Alexander Colacchio, Accounting Administrator at Adcco, recently returned from a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, helping the country’s impoverished villages.
In the fall, Colacchio became involved in the organization World Mission Partners which facilitates teams of dentists, doctors, and other volunteers to serve communities in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
After fundraising $2,000 to attend the trip, Colacchio and his girlfriend Katie Wiktorski flew to the Dominican Republic for a week of volunteering. During his time there, Colacchio worked alongside other volunteers and locals to build a playground for one of the area’s small villages.
“They have nothing there. They live in these small group villages, called bateys, and work in the sugar cane fields,” said Colacchio when talking about the community where the volunteers worked.
With tough hand labor and limited power tools, Colacchio found the process of building the playground from the ground up to be a powerful experience. He also highlighted that seeing the local kids reap the benefits of the volunteers’ work with a safe place to play was one of the most rewarding parts of his time there.
Shortly before the trip, Colacchio’s father and Adcco founder, Anthony Colacchio, passed away from cancer. While leaving his family’s side shortly after his father’s death was a challenge, he knew the trip was an opportunity to do valuable volunteer work, something that his father was strongly involved in throughout his life.
For over a decade Anthony Colacchio worked with Paralympic curlers and served as an assistant coach to the USA Curling Paralympic Team, among the many other organizations that he gave back to.
“My dad’s lesson was always about what can we do to help the less fortunate. This trip really helped to cement the memory of my dad’s core values for me,” said Colacchio.
Those same values are built into the culture of Adcco, which Colacchio noted is always looking for new ways to support local charities. Headquartered in Lynn, Adcco stays involved in the community by contributing to organizations including the Lynn Community Health Center, Lynn Arts, Lynn Woods Reservation, and many more.
Colacchio looks forward to volunteering on another mission trip in the near future, adding, “the world needs more help now than ever.”