Ohope Youth Group Mission Trip To Support Vanuatu Cyclone Relief And Restoration

$2,859 donated

Given by 43 generous donors in 9 weeks

Ohope Youth Group are going to Vanuatu in July 2016 to help with the ongoing disaster relief and restoration following Cyclone Pam in 2015.

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In 2015 Ohope Christian Fellowship Youth Group started looking for somewhere that we could go on a mission trip to serve, love on and try to make a difference. As we searched for the right place we kept getting drawn to Vanuatu in light of the disaster caused by Cyclone Pam in March 2015. As time went by other disasters have come and gone, but what struck us was that although time had passed and media attention had dropped away, the need in Vanuatu was still every bit as real, and the ability of the local community to rebuild and heal on it's own was still a huge struggle. And so we decided we would commit to going to Vanuatu to do whatever we could out of our own skills and resources, to help bring fresh hope and do something practical in the restoration of Vanuatu. Since then we have been fundraising and have booked tickets for 16 of us to fly to Vanuatu in the July 2016 school holidays. But our desire is way bigger than just what we can collectively accomplish in our two weeks on the ground. We also want to leave behind something lasting. We want to make a big difference....a really big difference to the people of Vanuatu. How much of a difference will only be limited by our vision and the amount we fundraise. This is why we have decided to ask you to help us, because we would love to invest in something genuinely long term that will keep on blessing long after we have gone. While in Vanuatu we will be working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and we also have a range of additional contacts throughout the country. We want to find the project(s) or place(s) where funds are most needed and invest into those with the resources that we raise here. However things pan out, we (Ohope Youth Group), are going to Vanuatu in July, and we will be giving our time, our finances, our blood, sweat and tears....pretty much everything we've got. And we want to invite you to join us by donating to this fund so that we can arrive with an abundance of resources to bless the people of Vanuatu significantly.

Ohope Christian Fellowship Youth Group's involvement (page creator)

Hi I'm Jon McKenzie. I am the Senior Youth Group Leader at Ohope Christian Fellowship and have operated in this role for nearly 20 years. I am also a Detective with 27 years Policing experience. In those roles I have learnt that it's not always enough to tell someone you care. You need to roll up your sleeves and be prepared to get your hands dirty if you want to genuinely make a difference. It's walking with someone in their shoes that provides the genuine road to healing and restoration. I have seen the powerful impact of such love in a range of places around the world and have previously taken my Youth Group to serve in a similar way in Fiji in 2004. The effect of experiencing genuine poverty and need had a huge impact on many of the youth that resulted in long term effects on their career choices and life directions. Hence one of the reasons for the current trip. This is a unique opportunity to take an amazing group of youth and use their raw passion and energy to bring fresh hope to those in Vanuatu, while at the same impacting the hearts of these same youth, who will go on to become the role models and decision makers in this nation. Who knows, maybe you will be investing in a future Prime Minister, Politician or world changer....I know I am. Will you?

About us

Ohope Christian Fellowship church has been running for more than 30 years based in Ohope near Whakatane. The vision of the church is to see God move and move with Him. The culture of the church is to introduce people to the reality of God (not just the theory) and raise up a group of people who know God intimately and live differently as a result. The intention is that we as a people take this reality out into everyday life, work, school, families and community to make a genuine and tangible difference by demonstrating the gifts and fruit of the Spirit.

Latest update

HELP US GET MONEY FOR ON THE GROUND PROJECTS IN VANUATU 22 June 2016

Thanks for all the support so far. The youth have been working super hard on a range of fundraising activities activities from firewood, a range of labouring jobs, a mega garage sale, BBQ's, Movie Nights, selling tea towels and chocolates and door knocking all of Ohope for sponsorship, and a huge day cleaning up Ohope and Whakatane beaches and reserves. So with all of this effort we are close to paying all of our fares etc to get 16 of us to Vanuatu. But we really need help in these last 2 weeks to get sufficient funds to invest in projects on the ground in Vanuatu. We are looking at being involved in rebuilding a kindergarten and some other restoration work (but need money for these) and we are hoping we can also assist financially with some projects to help provide a reliable source of fresh water or something similar as we see the various needs. And that's where you come in...please help us finish out this fundraising with a bang so we can genuinely bless those in Vanuatu who have lost so much...thank you :)

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