Wednesday JANUARY 24TH AT 10 AM
HEBER CITY OFFICE 475W 910 S
Sign up will be available soon.
The village of Guayacana, several hours by motorized canoe upriver of Quininde, Ecuador, has limited access to clean drinking water. Over the course of three days, Redmond Soar Foundation volunteers will work alongside the local community to install pipes and new filters that will make it possible for medical staff to serve the area’s residents from Guayacana.
Service Project Details
The Redmond Soar Foundation will be partnering with Eagle Condor to sponsor an expedition to Ecuador early next year. We will be leaving Salt Lake City on Friday, February 23 and returning on Monday, March 5, 2018.
The Expedition has room for 15 full-time Redmond associates and about 10 other adult non-associates — family, friends and business partners.
Volunteers will improve access to water for a small community near Quininde, Ecuador. The 3-day service project will require physical activity but will be approachable for most associates. We’ll be using picks and shovels to dig long water line trenches to connect areas of the village.
Full-time Redmond associates interested in the expedition have until August 31 to sign up. If you are selected in the drawing, your non-refundable commitment fee of $500 is due by October 1. (The Redmond Soar Foundation will sponsor the balance of your trip cost — about $3,000 more.) Associates need to use 6 paid days off (combination of vacation, community service, or company activity time) for this trip.
Spouses or other non-associates can join the expedition, but Redmond Soar Foundation sponsorship isn’t available. Non-associates selected for the trip are responsible for the full cost of the trip ($3,500) with a non-refundable commitment fee of $1,000 due October 1st. The remaining $2,500 is due December 1st.
All travelers will need a current passport, but no visas are required. We will have translators help us communicate in the native Chapala language.
Before traveling, each person will need vaccinations for yellow fever and typhoid.
Each person will need to bring a mosquito net, bedding, and tall rubber boots. Bottled water and bathrooms are available at the village; bathing will be in the river.
For decades, there have been service organizations who mean well enough but interact with developing countries in ways that do more harm than good, earning a black eye for “voluntourism” opportunities in general.
The Redmond Soar Foundation partners with Eagle Condor, a service organization that forms longterm partnerships in areas where they can help local residents become self-sufficient in education, nutrition, infrastructure, and career development. Eagle Condor has a reputation of respect and longterm thinking, mitigating much of the criticism leveled at voluntourism.
Even so, the Redmond Soar Foundation recognizes that trips such as this benefit the Redmond associates traveling abroad as much as the local communities we volunteer to help — aligning with our vision to elevate the human experience, starting with our own associates, partners, and customers.
We view our efforts as incremental improvements to the places we visit, not revolutionary acts of sacrifice. We trust our work with Eagle Condor helps local communities continue toward self-sufficiency, and we know Redmond associates making the trip return home changed for the better – hopefully, a win-win situation where often the world expects one side to benefit at the expense of the other.
After arriving in Quito, the group will have a day to spend touring historical sites in the capital city before traveling to Guayacana. After the work is complete, we will spend two days touring one of the Galapagos Islands, including snorkeling and stops at famous landmarks in the area.
If you have questions about the expedition or how Soar Foundation trips work, send an email to expeditions@redmondsoar.org.
All full-time Redmond associates can sign up for the expedition. The Soar Foundation will sponsor $3,000, leaving associates responsible for a non-refundable $500 commitment fee.
Spouses of full-time Redmond associates can sign up for the expedition with their spouse. Soar Foundation sponsorship is not available; a non-refundable $1000 commitment fee is due Oct 1, with the balance due Dec 1.
Friends and business partners can sign up for the expedition. Soar Foundation sponsorship is not available; a non-refundable $1000 commitment fee is due Oct 1, with the balance due Dec 1.
2015-??? raised for the New Horizon Crisis Center
2016- $5,000 raised for the Sevier County branch of the Utah Food Bank 
2017- $6,400 raised for the Utah Foster Care
To view some of the photos from the group, CLICK HERE.
Six years ago I, Josh Wasden, left Haiti after serving an LDS church service mission among the Haitian people. Two weeks later they evacuated all foreign missionaries from the Island due to political madness. The people were manifesting against their long time corrupt government. The president at the time was forced out of the country and since then the people have found themselves trying to develop or rebuild an economy that would be sustainable….
I have often thought that there is really no book or picture that can describe Haiti, it is just something that has to be lived. Haitians are so friendly and accepting of foreigners in their country. They are looking for a better way, a new light to the future. I could spend all day elaborating on how difficult the situation is and how poor and terrible the conditions are for them but I won’t because they don’t. Everywhere I went I saw eyes with hope and smiles with kindness. These people CHOOSE to be happy.
This leads me into my thoughts on the earthquake that hit the country. You may all call me crazy but I can’t help but feel this is going to be a positive for the people in Haiti. So many eyes have been opened and many of which have the potential to make a difference. I traveled to Haiti with 120 other members (Utah Hospital Task Force) which included Doctors, EMTS, Nurses, Contractors and Translators. While in Haiti I saw so many great things going on. A lot of food, medical supplies, equipment and service has been donated.
Three of my days were spent just outside the city along with 15 others building a latrine, kitchen (covered area to cook and eat under) and 9 tables for an orphanage. We employed many of the men in the neighborhood for the 3 daysspent there. It was amazing to see what they could do with the tools they had. Many of the local children brought mangos, oranges, and bread for us throughout the days. It is so easy to build relationships and fast with these people. We hated to leave the area after just that short time.
Another mission of ours was to assist doctors in hospitals. We wouldwalk into tents that had approximately 20 patients in each one. I thought it would be difficult seeing what was in those tents, imagining the injuries how could one sympathize with them. But believe it or not, the atmosphere in those tents was almost impossible. They were all astounded that we could speak Creole and that we knew so much about their culture. All of them were just happy to be alive and before long everyone was telling Haitian proverbs and singing Christian songs. Talk about Celebrating what is right.
Throughout the city there are what they call tent city’s (large masses 
of people living under sticks and bed sheets because they lost their homes) Celebrity Sean Penn set up a clinic among one of these tent cities. There were approximately 75000 people in this specific location. Word spread to Sean that our group had Creole speakers. So we spent a few days helping his group with their efforts.
These people are so poor in possession, however they are so rich in spirit. I spoke with an 86 year old lady that broke her leg, and lost her house in the quake. When I asked how she was, quickly she smiled showing her one and only tooth and responded “I am great with Jesus”. Marcia a 16 year old girl lost both of her legs after a wall fell on them. She made the comment “I don’t need my legs to live”. Throughout the duration of our trip, I spoke with over a thousand people and not one complained of their current situation! I know that when I left Haiti 6 years ago and now again last week. I have come away with a renewed gratitude for EVERYTHING that I have. I have no right to choose to be unhappy. If I do, I am limiting myself from all kinds of opportunity that life has to offer.
