In response to Intervarsity Ministries canceling the annual spring break mission trip, six students have taken the initiative to lead their own mission trip to give students the same opportunity to serve the community and share the gospel.
Junior Stephen Whitney, one of the leaders of the initiative, said the mission trip has always been a great way to expose Hillsdale students to the surrounding community.
“We feel the need to continue this mission trip and continue to support the community and the local churches in our area,” Whitney said. “We are hoping this will be a time for students to grow in their faith, in Christian community, and become more aware of the needs here in Hillsdale.”
Junior Shelby Tone, the main leader of the trip, said the plan for this year’s mission trip is to perform the same activities Intervarsity has done on past trips but on a smaller scale with necessary adjustments due to COVID-19 precautions.
“We’ll be serving people in the community and hopefully bringing joy and the good news after what was a very long and likely difficult year for a lot of people,” Tone said. “We’ll be helping out with projects that various GOAL leaders, like Crossroads Farm and A Few Good Men have directed us to, and reaching out to local churches to see if people in their congregations need help with yard care, dog-walking, painting, or clean-up. Mixed in with this service will be prayer walks, devotionals, time for reflection, intentional bonding, and testimonies during small-group sessions.”
Both Tone and Whitney agreed that COVID-19 is impacting the trip and limiting the variety of ways they can serve the community.
“Usually, we like going to nursing homes and visiting the elderly in the area to play music, but that’s not practical currently,” Tone said. “Likewise with schools: we’ve visited nearby preschools and special education schools before, but not this year, which is really unfortunate. There are just ways to serve that aren’t open to us at this point.”
Whitney echoed Tone’s sentiments, noting that this year’s trip falls on the one-year anniversary of the lockdown.
“Ironically, this trip will mark the one year anniversary since COVID-19 shut down the country. I was on the trip last year and it was the highlight of my year,” Whitney said. “Despite COVID-19, we were still able to partner with local churches and community members to finish the trip. I think that this has given us perspective on this year’s trip. Last year we had to trust that the Lord would provide all that we needed for us as COVID-19 descended on the nation and he did.”
The leadership team is currently planning an agenda for the trip and said it hopes to share more details soon.
