Hesitation Leads to Gratification

by Victoria Rose

I have been encouraged for years to join a RetailROI trip, but never found the time. In the spirit of full disclosure, the idea of traipsing thru the jungle wasn’t that appealing to me, and it was pretty easy to not find the time. This January at NRF, I was again approached (some might say ambushed) by the persistent team members to join them in March, and I finally agreed. I can honestly say that I now consider myself privileged to have been able to get involved.

We visited a school called Plan Escalon in La Entrada, Honduras. Plan Escalon loosely translates from Spanish to “a plan to elevate,” and is used to describe the efforts to help children move beyond poverty, broken families, and hopelessness. The campus houses 500 students and educates 600, offering 3 meals a day, classes 7 days a week, and the path to a secondary education. In addition to the core school curriculum, students receive job and life-skills training, and are involved in operating micro-businesses, including bakery, coffee, and retail enterprises. The end goal is to enable them to become employable, contributing members of the economy, and ultimately, to positively impact the future of Honduras.

The absolute highlight of my experience was a trip we took to deliver food, medicine, school supplies, and toys to a small mountain village about 2 hours outside (and up a mountain!) of La Entrada. These families were the epitome of what Plan Escalon is trying to change – children who should have been in school but weren’t, kids with rotting teeth, and barely-teen moms with babies. Each of these little faces was smiling because there were visitors (and we were “gringos,” apparently quite a treat!). They were all so excited to receive a thin backpack with 2 pencils, a notebook, and an eraser; and there was near-hysteria to get a sticker on their shirt or book.

In addition to the obvious satisfaction I derived from the trip itself, I had the opportunity to engage with peers from the retail community, and developed contacts that I might not have been able to make in such a relaxed and informal way. I don’t believe it is really possible to adequately share in words what my experience was like and the impact it had on me. There is, of course, the personal gratification of having helped a worthy cause, but there is so much more; and I am looking forward to increasing my involvement with Plan Escalon and RetailROI.