Photos from 2019 RLC Youth Puerto Rico Service Trip
Saturday, June 22, sixteen RLC Youth high school students flew to Puerto Rico to spend a week helping with ongoing work of hurricane recovery. Adult faith mentors who accompanied the youth are members Teddie Rush, DeeAnn Habegger, Brad Condon, Craig Welch, Natasha George, Tom Welch and Pastor Ryan.
Our youth made it safely to Old San Jan and had a few hours to explore the city. They divided into two teams: Team Fort explored the majestic 16th century Spanish fort while the others shopped the streets of Old San Juan visiting local ice cream stores and the famous pigeon park.
The youth and faith mentors then traveled into the mountains in the center of Puerto Rico where hurricane Maria did the most damage. Home base for the week became the local baseball stadium which also houses local police and fire, Zumba classes, as well as the regional baseball team. The stadium took heavy damage from Maria (as you can see in some of the photos below). Entire concrete pillars were pulled from their foundations, the steel cables holding the roof in place were pulled so taught they now sag. Panels were blown away and are still missing.
The stadium also has a baseball field where the youth play frisbee at night or just hang out. And a few in-house kittens became new friends to hang out with!
Our youth and faith mentors divided into three groups to help with repairs to homes, roofs and add helping restore living spaces for residents including a bathroom for a 75 year old blind resident. Thank you to all of our youth and faith mentors for donating their time, skills and passion to service in Puerto Rico!
Click to see more photos and learn about each group’s service project.
Group 1 Service Project
Six youth accompanied by faith mentors DeeAnn Habegger, Tom Welch and Teddie Rush.
Group 2 Service Project
Five youth accompanied by faith mentors Craig Welch and Pastor Ryan.
Group 3 Service Project
Five youth accompanied by faith mentors Natashia George and Brad Condon.
Questions? Contact Pastor Ryan