For 16 Brant Christian School students it was a trip where the memories and life lessons will last long after their sun tans have faded.
After months of planning and fund raising the Palliser group and two chaperones travelled from Brant to Calgary for a flight to San Diego and then a drive to Tijuana, Mexico for eight days of mission work.
The group stayed and worked with an organization called ‘Youth With A Mission.’ While in Tijuana the students built a home for a needy family. The cost of the home was covered by funds raised by the Brant Christian students and various donations.
During their time in Mexico the group also helped out at a senior’s residence and worked at a soup kitchen that helps to feed homeless people in the area. During a two-hour span at the soup kitchen the students helped feed close to 1,200 people.
They also helped a local church with their Sunday school program and volunteered their time at an orphanage.
The greatest benefit for the students was the exposure to the needs of so many people, said Principal Kevin Bailey, one of the chaperones.
“It was important that the students see how poverty impacts everyone from the young up to the elderly,” he said upon the group’s return home to southern Alberta. “Students have come away understanding that so much of the world struggles just to get by and there is a lot that we can be doing to help the needy whether it be at home or in another country.”
See a selection of photos from the trip below.