Alumna Carla Hogan and husband, Elder Thoms Hogan at the airport getting ready to board for the mission trip.
Serving is what it is all about for Baker Alumna, Carla Hogan. She and her husband, Elder Thomas Hogan, have continually served in their surrounding communities, both financially and physically, coordinating blanket drives for organizations such as Alternatives for Girls, the Salvation Army and Covenant House to name a few. They also provide hot meals monthly for the downtrodden who are living on the streets of Detroit. Hogan has done such amazing work locally, she thought, “why not do this work on an international level?”
Hogan and her husband applied to go on a mission trip through Youth On A Mission (YOAM). In total there were 35 volunteers on the trip from all walks of life. The YOAM team traveled from July 14-24, 2023 to several locations, landing in Puerto Plata, and then visiting Santiago, Baiboa, and finally Santo Domingo.
Each mission trip that YOAM organizes has different goals. Some of the goals for this trip included construction projects, medical assessments, training teachers how to work with students, and much more. The YOAM team was ecstatic that they not only met the goals of the mission trip, but exceeded them.
Lessons Learned
This mission trip experience impacted Hogan greatly and was a very humbling experience for her. In America, many people can use the bathroom, flush, and clean themselves as needed. In the Dominican Republic, the septic systems outside of the resort areas are not as developed. The volunteers had to bring garbage bags to dispose of the toilet tissue they used. This was done to avoid clogging up the system and causing the toilets to go down.
Hogan also realized that she has a lot of “stuff.” She learned as an American that possessions are good, yet people can have possessions and still be miserable. The people they came across, including a 106-year-old mother and her 86-year-old daughter, who had no food in their home, were still grateful although they had nothing. Hogan felt blessed to have met these women, and was glad that she and her husband had the opportunity to fill their pantry with food.
“This mission trip impacted my life in that I realized stuff is just stuff. Serving others and working to make a difference in someone’s life is what most matters,” said Hogan. “This was not a vacation. We worked harder than we ever had and it was worth the smiles and love that was reciprocated.”
As a two time alum of Baker College, it is great to have Carla back for her Master of Business Administration degree program.