Earlier this summer we posted an article referencing the debris that we at Aquascape Environmental pick up in and around waterways as we go about our normal service activities. Much of that material is recycled, but some of it heads to the trash dumpster. However we do come across a fair number of usable sports related balls, such as footballs and soccer balls that warrant another opportunity to be “recycled” but also kept from taking up space in the landfill. Our Environmental Specialist, Matt Troxler, gave us a great suggestion for the many usable balls that we come across.
Matt told us about a mission project that his church, Burnt Hickory Church of Christ, is involved with a mission outreach program in Honduras called Mission UpReach. DESEO is a youth outreach program in Honduras that instructs values, morals, and personal health and hygiene in nine public schools using a bible based curriculum. Mission UpReach employees go into the local public schools and share the gospel through a variety of activities including crafts, plays, bible stories, etc. The program engages over 1,200 students each week. In addition, DESEO forms the umbrella for after school tutoring, sports, and music programs that help support the students while introducing them to a church family. DESEO also houses a new school for the deaf.
After hearing about this program, our team collected all the good, usable balls we found over the course of a year and sent them down with the missionaries who traveled to Honduras this summer from Burnt Hickory Church of Christ. We were glad to be able to enrich both our local environment as well as to extend the reach of Aquascape Environmental to the kids in Central America.
Life Cycle of a Lost Ball:
