Hello All,

I am Keegan Gilbert and this upcoming July I will be travelling to Pursat, Cambodia to serve the local people in construction projects and teaching English, vocational skills, health practices, and business skills. In addition to the service, we will engage in cultural exchanges to learn more about the lifestyle in Cambodia and to build a relationship with the people we serve. Before I ask any of you to donate to my service trip, I would like you to know more about me and what I stand for.

One of the biggest parts of my life is school, and often this takes up most of my time. I am a Junior at Juan Diego Catholic High School and am heavily involved in the school's leadership programs. I am a student Ambassador, a mentor to a group of Freshman students, and a part of the Student Faith and Liturgy Committee. Additionally, I am on National Honor Society and I pride myself in maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Finally, one of my favorite parts of high school is being involved in sports, and I am a varsity cross country runner and varsity soccer player. Outside of school, I have also been a Game Day Intern for Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals since August 2017. While much of my time is spent at school and almost all my time on week nights is devoted to homework, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, and a majority of my time outside of school is spent with these close loved ones. 

However, the reason that I so wanted to get involved in this Youthlinc trip is because of my love of serving others and my desire to be immersed in and learn the culture of others. I have always loved serving others in my own community and especially going on mission trips with my church youth group to serve others in need/those who are unable to complete much needed tasks. One of my favorite things about this service is being able to bond with and listen to the stories of those I serve, and seeing the smiles on their faces because of the help we are providing. The reason that I want to extend my service outside of my local community, internationally, is because of the many positive stories I have heard from the experiences of other Youtlinc participants and from my own experience in service. Friends of mine who have been on a Youthlinc trip have only had positive feedback and have told me how meaningful the service and connections were that they built, both with their fellow team members and with the individuals they served. Additionally, I have often learned so much more from the people I serve than I could ever teach them, and in Cambodia I hope to learn about and be immersed in the local culture, and learn about the simple beauties of life that allow these people to live such happy lives regardless of their situation - please take a moment to watch this video to get a glimpse into the Youthlinc experience.

Before I can make my way halfway around the world for the experience of a lifetime, I get to complete at least 80 hours in my local community. I have selected St. Mark's Hospital as the main site at which I will be completing this service, due to my interest in the medical field and my desire to help those in need. At St. Mark's Hospital I will be volunteering in the OR Waiting Room, assisting the families of the patients undergoing/recovering from surgeries. I am very excited for this opportunity and hope to explore my interest of the medical field.

However, in order to experience this opportunity of a lifetime that I expect to be nothing short of a life changing experience, I need to raise a total of $3,500 which will go toward travel, accomodation, and everything we will be doing on site in Cambodia. In addition, Youthlinc teams up with Big Brothers Big Sisters Utah for a clothing donation fundraiser. The proceeds of this drive will fund our committee projects. I am required to collect 450 lbs of clothing to help my team meet our goal of 11,000 lbs. I would really appreciate all of your support and generosity, and if you feel so inclined every donation matters and will take me one step closer to this dream. For clothing donations please contact me at: keegan.j.gilbert@gmail.com.

To all donors:

1. Donations are tax deductable for the upcoming year if donated before December 31, 2019, and donations after this date will be tax deductable for the following year. All of the necessary information will be emailed to the donor.
2. I will personally send you a post trip email with pictures and a summary of all we were able to accomplish thanks to YOUR generous support!

Thank you all! :)

My donation track is as follows: