Mount de Sales Academy student- volunteers from Macon did not spend their Easter Break splashing in the waves or lounging on a sun-drenched beach. Instead, they packed work clothes and comfortable shoes as they left in the wee hours of Friday morning, March 26, to help a sister Mercy facility - The Mercy Care Center in Belize, Central America.

Students, responsible for their individual travel costs, solicited donations from family and friends. The group began preparations for the trip several months in advance and held various fund-raisers at Mount de Sales to help purchase the necessary materials and supplies they would need. Out-of-dress-code days, doughnut sales, and chicken biscuit sales helped. In addition, donations for needed supplies were generously given by the Sisters of Mercy – Columbus through Sister Grace Marie Dillard, RSM (MDS alumna ’51 and former MDS English teacher) and the Taylor Stephens Foundation.

Sister Grace Marie enclosed the following message with the gift: “I am so proud of the students who are contributing their time and talents to serve others in this third world country… My prayer for the students who participate in this good work of mercy is joy, peace, and happiness from God…”

Each of the student-volunteers carried only one personal piece of luggage. Each second piece of luggage consisted of suitcases and boxes packed to overflowing with over 700 pounds of t-shirts collected through donations at MDS. The t-shirts were distributed during their stay to patrons of the Mercy Care Center.

The ten students, accompanied by two faculty members, traveled to Belize City where they worked, cleaning and making repairs at the Mercy Care Center’s kitchen and clinic. The team rolled up their sleeves to pressure wash, paint, and mend miscellaneous items at the facilities. They also worked in the kitchen, served meals, and delivered food to the home-bound.

Students reflected on their mission trip to Belize and how it impacted them personally and as a group. Senior John McKowen offered, “This trip was a very rewarding opportunity for us to grow closer as a group, while growing individually as well…This trip moved me beyond words. I am so glad I went and I look forward to returning to Belize later in life to visit the Care Center again.”

“The decision to go to Belize with my school was one that would change my perspective on the world forever,” said junior Milly Parks Edwards. “Seeing the poverty with my own eyes really opened my mind to a whole new world… I came back feeling like I really did make a difference and I made a bunch of new friends in the process.”

MDS faculty chaperone Dr. Gabe Germann summed up the experience as “…amazing… Our students worked incredibly hard, helping us accomplish everything we set out to do. But it was the times together that were the best – stories we shared, the jokes we spun, and the lives we were privileged to experience.”