It’s time to clear out the closets and itemize the attic. A team of students is looking for used goods for a good cause.
A group of 25 students and chaperones are heading to Agua Prieta, Mexico this spring for a missions trip. To get there, they had to chip in their own plane ticket money. But now they’re collectively raising funds to pay for the building projects, food donations and other charity endeavours they hope to undertake while there.
They are looking for everything from clothing to craft kits. The donations will all be weighed and another organization will pay them for the amount of pounds of donations they bring in. So, every tacky knick knack, every mismatched dish and every out of date shirt will be accepted.
The 17 grade 12 students from Timothy Christian School have already started gathering donations, including Agassiz local Amanda Herfst. Amongst her own family, friends and church, they have collected more than 30 garbage bags of donations so far. Add that to the bags piling up at other student’s houses and they are on their way to a good fundraiser.
Herfst is excited about the missions trip. It will be her first foray into the developing world. She says the more she has thought about going, the more she realizes what a life-changing experience this could be.
“Think of the impact we can have on their lives,” she ponders. “I’m looking forward to making an impact.”
She anticipates that the trip will help open her eyes to what she has here, even more than she is already aware of it.
“There’s a lot of need out there,” she says. “It will make us realize what we do have – families, our houses, everything – to see what God has blessed us with.”
Herfst had considered going to an RCMP training camp over Spring Break but decided in the end on the missions trip. It’s a decision shared by most of the graduating class of Timothy Christian School. Teacher co-ordinator Jody Terpstra has been heading up the Mexico missions trip every year since it began in 1993. She says they used to open it up to grade 11 and 12 students but the demand is so great they’ve had to cap it to students from the graduating class. The size of the group has ranged from five (the first trip) to 31. This year’s 17 students are more than three quarters of the grade 12 population at the small Rosedale school.
Terpstra says this year’s team is “very enthusiastic.”
She loves leading the students each year into what, for most of them, is a new experience.
“It’s always a really big eye-opener, an appreciation for what we have here,” Terpstra says.
Donations can be dropped off at Timothy Christian School at 50420 Castleman Road during school hours. Terbara’s Hair Design at 45529 Watson Road will give you $5 towards a haircut if you bring in a garbage bag of donations to their business. For more information or to enquire about donation pick-ups, call 604-796-9494.
The students have also been doing biweekly bottle drives since the Fall and will pick up your bottles or cans to go towards the trip. Text 604-819-5249 for bottle pick-ups.
List of collection items accepting:
Clothing, footwear, accessories, bed and bath linens, vases and knick knacks, glassware and dishes, pots and pans, school and office supplies, craft kits
Not accepting: DVDs and CDs, VHS tapes and records, electronics, household appliances, cameras, books, toys, puzzles and games, plastics, cosmetics or liquids, loose candles, indoor or outdoor furniture, holiday items, large items like bikes and wicker or baskets