Wilderness Trek Car Wash Saturday!!!

We had a fun get-together at Janet's house a couple of Saturdays ago to plan for a bi-annual trip to Colorado for Wilderness Trek with some of the teens who have been involved with Central Dallas. I had the opportunity to go with a Central Dallas group in 2004 and it was such a great experience. It was amazing to see kids who have rarely been out of Dallas, much less Texas, travel to such a completely different enviroment and be challenged in so many ways, yet come back inspired and proud of accomplishing something they never even considered doing. At that time, we always took the staff from the University of Values summer program after the camp ended, so the group already knew each other well. This year will be a little different. We will have teens that have been involved at different times and places with CDM and do not necessarily know each other. (We are also going to allow Dezeray, one of my students here at PCA, to join the group. ) We had a fun time at our information gathering getting to know each other, getting a better understanding of what the trip is about, and even having races to see who could put a tent together the fastest. I think we are definitely going to have a great group and I'm already excited about August! (For those of you who don't know what Wilderness Trek is, it is a Christian based organizaiton that guides high school students to backpack up one of the many 14,000ft peaks in the Rockies. Very challenging, but rewarding experience through which one can learn many important life lessons as well as grow spiritually).

Another important difference with this group is that we will be raising our own funds. In the past, donors always provided the trip for Central Dallas groups. However, although some teens really got a lot out of the experience, others didn't always truly value the opportunity because it wasn't something they had to plan for or invest in. Mr. Edd or Janet or others would work hard to get funds donated to cover our trip, and then some teens might decide not to go at the last minute. This year, it was decided that in order to develop more commitment from the participants, they would need to be involved in the fundraising. Therefore, the other purpose of our gathering last week was to plan some events to raise money. Each participant will need to raise $350, more if they want to do extra stuff while we are in Colorado like rafting or swimming in the hot springs in Salida. I think this is a do-able goal, but it's going to take a team effort from all involved.

Our first fundraiser will be this Saturday. We are having a car wash at the Richardson East Church of Christ from 9-12. After all the rain we've been having, Saturday would be a great day to come get your cars spruced up!! If you would like to help us wash cars, that would be awesome, but even just coming by to be serviced is helpful! So...if you can help out by providing old towels, buckets, sponges, paper towels, or tire cleaner, let me know and I will pick it up from you. If you can help with washing skills and techniques, meet us in Richardson on 9 on Saturday. If you can help with contributing funds to have your car cleaned, show up in your dirty ride and we will make it sparkle!!

Thanks for your support!