Covenant House hosts Service Trips?

Indeed we do! With Houses in 31 cities across 6 countries, Covenant House serves a wide range of young people with experiences and concerns as varied as they are. Our Houses in Latin American countries - collectively referred to as Casa Alianza - are mission trip destinations for Covenant House supporters.

Our Casas serve younger children than our Houses in the United States and Canada, with boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18 living with us in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The leaders of each Casa are internationally recognized experts in children’s human rights, and work with their teams to provide highly specialized care that is a model for governments and other child service organizations. We are thrilled to share an up-close and personal look into this work with fervent supporters via our mission trips.

Every service delegation to one of our Casas is unique, since each one is designed to meet the needs of the destination at the time of the trip. Those needs can change either seasonally or over time, but in general each mission trip consists of two full days of immersion in the Casa Alianza world, including some of these activities:

1. Structured visiting time with the boys and girls (and their babies) who live at Casa Alianza, including the opportunity to participate in typical daily activities
2. A service project based on Casa Alianza’s needs (e.g. painting, gardening, organizing artistic or sports activities for youth and/or staff, hosting empowerment workshops for older teen residents, etc)
3. A working tour (with Casa Alianza outreach staff) to one of the places where at-risk young people live
4. A working tour (with Casa Alianza outreach staff) to one of the neighborhoods (barrios) that Casa Alianza staff support with community programming to strengthen family bonds and keep children safe at home
5. A working tour of one of the vocational training centers where young people who live at Casa Alianza prepare for employment (some of these centers are housed within a Casa Alianza campus, while others are housed within a nearby community)
6. A visit with a young person who has successfully reintegrated with their family after living at Casa Alianza
7. A visit with a young adult who has successfully transitioned to living independently after living at Casa Alianza

Additionally:

• Travel will be coordinated so that members of the delegation arrive in the host country at approximately the same time, on the day prior to the first day of immersion.
• We coordinate safe hotel accommodations with wireless internet service, and ground transportation between the hotel, the Casa, and the neighboring communities.
• The fourth day of the mission trip is for travel home, unless delegates choose to explore the host country first.
• Travel costs vary by country, but can be calculated as approximately:
• Hotel: $110 + tax per night
• Airfare: $550 - $900
• Food: $50 - $65 per day
• All delegation members are asked to support the host Casa with a donation of $3,000. We provide an online platform for anyone who elects to fundraise this amount rather than make a personal donation.

If you would like to learn more about joining us for a delegation, contact Carolyn Collantes.

This post is part of our Delegation Blog Series.