Hope College Spring Break 2005

Getting ready to send 4 projects at once was such a huge undertaking! We spent many afternoons, evenings and weekends shopping at places like Office Max, Wal-Mart, Meijer, and even International Aid in Spring Lake, MI! IA provides basic hygiene & medical supplies to organizations supporting work overseas. This will continue to be an excellent connection for many future projects.

Once everything was bought (& kept organized in 4 rooms at Lori’s!) we held a Packing Day! We asked students to allow us to borrow extra duffle bags or suitcases and they were filled with the items that were purchased. It took some creative engineering to make everything fit: toaster ovens, Rubbermaid containers, spiral notebooks, crayons, pots & pans, tennis shoes & so much more!

A special thank you to the Sunday School classes at Third Reformed Church in Holland who sent bags of school supplies to the DR—don’t worry, we made them fit too! We also had to keep track of every item that went in each bag to provide accountability at each customs stop. Check out the final product of one trip:

Of course, students played a huge role in these projects! We couldn’t have done it without them! We met with each team to let them in on our vision and dream for each of the projects and ask for their willingness to be our ambassadors.

Each group was very welcoming and excited to serve and as they said, “you have to do the hard part & we get to do the fun part!” Pictured here (at right) are members of the Jamaica team helping pack for the Deaf School.

The final product is, of course, what we are most excited about! Here are a few pictures from the Reynosa, Mexico trip that provide an amazing picture of what it means to give to Chosen Hope! The team was so excited to present a personalized gift bag (filled with new shoes, underwear and socks) to each child that they waited until it was appropriate to take pictures and present them in a special way. Their smiles say it all!