The Medicine Hat Skateboard Association is currently fundraising for a humanitarian trip to Mexico at the beginning of January.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Skateboard Association is planning for an international humanitarian trip to Ensenada Mexico from Jan. 1-8, 2024.
Jade Ritchie explained, “We’ve done a few international trips before, we figured for this generation of kids and our team, it would be good to experience another trip like that because it can be life changing. We wanted to reach outside of our own community and be able to do something for people who need it more than we do.”
The last trip MHSA organized was in 2018 and for this one they will travel to Ensenada, Mexico where the males will be building a house and are working with Youth with a Mission (Ywam) on the project. Females in the association will be helping at a women’s shelter, which has a focus of removing girls from the sex trafficking trade, and they will be bringing two suitcases full of feminine products to donate.
“I’ve been on a mission trip before when I was 10, I went to the Philippines with my mom and it was the most life-changing trip that I’ve ever been on, and I want to experience it again now 20 years later,” stated Ritchie. “I think there are other things I could take away from (this trip) and I’ve never built a house or spent time with girls in a group home who’ve been through those kinds of scenarios.
“I also want to be able to make it possible for the younger boys and girls to come along because I know how much of an impact it has on your life to be able to see people who have so much less than you and are so grateful.”
Dominic Smythe is a younger member in his early teens and explained the group has been holding bottle drives and is preparing for a silent auction in early December to raise needed funds. The group must pay for the house build and is looking to raise a minimum of $35,000 for the trip.
“I want to go because I think it will be an awesome opportunity and I think it will change my point of view. It will be super awesome to skate out there,” said Smythe.
While MHSA hasn’t yet secured a location for the silent auction, Zach Fischer says they are thinking about holding it at the Bay 3 Indoor Skatepark, a warehouse donated by Tim Horton’s that allows them to skate all year long.
“I just wanted to give back to people in need, I think it’s awesome to do something bigger than yourself and I really love all these guys,” Fischer said when asked why he wanted to go on the trip. “I want to spend time with the skaters and do something that matters.”
Fischer added the group wants to raise more than the minimum so any kids in the association who can’t afford the trip have a chance to go. Each member is being asked to pay $600, if they are able, toward the trip, and money needs to be raised for accommodation and food along with paying for the house.
“We are really excited,” added Ritchie. “But it’s stressful with how much we have to raise. I know for me and my mom when we went to the Philippines, we found out we were going only a month before and between the two of us we had $8,000 to raise and we did in two weeks, so it’s possible and we are very hopeful.”
MHSA is looking for donations of products, services, or gift cards for their Dec. 3 silent auction. They are also holding regular bottle drives, or bottles can be dropped at REDI Bottle Depot and donated to MHSA. Donations can be made by visiting https://gofund.me/c00f8d3f or, if a charitable tax receipt is required, through https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/eagles-nest-ranch-association and typing ‘skateboard’ in the message.
For further information or if you would like the team to give a presentation, contact Sam Larsen at 403-878-4885.
