A Guide For Successful Youth Mission Trips To Puerto Rico

By Angela Sanders


As fate would have it, Hurricane Mario hit the island of Puerto Rico leaving devastating destruction in its wake. Thousands were left homeless as buildings collapsed while others were flooded. Basic infrastructure was destroyed making it impossible to deliver crucial services to residents. In the effort to alleviate human suffering and restore life to normal, many organizations have organized youth mission trips to Puerto Rico. If you wish to be part of this great cause, here are a few tips to take note of.

A good place to start from is hooking up with a community that is organizing such trips. To do this, do a quick search on the internet to find out if there is such a community near you. It is possible that each community has a specific task to accomplish such as medical camps or sending relief food and clothing. Pick a community of your choice depending on your passion.

To enjoy a stress-free trip, it will be advisable to go in groups. Find people you know, either, your relatives, colleagues, church members, or friends, and organize to join the missions together. You will have an easier time organizing your support since you are familiar with each other. You could also invite other teams with something in common even if they do not come from your area.

Find out the rules set out by the community for forming a group. These could be things such as age gap. Some specialized groups could require professional qualifications. With the right information, you will be able to for a team that is acceptable by the relief community. This way you can be assigned duties with full confidence that you will deliver.

Have a mindset of helping and willingness to show empathy. The people you are visiting are suffering and they need volunteers who understand them. If you combine leisure and volunteer work, then such missions may not be your best choice.

Relief communities may offer some training for everyone attending such a trip. This enables you to complete your volunteer service successfully. There could also be guides or manuals that give details of what you are expected to accomplish while there. Such a guide will mention the various things you need to pack, contact information you should have, among other details.

You will need to know the cost involved when taking such a trip. Here, it is when you become aggressive and get people support you financially. This is because if you are a student you may not have all the money and therefore asking your parents and relative to support you may be all you need.

Check the dates of travel very well and make sure that you do not have any commitments during this time. To achieve this, you may need to undertake such missions during vacations or apply for leave if you are employed. This way, the trip will not affect your daily commitments.




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