Pleasant Surprise – How Escalon Is Our Family Trip Destination

 by Ana Weinand

What made you decide to step up and go on a RetailROI trip?

My 15 year old daughter Mia has wanted to go ever since hearing about it from her father, David Weinand and reading Austin Gutwein’s book. I never dreamed I would actually be the one to be able to take her. When the opportunity came up, the stars aligned and we were able to make the trip.

How did this trip affect you?

In 2-4 sentences? Not easy to say, but the immediate impact was that it was one of the most amazing experience of my life! I heard the words, “I don’t want to leave!” and “When can we come back?” come out of my child’s mouth as many times in a muddy village in Honduras where people have nothing as it did when we were on vacation that summer. I will never forget the enormous smiles on the faces of the people in the village and Plan Escalon. Everyone was so full of joy and that has continued to inspire me in more ways than I can express.

What would you say to someone who is thinking about going on a trip but hasn’t “stepped up“ yet?

“Seeing IS believing.“ “Practice what you preach.“ As parents, we often tell our girls to do good works and they do a lot here at home, but to expand that into the bigger world was a wonderful experience. I know I cannot adequately describe what it feels like to put a pair of shoes on the feet of a child who has never worn a pair – to see the smile on his or her face, to hear the giggles of joy, to have someone tug on your shirt and bring you to their sister to show you her bare feet and say, “Por favor?“ and then you give her shoes? Wow. “All people smile in the same language.“

Share one thing you learned while on your trip that has stuck with you?

I could have brought 20 more pairs of shoes! The need is so great, but it isn’t overwhelming if we ALL step up a little bit more…a little bit more…a little bit more. The thing that stuck with me the most was THE KIDS – both in our group and from Plan Escalon. The RetailROI kids were AMAZING! They all jumped right in. When we arrived at the village they started interacting with the children there almost immediately. The energy they brought was contagious and soon the children from the village joined them in games of patty-cake and soccer! The Plan Escalon children were so wonderful everywhere we went; the village, the classrooms, the kitchen, the micro-businesses – the volleyball game! AMAZING!