Northwestern students serve over spring break

More than 200 students, faculty and staff from Northwestern College will travel across the United States and overseas for the college’s annual Spring Service Projects (SSP) Feb. 28 through March 9.

This year’s teams will serve at 14 sites. International destinations include the Netherlands, Haiti and Nicaragua. In Amsterdam, students will live and work at two Christian youth hostels, sharing their faith with guests from around the world. The team in Haiti will teach children and provide manual labor, while those in Nicaragua will do construction work, distribute food and help lead a vacation Bible school in the impoverished area of Bluefields.

Teams in the U.S. will travel to Minnesota, California and throughout the South. A new U.S. partner for Northwestern College is Mount Olive Ministries, a Christian community development organization in Mount Olive, Miss. Students on that SSP team will serve as classroom, after-school and writing workshop tutors. They will also paint, do manual labor and help with office projects.

In Minnesota, one group will join Urban Ventures in Minneapolis, where they will conduct three health fairs, participate in work projects, serve as tutors, and help with a street patrol ministry and youth events. Another team will travel to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, where they will interact with community members, and spend time in Duluth, assisting a Habitat for Humanity renovation project.

In California, students will partner with Emmanuel Reformed Church of Paramount, Calif., to paint homes and build relationships in a nearby gang-ridden community.

Additional U.S. service opportunities include tutoring and recreational programs in Jonesboro, Ark.; home repair in the Appalachian community of Annville, Ky.; after-school programs and construction projects in New Orleans; and construction, tutoring and community cleanup in Opelousas, La.

Still other Northwestern students will assist with after-school programs, home visits and a thrift store in Cary, Miss.; volunteer in local schools and after-school programs in Jacksonville, Fla.; and serve with a ministry to ex-prisoners in Lindale, Texas.

Spring Service Project members raise their own travel funds through their individual families, friends and churches and also 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 NWC 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.