A team of 24 from the Innisfail Alliance Church youth group will be undertaking a humanitarian trip to Coral De Pierdra, Costa Rica this August for two weeks.
The group, made up of 18 youth and six adults, will be working on revitalizing community buildings in impoverished areas as well as creating friendships with the natives of the area.
“These trips have been an ongoing project for us for six years now, having been to Cambodia, Mexico and Costa Rica,” said Derek DeVries, one of the team's leaders planning the venture. “Our biggest goal is to show friendliness and grace to the people there.”
Jon Vandervelden, one of the adults embarking on the trip, said they will be travelling to a couple of isolated villages. One village is reachable only by boat; another is located in a mountainous area and will require the group to travel in on horseback.
“We will be working with kids there and building a playground,” he said. The group has experience building a playground having done it before on a previous trip.
Work projects and upgrades to community buildings in each village visited are just some of the things that will be keeping the crew busy making for long days of physical labour, he said.
As well as building projects, day camps for the younger children they meet will be run during the days including music, crafts, games and sports programs.
“This is quite a remote, impoverished and rural area of Costa Rica. The funny thing is the students as well as ourselves usually end up learning so much more than we could ever teach to the people we meet in our time there. We learn from each other and that's been a really great experience as well,” said DeVries.
Since roughly late January the youth have been fundraising for the project as well as committing to working individually to raise the funds needed. The total trip cost is just under $45,000 — that includes travel, supplies for building projects and the day camps. The crew is on its way to that goal, but needs support to ensure the sufficient funds are raised.
“I always look forward to these trips. They are always a real blessing,” DeVries added.
The group will host a silent auction fundraiser coming up on Sunday May 24 that will include a meal. Tickets are $15 and are available at the Innisfail Alliance Church office or by phone at (403) 227-6655. They are also accepting donations such as pencils, crayons and construction paper that are needed for the day camps the team will be running.
