SIFE team invests spring break in Guatemala
Guatemala SIFE team photo by Elizabeth Fletcher
Standing L-R: Andrew Miller, Dr. Mark Maynard, Natalie Akins, Jochebed Garcia, Darrell Whaley
Kneeling: Nicholas Reasor & Stephen Robertson
March 01, 2010
Contact: Paul K. Logsdon, Director of Public Relations and Publications (417) 865-2815, ext. 7292
Springfield, Mo — Six members of Evangel University’s Students In Free Enterprise team will travel to Guatemala City, Guatemala, to volunteer their spring break in service to others.
Dr. Mark Maynard, professor of business and Sam Walton Fellow, is leading the team.
The team will be working in the Guatemala City Teen Challenge Center where they will teach marketing concepts to turn vocational rehabilitation into social enterprise. The team will be implementing business plans they researched and developed this semester with the goal of helping the Teen Challenge Center eventually to become self-sustaining.
In addition, Evangel SIFE and Guatemala City Teen Challenge are partnering with Convoy of Hope to help alleviate hunger in Guatemala City, which has been declared to be in a national food crisis.
“I always teach my business students to find a need and fill it,” said Dr. Maynard. “We see this crisis as an opportunity to give food immediately and help the people of Guatemala City learn how to grow food for long term-needs.”
Through Convoy of Hope, the team will distribute food for 270,000 meals to the community.
The team will also be implementing Convoy of Hope’s Seed and Garden Program at the Teen Challenge Center. They will teach residents of the center to grow roof top gardens so they will be able to eat the food they grow as well as sell it.
The team also has been invited to give presentations on how to grow gardens to Family of God Church, a 7,000-member church in Guatemala City.
Convoy of Hope has donated 500 sacks of seeds for the gardens.
The mission of Convoy of Hope is to “feed millions of people in need in the United States and around the world through children’s nutrition initiatives, citywide outreaches and disaster response.”
The following team members will be traveling:
- Natalie Akins, junior marketing major from Springfield, Missouri
- Jochebed Garcia, sophomore management major from El Centro, California
- Andrew Miller, senior biological chemistry major from Newton, Kansas
- Nicholas Reasor, senior management major from Nixa, Missouri
- Stephen Robertson, senior management major from Lincoln, Missouri
- Darrell Whaley, senior accounting major from Tyler, Texas
Each year Evangel SIFE teams participate in an international business study tour. Past trips have allowed students to study in South Africa, China and Jamaica.
For additional information, contact Elizabeth Fletcher 417-865-2815, ext. 8112.