It was a year ago when our 15 year old daughter told us she wanted to do something different for her 16th birthday.  Rather than receive gifts, she wanted to give to someone in need.  She didn’t want to receive any birthday gifts but instead to ask family and friends to donate money that would build a house for a needy family.  By partnering with 1Mission, Ruby was introduced to the Godinez family in Nicaragua.

Ruby began a partnership with 1MISSION and CIY with a goal of $8,000 and ended up raising over $11,000.

The day after Ruby’s 16th birthday, to her surprise, she and I boarded a plane and took off for Nicaragua with a 4 person audio/video crew to capture the curious adventure.

What a humbling and future-altering experience. 

Here is the short film that was created during her birthday and our trip to Nicaragua on Spring Break last year. This film has been shown to over 25,000 students through ciyMOVE and ciyENGAGE camps. There have been thousands of students pledge their birthdays the past 12 months.

Here are some photos I captured on our trip.