Hey everyone!
I am writing this letter to ask you to help me in participating in a trip to the Navajo Reservation in May. The Reservation is located in New Mexico and Arizona. Our trip is being sponsored by BGSU Arts Village and UCF community service program.
While on the Navajo Reservation we will visit schools, tutor children, work on projects to combat erosion, and help repair fences and roofs. Unlike many service-learning trips, the service work we do on the Navajo Reservation is not as important as the relationships we will make while we are on the reservation. The trip is designed around giving us opportunities to interact with people who are very different from the people we usually spend time with. More important than the service we do – we have the ability to ask important questions about how people experience life differently from the way we do. Before we can truly serve a community we have to learn how people experience the joys and sorrows of their everyday life.
As you may know that there is much poverty on the Navajo reservation and other reservations in the U.S. but there are also people who have dedicated their lives to improving the conditions of others. We will meet people on the reservation who are working on solutions to the problems such as poor schools, alcohol abuse, housing, and ecology. Most interestingly we will spend time with healers who will show us traditional ways the Navajo people solved their problems.
The cost of the trip is $400.00 per student, which covers transportation food and camping, but we need to raise one thousand dollars more for honorariums and supplies that we purchase on the reservation.
I realize the economy is bad and you may not have extra money but you should consider a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help us with the cost of the trip. This experience will be beneficial to me because I know I will gain by doing something that will help another person, and it will be beneficial for the people we will meet on the reservation, because it will show them that we care enough to come all the way from Ohio to learn about their culture.
If you are able to contribute to this trip I will send you a collection of comics and a piece of art based on my experiences there. Please send your donations by PayPal by the PayPal button on the side. You could also send a check to UCF, P.O. box 1463, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402. If you have any questions about the trip you can email Bill Thompson, director of UCF wthomp@bgsu.edu or Gordon Rickets, director of Arts Village gordonr@bgsu.edu.
You guys are awesome! Thank you so much in advance!