Chapter One: The Trip

“In a heartbeat,” responds Senior Emily Jacobsen when asked if she would like to go to back to Haiti after her first mission trip there. On March 21, 2016, eleven TG students along with two teachers set off on an unbelievable journey to Haiti in hopes to make a difference in one of the poorest countries in the world. Group members were Delaney Finn, Emily Jacobsen, Rachel Schick, Camille Lilleberg, Ben Kearney, Blake Walczynski, Sam Presseller, Marisa Merritt, Caitlin Foht, Cailey Banken, Neal Duong, Laura Welciek, and Mark Loahr.

Prior to leaving for the trip, the group worked to collect donations to bring with them on their trip. There was school wide competition to see what grade (including teachers) could bring in the most items to donate or the most money for the cause. The senior grade ended up winning this out-of-uniform day, but this was not really the point of the competition. The goal was to get as many donations as possible in hopes to help those in Haiti.

After donations were collected, the group had a “packing party.” This consisted of packaging up all donations to take with them to Haiti. After packing the donations as well as their own bags, they were finally ready to take off on a life changing trip.

The group spent a total of six days in Haiti that consisted of distributing clean water, playing with kids at a local orphanage, helping out wherever needed, visiting a hospital, and meeting the people of Haiti. Although seeing the poverty and suffering of Haiti was very hard, the students still said they saw so much love in the country.

Not only did the students see love, but they gave it too. When volunteers were asked about how they impacted the people in Haiti, many of them said that they helped make them feel loved. Senior Emily Jacobsen shares, “I hope I touched hearts while I was in Haiti. My goal was to just show them that there are people out there willing to give their time to serve them and love them and to show them that they’re not alone in this.” This impact of love is very important to leave with the Haitians, but that is not the only thing that needs to change in Haiti: a lot of aid is needed medically, financially, and educationally. Senior Sam Presseller states, “It’s gonna take a lot more than a group of a dozen people coming there once or twice a month to change anything there.”

Love was not only given by the volunteers to the people of Haiti, but they saw love in the hearts of the people there as well which left a long lasting impact on the volunteers. Senior Delaney Finn shares, “I still think about all the people I meet every night. I am more grateful for the little things in life and appreciative.” Math teacher Mrs. Welciek shares about the impact she felt as well, “I have a newfound appreciation for the life I have, and a stronger sense of the service I need to do for others. I am already planning when I will go again.” Mrs. Welciek was not the only volunteer to want to return to Haiti. All interviewed volunteers shared the same answer about returning to Haiti: that they would love to go back.