our continuing fight against poverty and our efforts to respond to desperate needs by joining a mission trip and/or making a donation today to support these critical education and healthcare initiatives.

News, Needs and Upcoming Events

The Foundation for Peace celebrates their 10th Anniversary!

You can learn more and see photos of the event on our Facebook page or watch our special 10th Anniversary Retrospective video by clicking here.

It was an incredible evening with many testimonies of how working with and through the FFP has changed lives. We also had inspirational presentations by Kristin Hamner, FFP National Director in the Domincian Republic and Pastor Michel Valentin, FFP National Director in Haiti. Ken Culver provided the overview of the Kenya ministry.

Dates for 2013 mission trips have been posted on this site.

Please review the dates and submit a mission trip application by clicking here if you are affiliated with the organization or have communicated with the group leader(s) of the trip. Otherwise, please email Ken Culver at ken@foundationforpeace.org. with the trip(s) you are interested in and he will let you know if there is space available. A few more trips to Haiti and the Dominican Republic will be added over the next several months, so check back if you do not find one that fits your schedule! You can also download an information sheet with details about our mission trips by clicking here.

Online Mission Trip Application

Click here or on the photo to join a mission trip!

You will need your passport, medical insurance information and your physicians contact information to complete the on-line application. Once your application is received, you will receive an email with contact information for the mission team leader and additional instructions for trip preparation.

Online Student Sponsorship Application

Click here or on the photo to sponsor students!

There are more than 200 children waiting for an education sponsor and more than 20 young adults waiting to attend high school or college. The cost is only $175 per year for elementary students and $360 per year for high school and college students in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Please sign-up to provide an education to a child without today!

The Foundation for Peace is building foundations, sharing hope and working for peace at home and abroad....

These foundations not only support schools, medical clinics, water purification facilities, and churches, but are also a key part of the long-term friendships formed between the North American volunteers and the Dominican, Haitian and Kenyan people.

Our working together hand in hand on construction projects, providing medical care, education, clean water, food, and clothing for the local community has brought hope, community improvements and promoted understanding across cultures.

Our world is in desperate need of peace. While working with government, church, business and non-governmental entities at home and abroad, we have stood for all people, especially those who have been ignored by society. Donating resources and time to work hand in hand is bringing attention to the needs and promoting tangible improvements in marginalized communities.

Thank you to all who have contributed to the work of the FFP in person, via donations and through prayer. Your efforts have been a blessing to thousands! You can read about these endeavors on this website. We hope that you will consider joining us on a mission trip, not only to provide hope and improve the lives of those in need, but to grow personally in love, faith and understanding.

Our Mission

The FOUNDATION FOR PEACE is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization dedicated to education in the United States and to working hand in hand with people in materially impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya to provide educational support, healthcare access, economic opportunity and hope. We work together as long-term partners in solidarity to enable personal success and community achievement. We believe this will result in sustainable and successful initiatives that relieve the effects of poverty, encourage personal growth, and overcome injustice. Founders of the Foundation for Peace began serving together for more than 20 years. The international aspect of the FFP's work is an outgrowth of the ministry initiated by Drs. Alberto and Rosalina Martinez in the Dominican Republic more than 40 years ago.

The FFP works in partnership with local community groups, government agencies and religious organizations on a variety of projects in the United States and abroad. In the USA we are focusing on education of students and community groups about those who live in poverty and establishing opportunities to work for peace and provide hope. For those who travel abroad, we are pursuing the sustainable provision of education, clean water, health care, and economic opportunities for those in some of the poorest areas in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya. The photo to the left is a typical street in the area where we are working in the Mathare Slum, Nairobi, Kenya.

Why Choose to Participate With Us?

