GVYU TRIPS THROUGH THE YEARS
Over the past two years, YU’s frontline workers have revitalized overnight youth trips. Once a YU staple, trips were paused during the pandemic, but now, we’re traveling to the Okanagan, Vancouver Island, Oregon, California, and beyond. Veteran YU youth worker Arlene Friesen explains why these trips matter now more than ever:
"Kids don’t even have their own family vacations anymore. There’s not much time to disconnect and unwind from social media. To have no pressure, to go on a trip and have someone take care of them and love them? That’s important. One kid told me: ‘I haven’t touched my phone in three days. This is the best trip ever!’”
"Trips not only fortify and deepen my relationships with youth; they also help these friend groups of youth become a little bit tighter... trips help youth feel joy and connectiveness with others."
— Mike Willms
"Trips with youth change the conversation. When you spend all parts of multiple days together, you have time to linger, to ask questions, to come back again and again to their thoughts on God and faith. Trips change relationships from teens you sort of know to teens you know deeply—and who know you. Time away cements things in a deep and rich way."
— Jen Hubbard
