by Aaron Schmelzer | Apr 29, 2011 | News Slider
Care for Aids is a non-profit organization started by two college students who were confronted by the harsh realities of life for HIV-positive men and women in Kenya. Seeing both the physical and spiritual needs of these suffering people, they believed the Kenyan churches had the power to be more than a house of worship but could be a haven for medical care, life counseling and HIV support. Thus, partnership was established with local Kenyan churches. However, before meeting spiritual needs, the physical needs had to be met. Without proper medical, nutritional and hygienic care, these individuals have limited life expectancy. However, with proper care and education, their life expectancy can increase to about 10-20 years. Other physical means used are teaching them trade skills to help them produce an income and provide food. Once caring for their physical needs, spiritual needs are provided through counseling and teaching the HIV clients about the gospel. This provides hope, meaning and purpose to the lives of those who have been kicked out of their families and despised by their communities. By tangibly demonstrating Christ’s love, these churches are empowering individuals and transforming communities every day. Within Kenya, approximately 1.4 million people are infected with HIV. Care for Aids currently has 10 centers which each care for 80 clients a year. It costs about $18,000 a year to run these centers, coming down to about $20 per month, per client. So how can you help? A book drive is going to be held during finals week – Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30, and Monday through Wednesday, May 1-3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the student center. Caroline Scherer, a senior family relations and nursing...
by Leah Raich | Jan 18, 2011 | News Slider
New York City holds a different place in the hearts of this year’s winter break mission trip participants, after having seen the city in a different light than most tourists.. Coby Davis, assistant professor of education, along with 15 students and 2 alumni traveled to The Big Apple with a unified purpose: service before self. In a city, or shall I say, City, with so many distractions and tourists traps, it is rather easy to overlook the needs of the people who live there. The majority of our time was spent at P.S. 179, a school in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. This school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. I had the opportunity to be a teacher’s aide in a third-grade class. My goal was to foster good relationships with my students, in hopes that they would feel comfortable talking and reading to me and asking for help as needed. Although I have been on several other mission trips to Mexico, Honduras and Africa, this was my first chance to work with this age group. Was it challenging and frustrating at times? Certainly. Would I go back tomorrow? Absolutely. Another aspect of our trip included service projects at both World Vision and Momentum. World Vision is an international evangelical relief and development organization whose primary objective is to “promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.” This organization receives school supplies, clothing, food commodities and medicine from vendors across the world that seek to engage in the act of giving to the less fortunate....