Because we allow you to personally share your gifts and talents, while serving hand in hand in our unique service model described below-

In the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya, we work hand in hand with the local church and community on construction, education and healthcare projects allowing for the direct delivery of services and donations to those in need. There are no "middle men" who could impede or complicate the delivery of these essential programs and services.
The FFP involves both church-based and non-religious organizations in its education, healthcare, mission trips, ministry partnerships, and economic development activities. We believe this open approach more effectively reaches the broader community and best utilizes the strengths of each partner for maximum benefit for the community.
Our mission trip work groups are open to all ages (typically ranging from 5 to 75 years of age) and diverse faiths, with families constituting about one-third of the group members. This fosters the engagement of people of all ages in the community.
The first emphasis of each work group is the development of friendships with the local community regardless of race, socioeconomic status or religion, because through these relationships lives are changed for the better which promotes peace and social justice.
The schools, medical clinics and churches are built in partnership with the local community at their request. All are operated by the Dominicans, Haitians or Kenyans in an effort to promote sustainability and opportunities for people in the local community.
Services sponsored by the Foundation for Peace are open to all persons regardless of socioeconomic status, religious beliefs or political preference.
In the United States, we conduct seminars, create pen pal programs, student/teacher programs and other opportunities for students and adults in the US and abroad to communicate and learn from one another. The photo of the Mathare slum above can be intimidating, cause pity or create false negative impressions of the people who live there. However, the people of Mathare with whom we work are full of life and striving daily to create a better life for themselves and their family. Our US-based programs are designed to create a healthy, informed attitude that translates into action to help our fellow brothers and sisters in some of the poorest countries of the world.

2011 projects in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya:

More than 850 volunteers worked in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya

During 2011, the following were accomplished in Kenya:

3 teams (32 people) continued working hand in hand with our Kenyan partners on the construction at the ByGrace orphanage. The 3rd floor was nearly completed & now >100 children, including the 35 orphans living in residence, are being educated there.
The teams also accomplished:
Education programs for 800 children
Medical care & food for 800 people in the Mathare slum
Visitation and care for people with HIV/AIDS in Nairobi slums
Lots of relationship building with singing and dancing!

During 2011, the following were accomplished in Haiti:

We continued working with people in Ganthier and Fond Parisien, including those displaced by the earthquake. More than 200 people working hand in hand in Haiti last year:
Opened a language school in temporary quarters for 150 students to learn English and Spanish
Provided cholera prevention education and distributed Aquapure throughout the province
Re-constructed an aqueduct that provides the water for all of the community’s farming income in Kwa Kok
Initiated the building of a large education complex that will provide vocational and linguistic education to 1,000 students enabling them to become self-sufficient!

During 2011, the following were accomplished in the Dominican Republic:

Hope to tens of thousands of people, by strengthening existing relationships and building new ones
Continued or new construction of: Schools-5, Churches-5, Water projects-3
Medical care for more than 20,000 people
Hundreds of nurses provided health education to thousands in remote communities
Education programs for thousands of children
Over 50 tons of supplies shipped for schools, medical clinics and other projects.

Despite these important efforts and contributions, the work is not complete; many still have a daily struggle in severe poverty. This inequity needs to change now!

2011 projects in the United States:

Held 3 conferences in the US focused on ways people can get involved in the US and abroad to provide education, healthcare and poverty relief to those in need in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya
Provided education programs for US schools regarding the life of children living in poverty in the Dominican Republic
Established a class-to-class education program, allowing communication between students in the US and the Dominican Republic
Marketing of handmade items produced by women in Yaguate (Creaciones Yaguate) and Tumaini beads (Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya)
Partnered with Blairstown Rotary Club to provide delivery for their Dictionaries for Students Program that included letter writing between the students in all 3 countries.
Provided opportunities for US students to serve the global community by collecting donated items and loading shipping containers destined for the needy abroad resulting in over 100,000 lbs of medicines, educational supplies, food, clothing and other items being shipped to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Kenya.
Provided opportunities for US teachers to offer professional development to Dominican and Kenyan colleagues

We believe that working together as long-term partners in solidarity will result in sustainable and successful initiatives that provide education, healthcare, relieve the effects of poverty, encourage personal growth, and overcome injustice.

— Ken Culver, a co-founder