Creating impact together: Strengthening community through service

Creating impact together: Strengthening community through service

“I felt the calling to be a teacher,” says Maria Patt, a six-year teaching veteran at New Life Presbyterian School in Belize. She is one of the many dedicated school staff members that Co-Impact Teams are inspired by when they serve on a Co-Impact team. For Maria, and many others, teaching is a form of ministry. “I just feel it in my heart,” she says.

Co-Impact teams help teachers like Maria make meaningful change in their communities. EduDeo’s partners are the experts on what their schools and communities need most. Co-Impact teams support their vision by completing practical service projects and cultivating genuine relationships that uplift and encourage.

Earlier this year, New Life hosted a Co-Impact team from Rehoboth United Reformed Church (ON). Maria says it is a blessing when teams come to the school. “Serving others, leaving your comfort zone, being God’s image, helping fix the bathroom; whatever you do, it makes an impact,” she says. She believes that when Co-Impact teams develop relationships and pour into the lives of the students, those blessings extend to the staff and the community as well.

When a Co-Impact team supports a school like New Life, it means investing together in students who will grow up to make a positive impact themselves. Since only some of the students at New Life have grown up in Christian homes, Maria says that teaching is a way to share hope and plant seeds in their hearts that can flourish later. “Christ-centred education is important to the community,” Maria says, “because when those values are instilled in students from a young age, they’ll make a difference in life and a difference in the community.”

Co-Impact teams can also set an example of service for students to emulate. “The students can see how others are getting out of their comfort zone to serve the school,” explains Maria. Her prayer is that this will inspire students to serve in similar ways in the future.

Sometimes the most meaningful impact can look small, like simply being present. “Even if you come to school without doing any infrastructure work, just coming to the school to give a lesson or do art with the students, it's an impact,” says Maria. “For them, it's an experience and a blessing that can't compare to anything else.”

Although supporting partners through funds and practical projects is important, Maria says that, ultimately, the real benefits are the connections and relationships Co-Impact teams build with the staff, students, and community.

“It’s not all about money,” she says. “It’s about the ministry you’re doing. It’s about what you’re leaving. It’s about what you’re instilling in the students and the community. Just coming to our school leaves an impact. That’s what is most important.”

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Do you want to serve alongside schools like New Life with a Co-Impact team? You can learn more about Co-Impact teams here, or connect with us at [email protected].