Mission Blog: www.chaliceontour.blogspot.ca
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Chalice Missions Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chalicemissions
COVID UPDATE
In Canada, we are well into receiving full vaccinations and beginning to engage in social activities once again. However, the COVID pandemic continues to impact the daily lives of our partners around the world. Chalice Canada staff have not yet been able to resume regular travel. When our international travel does resume, our focus will necessarily be on visiting our sponsor sites for operational purposes. We already know that - with God's grace - it will take a significant effort over an extended period to rebuild things. It will not be possible for our sponsor sites to host groups of volunteers until they have regained full, healthy operations. We intend to review the viability of our Mission Trip Program in 3 to 5 years. At that time, we will certainly let you know if there are any changes. If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to Sojin Kim, our International Department Administrator.
At Chalice, it is our joy to provide you with an opportunity to volunteer and experience life at our sponsor sites. Both you and those you meet will be enriched by a life changing exchange! Each trip is different in nature and experience.
The common objectives are:
- Service projects supporting the work of Chalice's partners.
- Building relationships with our partners, the families we serve, and other Canadians with a heart for service.
- Witnessing the impact of sponsorship and sharing the opportunity of sponsorship with others.
- Collectively raising financial support for the communities we visit.
- Forming Chalice Champions in Canada to help us in our mission - To reveal God's love in action by serving the poor, with the Global Catholic Community.
"It’s the most wonderful holistic experience, because you’re learning from the people you are helping, from the staff at the site, and from the members on your team. You receive so much love and joy and always want to give more." - Virlana Shchuka,
“For the Girls!” 2016 Kenya Mission
Stay connected:
If you would like to learn more about being a Chalice Champion and volunteer right here in Canada, please reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator.
Thank you for your interest in supporting our work on the ground; please consider volunteering from home as a Chalice Champion. Most importantly, please keep our Chalice community in your prayers during this critical time. God bless and keep us all safe.
Past Mission Trips
Mission Dates: October 2-22, 2019
Locations: Morogoro, Mkongo, Mjimwema & Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Chalice Sponsor Sites: Mbinga & Neema
Sponsor Children - If your sponsor child or elder's code begins with BL, MB, MG, ML MP, MS, PAN, VPO, or NEM, we visited their region.
Our site directors, Sr. Mary Grace Jacob (Neema Site) and Fr. Cino Thonakkara (Mbinga Site) invited Chalice volunteers and staff to engage with the following groups within their communities: Sisters of Visitation (Neema) and Vincentian Fathers (Mbinga), Sponsor Site Staff, Clinic Nurses, and Community Health Workers, Faith Circles (sponsorship beneficiaries), groups involved in microfinance, microenterprise, and food security, and children at the local schools, an orphanage, and a 4K Club.
Solidarity Tour to Paraguay
Mission Dates: March 2-16, 2019
Location: Villeta, Paraguay
Chalice Sponsor Site: CMAVIL - Center of Maria Auxiliadora Villeta
Sponsor Children - If your sponsor child's code begins with VIL, we visited their community!
Sor Maria Graciela Fernandez (Site Director) invited a team of 15 Chalice volunteers and four staff to engage with the following groups within the community of Villeta: Team Onondivemi (site staff), Family Circles (sponsorship beneficiaries), Animadoras (leaders from each of the Family Circles), children at the Central Abierto (Open Center), and families from a nearby Indigenous community. We primarily recruited volunteers who have a heart for service. We were also looking for volunteers who had experience in the following areas: Information Technology, finance and savings, wood and leather handicrafts, public health, family/child psychology and counselling, social work, teaching mathematics, painting and artistic skills, and coordinating events for children.
Our mission was an incredible blessing to our Chalice family in Paraguay and in Canada! You can see photos from our mission and read about it here: www.ChaliceOnTour.blogspot.ca.
Medical Mission to Haiti
Mission Dates: November 16-29, 2018
Service: Provided patient care and practitioner training in the areas of general medicine and vision, as well as public health education.
Chalice has been working in Haiti since 1997 and currently operates in three areas of the country. This mission brought us to one of these areas - our Haiti North Sponsor Site. Our partners at Haiti North are a local Non-Government Organization. The Haiti North Site impacts two communities: Terrier-Rouge and Grand-Bassin, both about halfway between Cap-Haitien and the Dominican Republic border. Each community has a local clinic, which is run by the parish, and they offer primary care services. There are approximately 700 children sponsored through Chalice in each community, each receiving support in education, health and nutrition, as well as family development. Additional support (such as water filtration and a poultry cooperative) reaches beyond sponsored children and their families to impact others in the wider community. The team provided clinical services alongside local health professionals both to learn from as well as offer training, as appropriate. 
