HYC Fourteen Homes and Counting...

Fourteen Homes and Counting...

(The Lasting Impact of HOPE Youth Corps)

On all of our HWW volunteer Corps, we strive to create sustainable programs. We do not want to show up
in a location, do some token service for a week or two, and then disappear without establishing a beneficial
connection with the local work.

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We want to show respect to the local projects, and humble ourselves enough to ask them how we can effectively contribute. More and more of our volunteer Corps, be it HOPE Youth Corps, HWW Singles
Corps, and any other Corps, aim at having a long term impact.

One such example is the HOPE Youth Corps that spent Christmas 2015 in the Philippines. The group of 80 that served there for almost two weeks was comprised of volunteers of all ages (it was a HYC open to all, so we had some singles, and a few families too), from all over the world. Our plan was to help with rehabilitation work in the community of Daanbantayan, a town ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.

We repaired fishing boats, we helped build a Center of HOPE (community center / preschool), we spent time with the members of the community. We also split into five teams, and built five homes. We built the homes with the help of the families that would benefit. We ate meals with them, and played with their children. We worked hard, but it was the most rewarding feeling at the end of the trip to beable to hand over a brand new , clean, and safe house to a family in need.

The impact on the volunteers was keenly felt. Of course, the families benefited, but the main goal of our volunteer trips is to transform the hearts of the participants, so they become servant leaders who walk in the footsteps of Jesus for the rest of their lives. Our last devotional on all of our trips is entitled, “What next? A sustainable impact”. We talk about the lasting effect of the trip. One of our interns said, “Have the HYC mindset every day, everywhere, in everything that you do!”

We challenged the participants to stay connected with the local HWW program. We all went home, but we
did stay connected! In the last 11 months since the trip, we have collectively raised funds for an additional 9 homes! In addition, the volunteers have contributed so the Center of HOPE could have a kitchen, a toilet, a floor, etc. 

We believe in intelligent service that strengthens the local projects. Our volunteers are smart. They want to know they have truly made a difference!