LENDING A HELPING HAND

There is no shortage of selflessness around here!

- Fred Lester

My first short-term mission experience was to La Ceiba, Honduras, in February 1999, following its destruction by Hurricane Mitch months earlier. Upon my return home from La Ceiba, my brother and business partner, David, was killed in an ultralight accident— a catalyst to my future. Shortly thereafter, in October 1999, I volunteered with another team travelling to Petrolina, Brazil, to work on building a church/soup kitchen.

On a side note, my professional career— from which my skills to carry out volunteer initiatives stem—has been spent primarily in the area of institutional construction in Ontario. For almost 30 years, our family business has renovated government buildings—schools, hospitals, military installations, offices and so on. I studied accounting to manage the company and achieved various accreditations for project management, but most of the knowledge I gained was derived through experience. Our family business continues on to this day, however, I stepped away from my role in 2007.

But let’s not get off track. In March of 2002, I took another trip to Taboão da Serra, with a different group of volunteers to build a second-level church and social room.