Mississippi Service Trip a ‘Monumental Success’

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Abby Wittler, Staff Writer, Advanced Journalism

The annual Canton, Mississippi, service trip was a monumental success over NDA’s spring break.

Madison Hansen, an NDA junior said, “I would recommend this trip to anyone who has the opportunity to go on it.”

A highlight of the trip for Campus Minister  Daniel Kriegl was the opportunity to work in the garden that the students he took on the trip a few years back had built.

“We know that everything we planted, watered, and took care of is going to help the homeless and that is a really cool experience,” said Kriegl about the two days he spent working in the garden.

During the three days that they were in Canton, the student participants had the opportunity to work with local kids, work in the garden, or help assist in building new porches for locals.

If they chose to work with the local children, students helped out at a day camp where they got to meet children from all different backgrounds.

“It was really profound how hard single mothers worked for their children,” said Hansen.

Houses are often raised in that part of the country because of the flooding during the rainy season. Because of this, it becomes hard for older people to get access to their homes.

To help remedy this problem the students built three porches for those who could not afford them.

In the garden, the students helped replace irrigation and plumbing along with planting various vegetables that will later be supplied to the local food pantry.

“Every year is different from the past one,” said Kriegl about the activities of the trip. They went from building an entire house last year to doing all of the different projects of this year.

The organization that NDA works with is called MADCAAP, and they aid the poor and homeless community in the area. They provide jobs, educations, food, clothes, housing repairs, and many other essentials for the people around them that are in poverty.

They help to inspire and help people to rise above poverty and do things they never thought they could do because of their situation.