(YouTube)
The airline JetBlue gave a bunch of Dominican families living in New York City an early Christmas gift. And they got it all on video.
The company first asked several families from the Washington Heights neighborhood to participate in a documentary about their culture and invited them to dinner at a local restaurant.
The 4:35 minute video, released earlier this week on You Tube, focuses on a specific family of five.
“In Santo Domingo, I miss the warmth, the tropics, the food, friends, my childhood friends, all those childhood firsts – that’s what we really miss,” the father, whose name is not revealed, told the camera during the dinner.
The eldest female commented in Spanish about coming to the United States and having to adapt to a different way of life.
“It’s hard to get used to the different culture, but we were lucky that we came here together as a family,” she said. “It was like having Santo Domingo in our home.”
When they received the bill, they found a great Christmas surprise: tickets for the whole family back to the Caribbean island.
“We are hardworking people who came with a dream,” the woman is heard saying in the video. “And coming back to our country is like a dream come true.”
After arriving on the island, another woman said in English: “Arriving here is just like ‘I’m Dominican. This is my home. This is where the values that my parents have instilled in me and everything that comes from their motherland. I’ve only been here one time before, but I know how much this is going to mean to my grandmother.”
In the end, they are reunited with their grandmother.
JetBlue’s video was reminiscent of another airline’s efforts to bring Christmas to people in the Dominican Republic.
Canadian airline WestJet shared a video earlier this month of their holiday surprise for people living in the northern community of Nuevo Renacer.
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