Solar Oven Partners

We had a great time in New Mexico in July when we partnered with 4 Corners Native American Ministry in Shiprock, NM to bring Solar Ovens to the folks in the surrounding area.

The trip to the Dominican Republic with our Director Randy Harwood and VIM volunteer Julia Jones in June 2026 was a great learning experience and a blessing to those who received ovens.

Check out SOP's upcoming mission trips. If you'd like to live the mission trip experience--and make a positive difference in your life and the lives of others--consider becoming a part of a Solar Oven Partners Volunteer in Mission team.

Here's where we're headed next:
June 22-29 Dominican Republic
July 11-17 Four Corners Native American Ministry, New Mexico
March 2027 Sierra Leone, West Africa (Specific dates yet to be determined)

For more information about any of these mission trips contact SOP Director Randy Harwood at 701-361-2378 or email [email protected].

Giving Can Be a Gift!

May 10th is Mother's Day. Are you struggling to come up with a gift that best celebrates that special woman in your life? Or perhaps you want to honor or give a memorial to a woman who impacted you in a profound way.

Consider giving a gift to Solar Oven Partners in her name. You will be helping put a solar oven into the hands of a mother in the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone, or the Navajo Nation. It means she can feed her family without the lung-damaging smoke from charcoal or wood fires. Without the cost of expensive charcoal or propane, she'll have more funds available for her children's school supplies. When trees aren't cut down to produce charcoal or firewood, she'll have a positive impact on the environment.

Giving a gift to Solar Oven Partners truly can be a gift--and a gift that keeps on giving! Give online at https://solarovenpartners.org/donate/

Look at the great story and video UMNews posted this week about Solar Oven Partners. Noting our start in Haiti, the story hightlights our current partnerships in the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone and the Four Corners Native American Ministries in Shiprock, NM.

Oven components are fabricated by Dakotas Conference volunteers at workshops in Rapid City, Montrose and Gary, SD. Pastor Erasme Figaro Kelly (Iglesia Evangelica Dominica), Rev. Joe Edward Pormai (The United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone) and Rev. Debra A. Yazzie (Four Corners Native American Ministry-Shiprock) work as ministry site coordinators.

Randy Harwood is the Director of Solar Oven Partners. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐎𝐏@𝐝𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐜.𝐨𝐫𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐀𝐙.

We support this ministry online through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Solar Oven Partners is Advance # 418812. Mail checks to Solar Oven Partners, C/O Dakotas Conference Office, P.O. Box 460,, 1331 University Ave.
Mitchell, SD 57301-0460.

Solar oven ministry changes lives | UMNews.org United Methodist Solar Oven Partners promotes renewable energy and improves health in vulnerable communities in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone and the Navajo Nation.

We're so excited about the Sierra Leone oven building and distribution mission that we're sharing some of new photos now.

Director Randy Harwood and Volunteer in MIssion Paul Hilgedick brought home a cache of pictures and video from their Sierra Leone trip. They be publishing a report here soon. Please stay tuned for more photos, captions and oven reports.