ReEmployAbility has partnered with over 40,000 Not-for-Profits around the country to provide service opportunities to injured workers who participated in our Transition2Work® Return-to-Work program. Through an in-house volunteer effort, our Senior Leadership Team has encouraged all team members to participate in a company-sponsored volunteer program, ReEmployAbility in the Community. Our team members have shown great support as they have provided immense services to many nonprofits within our network. In July, one team member, Tyler Hundley, went above and beyond, as he crossed continental borders to change the lives of many children in the beautiful country of Peru.
Creating Change for Kids Around the World
Over twenty years ago a team of volunteers traveled to Ukraine to build a playground for children in need. Kids Around the World has continued to “partner and network with like-minded churches, organizations, and individuals to globally impact the lives of children”. The organization’s vision is to impact the lives of millions of children through their many outreach programs and the teachings of the Gospel message. Staff members and volunteers train hard with a focus on methods and strategies that would aid in creating environments where children have the opportunity to be nurtured, so they too can make an impact in their communities.
Since its conception, the organization has built over 800 playgrounds, shipped over 27,000,000 meals, and nearly 20,000 KIDStory Clubs have been launched; “providing continuous storytelling methodology centered on Jesus’s hope”. Even with all that Kids Around the World has achieved, their mission is never complete. Statistics from their website state, “50 million children under age 5 suffer from severe malnutrition, and 300 million children live in areas of conflict who are exposed to violence and trauma.” With compassionate volunteers such as Tyler Hundley, they are closer to reaching their goals every year.
Providing Playgrounds for Peruvian Youths
We have been pleased to have Tyler on the team as a Placement Representative at ReEmployAbility since the beginning of the year. As an upcoming senior at Florida State University, Tyler will continue to make an impact in the company culture as he furthers his education. Besides being a student and fulfilling his duties at ReEmployAbility, Tyler has recently travelled to Peru to donate his time and workmanship to Kids Around the World, a nonprofit whose mission is to “share God’s transforming hope with kids and their communities through food, play and story”. He has been an active volunteer with Kids Around the World since 2014, completing acts of service such as building playgrounds, and leading their meal-packing events for developing nations. For his first two years at the nonprofit, Tyler participated in 5-10 meal packing events hosted in Southern California. His first Global Outreach Trip took place in 2016, in Tijuana, Mexico, where he reconstructed an unsafe and unusable playground then assisted in building an outfield wall at a local baseball field.
There is nothing more fulfilling than bringing joy to children, and for Tyler a lot of hard work came with that. While volunteering in Peru, he assembled a T-swing set, dug holes for structures, mixed concrete to fill structured holes, and adjoined pieces of the slides. While he was doing this construction, not only was he building playgrounds, he was also building relationships with the local children. He taught them craftmanship and tool handling, while keeping the atmosphere fun and entertaining with games of tag and soccer. Talk about a full day’s work!
When asked why he chose to volunteer at Kids Around the World, Tyler stated, “I love this organization because it helps to provide a source of play for children in underdeveloped communities. For this trip, I helped build a playground in a small rural town in Peru. The joy that I got to bring to these children was incredibly fulfilling and I intend to volunteer with this program again.” He goes on to say, “I would highly recommend others to volunteer with this nonprofit.”
Programs & Global Outreach
Every few weeks Kids Around the World organize their playground builds with a variety of groups through their Play program. The Kids Around the World team believe that “playgrounds communicate the value of the child and of childhood”. Kids Around the World aim to create environments in communities, schools, orphanages, refugee camps, and churches where they can help their partners minister to young hearts. Find out more about this program at https://kidsaroundtheworld.com/play/
Kids Around the World move in their mission through a spiritual connection with God. With this, they have developed an effective teaching strategy to reach kids in all cultures – domestic and abroad – with the “good news of Jesus and His story”. Their methodology called KIDStory was developed so their partners can learn to model Jesus’ method of teaching through Biblical storytelling, interactive experiences and meaningful discussions. Click the link to learn more about KIDStory.
Travel with one of the Kids Around the World teams to impact children and their communities and help provide a brighter future for those in need. Do you want to participate in a Kids Around the World Global Outreach Trip? Visit https://kidsaroundtheworld.com/getinvolved/#impact to see all the trips available.
The OneMeal program was created to ensure that tens of thousands of impoverished kids have a warm, nutritious meal everyday. The meal-packing events are sponsored by partners and volunteers and then hosted across the country as a great team building exercise, full of high-energy and meaningful service. Click the link to learn more about OneMeal and how you can give back.
If you or someone you know would like to learn more about Kids Around the World and all they do, visit www.kidsaroundtheworld.com. For more stories about ReEmployAbility in the Community visit our Community Impact page.
Listen to Tyler’s perspective on his experience in Peru with ReAudio Podcast host Todd Loomis. Episode 55 – The 14,000 Foot Playground, and all things ReAudio are available at www.listentorea.com.
