The Highlands High School football program in Fort Thomas, Kentucky is regarded as one of the premier high school programs in the country. They have won a total of 19 state championships, and recently won their third straight title in 2009! Their success on the field is more than many other teams could even dream; however, head coach Dale Mueller has always said that there is something bigger to be accomplished. This mentality made it possible for the team to extend their success beyond the field.

Beginning in 2005, the Highlands football team started a tradition of community service. The idea was suggested by coach Mueller’s wife and youngest daughter. They believed that it is important for the team to do something that will bless other people. Each spring the football team chooses someone or a charity that could benefit from a financial blessing. They spend an entire day helping people throughout the community of Fort Thomas with work around their homes. Coach Mueller explains, “Our annual Spring Clean has three goals.

1. Raise money for someone in need.
2. Help the people we are working for.
3. Become better men and football players.”

The players take great pride in being able to help the community each year. Much of the work they do is outdoor yard work that is very labor intensive.  This might include removing tree branches, mulching, digging, etc.

This work is always much appreciated because the team helps people who may not otherwise be able to accomplish the work themselves; but, with the Highlands Football team, the work is finished in just one day.

Ty Seidl, a senior on Highlands Football team, described how much the day means to him by saying “It really feels great to give back to the community that supports us all year long, and bless a family in El Salvador.” Ty spent the day of service removing trees and vines throughout a homeowner’s property.

This year The Fuller Center for Housing is happy to announce that the Highlands Football team has raised just over $5,000 to sponsor a house in El Salvador.  Their tremendous generosity and hard work truly displays a servant’s heart.

The team found out about the Fuller Center’s building projects in El Salvador through one of their coaches. Lance Durbin, who coaches wide receivers for the championship team has been working with Highlands students for several years as a volunteer with the local Younglife program as well as the football program. Lance began coming to El Salvador with Serve Beyond Cincinnati, a group from the University of Cincinnati, in December 2007. He later led other groups down to work with the Fuller Center and recently spent 2.5 months volunteering in El Salvador. Lance says he is proud that several of the things he is most passionate about in life have come together through this project which will ultimately come together as shelter for a deserving family in El Salvador.

University of Cincinnati

Students from the University of Cincinnati once again visited El Salvador for an Alternative Spring Break. Between March 20 – 27, ten students chose to spend their break from school building homes and getting dirty while having many adventures along the way. The students were representatives of the UC service group Serve Beyond Cincinnati which has been sending groups to El Salvador through the Fuller Center since December 2007.

One student, Lane Hart, managed to leave Cincinnati early in order to spend a few extra days exploring El Salvador on his own. He took the opportunity to check out the sites in San Salvador, go on a zip-line canopy tour, and taste lots of local treats. Check out his travel blog here for ideas about your next visit to El Salvador.

After Lane was joined by the rest of the team, the group set out on a few adventures before getting to work on Monday. The first step was a day at the beach which culminated in group surfing lessons in the beach town of El Zonte. After a Sunday church service the team visited a local market before hiking at La Puerta del Diablo (The Door of the Devil).

The small group did a ton of work in 5 days. Their first task was to finish a Greater Blessings project in Chiltiupan by pouring a floor for a family in an existing home. Back at Villa Fuller, they spent the next day pouring the walls for a new home alongside a small group of local workers. For the same house, the team spent time in the remaining part of the week stripping forms from the newly poured house, preparing the floor, and pouring a new concrete floor. On other homes around the project team members helped prepare the steel wire mesh for a new duplex and apply the exterior decobloc surface to nearly finished homes.

Lance Durbin, a former Fuller Center El Salvador trip participant and trip leader from the University of Cincinnati, also joined the group by the end of the weekend. Lance will be living and working with the Fuller Center in El Salvador as a business and finance coop student until the end of May. Among many things, Lance will be working to create sustainable business plans that could fit within several of our project communities. The businesses will aim to create skills, provide jobs, and promote economic viability within El Salvador.

2 Baptist Churches + 2

Between April 2 – 10,  we were visited by a small group representing the First Baptist Churches of Dayton and Springfield, Ohio. The team was led by Rev. Dr. Kenneth C. Whitt, of Springfield, Ohio, who is also the father of Fuller Center El Salvador staff Micah Whitt. Adding to the family reunion was Micah’s sister Lauren and brother-in-law Jeff Akers from Columbus, Ohio who joined the group for the workweek after an adventurous 3-day weekend. We battled the holiday beach traffic, hiked around the Devil’s Door, surfed the waves, explored the caves, and sampled all the local flavors we could handle.

Work started Tuesday morning and continued through Friday. The 7-person team fought some extreme temperatures while moving and compacting lots of dirt, making concrete and pouring a sidewalk, patching walls, and applying decobloc.

Beyond moving dirt and pouring concrete, most people in the group took a lot of initiative in getting to know the local people. They took the time to learn the stories of the local Fuller Center staff and of the volunteers working toward their new home. Rev. Whitt (as well as a few other volunteers) felt blessed with a level of Spanish speaking skills that allowed them to also take time to speak with and learn from the families currently living in Villa Fuller. Whitt says he spoke to each family about their hopes and their dreams for their lives and their children’s lives. He spoke with the families about education and about setting up their lives for success.

While at the work site, several members of the volunteer team, local Fuller Center staff, and community members also managed to squeeze in a daily game of soccer after lunch and before returning to work. While playing in work boots and already being tired may have made the games more challenging, and probably delayed the start of afternoon productivity, the experiences were more than valuable to everyone. Sports can be one of those universal languages that brings everyone together, crosses boundaries, and strengthens bonds.

The 5 person group from the Dayton-Springfield area spent a second week around El Salvador visiting the ministry sites of the American Baptist International Ministries Association in El Salvador. ABC Missionary Kim Kushner coordinated the second part of the groups trip in order for their home churches to be able to learn more about what Baptists are doing in and how the church families can become involved in El Salvador over a long term basis.