In 2013 Caitlin graduated with her bachelors from IONA College in New Rochelle, New York.  While she was in college, she was very active in the office of Mission and Ministry, a college community that pushed to students to live a life of service and commitment to global impact.  This began to fuel her desire to create change, it was through this that Caitlin came to understand and identify her passion and love for helping others.  She attended her first Mission Trip in 2010 to AGAPE Christian living Community in M.A, where she spent time learning about global warming, eco-friendly living, and farm to table nutrition programs. In 2012 she traveled to Ecuador to serve for  12 days in very rural living communities, spending time with children, churches, local farms, and handymen.  Herself half Puerto Rican, Bardsley started to establish a strong connection to the Latino community.  With a new desire to help not only her own but all that she came into contact with, Caitlin studied film in the pursuit to become a director of documentaries that highlight on the stories of people in South America and the Caribbean islands.

 

In the summer of 2013, she had the life-changing opportunity to serve in the Dominican Republic alongside Foundation Rescate Latinos, a not-for-profit established in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic.  Foundation Rescate Latinos works to provide medical and spiritual healing to both the Haitian and Dominican Community.

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Through the daily assignments, Caitlin saw, first-hand, how poverty affected this beautiful island, and more so how it was right in front of the eyes of the many children she interacted with, Caitlin became moved and desperate to help, with the understanding that most of those she came into contact with had bleak opportunities.  Helping, loving, teaching and befriending the children of the Dominican Republic became a central passion for her. 

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After returning home Caitlin started talking to her friends in her hometown as well as local Universities about what she saw and vision to create a school or help center for children in the Dominican Republic. Throughout this time, she also became increasingly aware of the needs of children and families in her own community of Stamford and made the decision to incorporate child welfare projects in the States into her work as well.  From 2013- 2017 she spent summers going back to the island talking with her friends and local pastors about how she could help.  In April of 2016, she filled her application for 501C3 status and was approved in April 2017.