A joint program of Workshops With Purpose and Camp Fire Central Oregon
Open to anyone 15+ years old, BRIDGES provides participants with an educational travel experience that serves to expose them to new cultures, push them out of their comfort zones, and open their eyes and hearts to our shared global community.
The program is built on three key tenets:
The Power of Travel--to promote individual growth and inspire tolerance.
The Difference of Digging Deeper--how examining social justice issues provides a deeper understanding of our global community and inspires compassion.
The Impact of Reflection--how digesting our experiences and sharing them with others creates community and world-wide change.
Applications for BRIDGES: Thailand 2020 coming soon!
Our 2020 BRIDGES: Thailand program will run with regular meetings from June - December, including a travel experience to Thailand planned for November 2020. Throughout the program, teens and adults will work together to expand their cultural horizons, learn about the global social justice issue of human trafficking, and fundraise for travel.
Led by professional photographers, participants will also practice photography and storytelling skills in order to document and share their experiences with others during a culminating community event.
Highlights of the Thailand itinerary includes meeting with local NGOs that are working to combat human trafficking, visiting an elephant sanctuary, taking a Thai cooking class at a local organic farm, and participating in a “monk chat” with Buddhist monks.
Interested in joining us? Sign up for our BRIDGES email list to receive important information regarding our upcoming informational meeting, applications, deadlines, and general updates.
In November 2018, our BRIDGES program traveled to Thailand for an incredible 12-day journey. Along with soaking up Thai culture, exploring beautiful temples, getting up close and personal with elephants, and eating plenty of delicious food, the group also spent their time studying the global issue of human trafficking.
The group spent 6 months leading up to the trip fundraising tirelessly to make it happen and meeting weekly to study human trafficking, practice their storytelling skills, and prepare for travel.
They also spent 2 months after they returned from Thailand preparing an exhibit of their photos, videos and writing in order to share with the Central Oregon community all that they took away from their program experience, including how traveling to Thailand impacted them and what they learned about human trafficking.
The exhibit was presented to the public in February 2019. Here are the participants' exhibit pieces:
We believe that everyone deserves a chance to participate in this life-changing program and we are currently working hard to fund it again for 2020.
But we can't do it without your help! Please support our efforts with a tax-deductible donation.
