We're so Excited!

Good afternoon everyone!

            We are so excited to be heading out on our Spring Break trip in only 17 days! We are all preparing to leave and looking forward to all of the exciting experiences that we will have, but I think that there is one specific thing that we are all looking forward to the most: the opportunity to work with children. This was the reason that we all decided to go on the trip to Dallas in the first place. Over the last few weeks we have all been discussing and planning different activities to do with the kids, getting more and more excited all the while. Don’t get me wrong, though, the planning has certainly been fun in itself. It’s so nice to finally have a legitimate reason to be on Pinterest! However, nothing can compare to when we finally get to Dallas and we’re able to do all of these awesome activities that we’ve been planning. We’re all just waiting for that chance to make a child smile, to help them see the value in themselves, and to show them that there is so much they can do with their lives. I know that this is why we all wanted to go on this trip. We see the opportunity to make a difference in these children’s lives and we are so excited to get started!

            Only 17 more days,

                        Mandy, Trip Leader

A Snapshot of our Trip...

            For one week during March of 2014, ten students from Missouri State University plan on heading to Dallas, TX to spend their Spring Break working with underprivileged children. These ten students were brought together to go on this trip through an organization called Bear Breaks. They were chosen for this trip based on their passion for volunteer and helping others, as well as their specific desire to work with and improve the lives of children. While in Dallas, they will be working to put on a camp for a group of kids at Wesley-Rankin community center in West Dallas. The camp will last for three days, with each day focusing on a specific issue to help these children grow into productive and successful adults. The three themes are the importance of school, healthy living and fitness, and self-worth/goals. Each day we will plan several activities for the children to do based on that days theme.

            The reason that we are so excited to be working with Wesley-Ranking Community Center is that they are located in an area where we feel that we can do the most good. To help show this, I have borrowed a few statistics about West Dallas from Wesley-Rankin’s website:

• “$34,000 was the average household income. (This compares to $64,000 for the City of Dallas.)”
• “18 percent of households were headed by a single mother with children. (In the City of Dallas, 8 percent of households were headed by a single mother with children.)”
• “For persons age 25 years and older: 35.3% dropped out of school by the 8th grade, 65.6% did not complete high school or a GED, 34.3% have a high school diploma or GED, 2.3% have a bachelor’s degree.”

For more information on Wesley-Rankin Community Center, here is a link to their website:

            http://wesleyrankin.org/wp/