Port Clinton to host Dominican Republic visitors

PORT CLINTON — Port Clinton will welcome special visitors from the Dominican Republic in the next couple of weeks. From Sept. 10-14, Port Clinton and Immaculate Conception School will host several visitors from Jamao al Norte. The cities recently cultivated a sister-city relationship with help from former Port Clinton resident and current Dominican Republic citizen Lindsey Kaufman. She started "Strength of the Journey," a nonprofit in Jamao al Norte, a mountain town of almost 43,000 residents in the northeast portion of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island. In December, Port Clinton city council supported establishing the "sister city" relationship with the Dominican Republic city.The visitors, who range from government officials, teachers, a priest and others, will tour Immaculate Conception School, Port Clinton middle and high schools, Magruder Hospital, the Ottawa County courthouse, downtown businesses and travel to Put-in-Bay, said Mary Krejci, a project representative. The visitors will stay with host families in Port Clinton."The basic idea is for them to learn how to promote their community and learn how to improve services in their community," Krejci said.The connection between Immaculate Conception Church and its Caribbean sister church is special. On the last Sunday of every month, ICS parishioners say a prayer for the sister church. "They've been saying that same prayer too on the last Sunday," ICS spokesperson Jen Roberts said. "It's a cool thing that's uniting us together." The visit will definitely be meaningful for students and the school. "(The visit) makes the kids in our school know that there are kids like them learning and growing in their faith," Roberts said. "We want our kids to know that even though the world is big, it can be small. This visit is good for our parish and school."During the visit, a mass will be celebrated 5 p.m. Sept. 12 at Immaculate Conception Parish, 414 Madison St. Afterward, a potluck supper will occur by reservation only.Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com, follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood and on Facebook.com/CaitliNearhoodImmaculate Conception students pick out books to read for the Read Quest program on Friday, March 3, 2017. Immaculate Conception School