P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada - +1 905-684-1889
Ridley College supports and creates opportunities for students to be consumed in service on global service trips, allowing them to broaden their horizons, make a positive impact and create lasting memories while giving back to communities around the world.
Our commitment to service, embodied in our school motto Terar Dum Prosim, is more than just words. Service helps students develop strengths in empathy, compassion, and kindness while emphasizing the importance of giving. People feel a deeper sense of fulfilment and meaning in their lives when they give to others, and our students learn to realize and appreciate this as one of the pillars of a flourishing life.
We create opportunities for students to experience the transformational power of global service trips. We have partnered with the Doppenbergs in Guatemala (DIG) and the Jacaranda School for Orphans in Malawi, among other organizations, to take students beyond the classroom and into the heart of different cultures to give back.
Our service trips enable students to:
This long-standing service trip to Guatemala is in partnership with the Doppenbergs, a local Niagara family, who packed up their lives and followed their hearts to Central America after witnessing the conditions. Rita and Geoff Doppenberg and their three children now live in Jutiapa, where they work tirelessly with the indigenous Mayan people. The Doppenberg’s main mission is to abolish malnourishment through education and empowerment. Their work is truly making a difference in the lives of Guatemala’s most impoverished citizens, and their kindness and generosity is inspiring.
On this service trip, students will have many opportunities to service the people of Guatemala, with a direct focus on nutrition, health, personal empowerment, and sustainability. Alongside the Doppenbergs, Ridleians will help install new stoves to improve lung health in remote Mayan villages and help with the English program at their school in the afternoon.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
Founded by CNN Hero, Marie Da Silva, The Jacaranda School in Malawi, Africa, is a haven where orphans impacted by HIV/AIDS come to realize a better life through access to education, nutrition, and medical care. The multi-building school has more than 400 students enrolled and ever-expanding needs.
For the fourth year, Ridleians have the opportunity to visit The Jacaranda School, where they will interact with its students and teachers while they learn about its unique culture and circumstance. Ridleians and Jacaranda students will participate in collaborative lessons that focus on their passions as well as a core academic subject.
Students will spend time in classrooms or outdoor learning spaces assisting in a lesson or teaching a lesson. They will also get to participate in community service projects in the local villages near the school, renovating a student’s home or helping build a new home for a family. On the final weekend, students will go on a local safari to see some of the African animals in the wild.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
We are pleased to offer the Thailand Service Trip at Ridley College again this year, which will provide a fantastic chance to participate in global service while also experiencing the history and culture of this beautiful country. The service activities will include helping GreenKayak keep Bang Krachao clean in Bangkok, assisting the Royal Thai Navy Sea Turtle Conservation in cleaning sea turtles and their homes as part of habitat restoration, visiting the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) to participate and learn about their animal rescue projects and work with the Royal Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in Phuket to rescue, rehabilitate and reintroduce gibbons into their natural habitat after they have been poached or mistreated.
Along with supporting these organizations, students will also help with smaller community-based projects such as Days for Girls, which provides access to menstrual health education and sustainable hygiene products, empowering women and girls to manage their periods with dignity. Students will help create and distribute these kits to a village in Northern Thailand. We will also work with Rescue Kitchen, where students will cook and deliver traditional Thai meals to underprivileged communities within the Chaing Mai area. Finally, Students will support Pang Hai Village’s Northern Green Roads Project by helping to create sustainable, eco-friendly roads using local materials, contributing to improving infrastructure and the overall development of the northern Thailand community.
In addition to these service opportunities, students will have many opportunities to visit Thai markets, tour Buddhist temples and experience the majestic landscapes of Thailand.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
