Nebraska service trip
This trip was the main focus of my project. Due to the unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19, I had to cancel the trip 3 days before we were going to leave. I still have all the hard work I put into planning the trip that I outline here.
Step 1: Serve God
- I could feel a strong pull towards this trip, especially due to the location. First, the goal of our service on the trip was to help rebuild the extensive flood damage that happened in the spring/summer of 2019. The coverage surrounding these terrible events was almost nothing, meaning these deserving communities in Nebraska got little to no help. In addition, I have family in Nebraska who live extremely close to the areas that were flooded. The people in these Nebraska communities were the least served and they needed help.
"And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.'" -Matthew 25: 40
Step 2: Communication
- I got into contact with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (the church denotation I belong to) offices and wound up with the contact information for Project Restore at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fremont, NE. From there, the mission coordinator and I reached out back and forth to plan the whole trip. She gave me a lot of helpful information, including Project Restore's personal liability and covenant forms. Click the buttons below to view some of these forms.
Step 3: Finances
- There were no registration fees from the church we were staying at or working with. However, they were going to provide us two meals a day which I factored into each team member's cost as a donation for their help. These costs are combined with the ones from the travel and transportation step. We as a service group wanted to give the family(s) we served with long term tools to continue to fix up their home. Our team also needed to buy some tools for our project once we got to Nebraska and got our assignment.
- I was planning to do fundraising for the trip. However, I ended up receiving $580 in donations from members at my church, which was a very gracious gift as I was not expecting that much to come from just word of mouth. I also took out two $250 grants from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans that are set aside for specifically funds like these. This put the total cost for each team member at $150.
Step 4: Travel & Transportation
- Due to our starting location in Colorado, the best plan was to drive to Nebraska. This meant renting a van, paying for all its insurance, and the gas. This takes an estimation of each day's miles covered, the gas mileage of your vehicle, how many gallons of gas you will use each day, and how much each gallon costs.
- I decided it would be best to rent a van to take our group, so we could have storage room and physical space. This is also beneficial as a means of transportation to get to our work site and other locations or activities on the trip.
Step 5: Loose Ends
- I was given a packing list from my contact person at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. I attached it below through the button
- While the church we were serving at had their own liability, I had to create my own form so I could be covered during the times on the trip we were not serving at the church. The document for this can also be found below with the button.
- Another important aspect since there is travel involved with this service opportunity is a schedule, as detailed as possible. This is included in the next step as I wanted the schedule included with all the other information I pulled together for the trip.
Step 6: Pull the plan together
- Lastly, I needed to create a document that went alongside with our team meetings that displayed all the information I previously listed on this page. It is easier for teams to get together and bond. I held a couple of meetings for the team, in which I gave them all the information. The outline for this is located at the button below.