Northwestern College will send 11 teams of students led by faculty and staff advisers on serve trips across the United States and to three international destinations.
This year’s annual Spring Service Partnership (SSP) trips are scheduled for March 2–11. Nearly 150 participants will travel to seven states, Ireland, Mexico and the Netherlands.
A new international partner is Youthfront in Croc, Mexico. There Northwestern students will serve alongside local leadership, working with youth in an after-school program or through vacation Bible school or camp-like activities.
In Ireland, students will partner with Dublin Christian Mission, a ministry that helps people who are homeless. Students traveling to the Netherlands will stay and serve at two Christian youth hostels in Amsterdam, sharing their faith with guests from around the world.
Teams in the U.S. are partnering with ministries in locations ranging from the East to West Coast and from Minnesota to Texas.
In Florida, Northwestern students will volunteer in local schools and after-school programs in Jacksonville. In California, they’ll join with Emmanuel Reformed Church in Paramount to paint homes, provide manual labor and build relationships in the community of Compton.
Two teams of students are traveling to Texas. One team will serve with a ministry to ex-prisoners in Lindale. The other will help with hurricane recovery efforts in Rockport through World Renew, the development, disaster response and justice arm of the Christian Reformed Church.
Two SSP teams will serve in and learn about Native American communities. Those going to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in Minnesota will help with a food pantry, spend time with a local church youth group, and complete work projects at a wilderness camp. Another team will travel to the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, where they will participate in the youth and children’s programs of Mescalero Reformed Church and do painting and manual labor.
Other Northwestern students will provide tutoring and make neighborhood improvements in Opelousas, La., while an SSP team in Kansas City will partner with Youthfront and a Hispanic congregation to support after-school programs, a neighborhood farm, and preparations for a summer camp.
Spring Service Partnership members raise their own travel funds through their individual families, friends and churches, and through fundraisers on campus and in the community.
Northwestern College’s short-term mission programs bear the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Missions (SOE) seal, ensuring that participating organizations get mission teams that are of high quality. SOE standards include adequate pre-trip training and resources as well as consistent post-trip follow-up and accountability.
