David Ricketts Legacy Trip - Nov 2026

Saturday, November 7, 2026 12:00 PM
Saturday, November 14, 2026 1:00 PM

Jarabacoa Dominican Republic (map)

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This trip offers an international service experience in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.
Below are some important details about this upcoming trip.

Apply Today

Deadline to apply for this trip is September 1, 2026.

PARTNER SUPPORT

This team will serve Seed to Sower Ministries in the Dominican Republic as we learn about their ministry and the impact they have in their community. During our time together, team members will interact with the kids from the homes and the school, the ministry staff, the house parents, and the local community that our partner serves. We will also provide financial and physical support to further aid in their year-round ministry.

Seed to Sower Ministries began with a faithful response to children in need—led by local Dominican leaders with a vision for long-term transformation. What started as a small educational effort has grown into a network of holistic care serving thousands of children and youth each year.” Serving with Seed to Sower may include moments of prayer, attending Christian church services, listening to Bible teachings & worship, and participating in other religious focused experiences.

Here is a short video overview of our partner and their ministry all over the DR.

While we partner with faith-based organizations, it is not a requirement to adhere to a specific religion or belief to join us. We strive to provide an equal opportunity to all individuals interested in our service trips, hoping that each life will be uniquely transformed. That being said, we ask each participant to be respectful of each other and of our partners, and to remain open to conversing about the things that make us different as well as the commonalities that bring us together.

SPECIAL INFO

This is an invite-only trip for family and friends of the Ricketts family. Here is an open letter from Dave’s wife, Siv Ricketts:

During Thanksgiving week 2011, when Quinn and Corban were seven and eleven years old, our family participated in a service trip to the Dominican Republic. We worked with Seed to Sower Ministries (then Kids Alive), an organization that offers life-changing care to underserved children. Our team did physical labor, led art projects at the school, played lots of soccer with the kids, and cooked and served an American Thanksgiving meal, DR style, to the teachers and their families, something for all skill levels.

A friend snapped this picture of our family with the boy* we sponsored in his home, a cinder block shelter the family had been building brick by brick over years. Four years earlier Corban had pulled me by the hand to a child sponsorship table, picked up a picture of another eight-year-old, and declared, “This is my brother. We have to help him.” At the time we were so cash-strapped that I wouldn’t buy a lipstick at the drugstore, but how could I say no to my son’s generous heart?

Four years later we stood with that boy in his home and Corban and Quinn played soccer with him at his school. It’s not an overstatement to say that week changed our family. We gained a new appreciation for “want versus need” and witnessed joy among people leading hard lives with few resources. When we returned home to Christmas commercials on TV our sons said, “This is gross! The kids in the DR don’t have any of this and they’re happy. Who needs it?” That’s not to say we never bought another Christmas gift, of course we did, but we did so with a new perspective on what truly matters: family, community, experience, service, joy.

Dave took both Corban and Quinn back to serve in the DR when they each graduated from high school. In 2023, Dave invited Quinn to co-lead a DR trip with him, and he equipped Quinn to lead future trips. Quinn led annual DR service trips from 2023-2025, with Corban participating in the July 2025 trip--a gift for them to experience as adults a place that changed them as children, and a gift for us as parents to witness our sons bonding in new ways as brothers committed to service.

We have now sponsored three boys through Seed to Sower, and Dave, Corban, and Quinn have visited with them on every trip. It feels significant to be able to contribute even just a little money as an investment in others’ lives.

As chair of the board for Here for Kids, an organization that leads service trips to support Kids Alive International, Dave organized a small team to serve with Seed to Sower in the DR April 6-12, 2026. I spoke with him on the evening of April 11 as he overflowed with joy from the work and relationships that week held. He said, “This is what I was made for!” The next morning he had a heart attack and died suddenly.

Corban and Quinn are now planning a trip to the DR during the week of November 7-14 for our family and a few friends to honor their dad’s legacy of service. We will work at the school and care homes and spend time at the beach where Dave died. Additionally, I will celebrate my birthday surrounded by family and friends, engaged in meaningful service, honoring Dave’s life.

We invite you to participate with us by praying and/or financially contributing. The trip will cost $2,400/person, and anything we raise beyond our individual needs will go towards travel costs for others on our team and to the organizations we will serve. We trust that, through people like you, we will be able to raise the necessary funds for our team to share this life-changing week together.

Corban, Quinn, and I remain so grateful for the many ways you have already supported us in life and in this recent grief, and we’re so grateful for your support as we move forward in healing. Dave was all in on living fully each moment and loving and serving people in every way possible. He continues to be our inspiration.

*names intentionally withheld

- Siv Ricketts

TEAM CAPTAINS

Your Team Captain for this trip will be Corban Ricketts & Quinn Ricketts. Here is a message from them:

My first trip to the DR was with my family during Thanksgiving week 2011. That trip was life changing for each of us and truly showed us a new path to walk as a family. I have gone back twice since then, and each time God has shown me new things. The Dominican Republic and her people are so beautiful and full of life, and a week spent serving there is an experience I wish everyone could have because of how impactful it is.
I feel called to serve again in the DR this year because of how my relationship with Jesus Christ changed when I was in the DR July 2025. Without all the distractions of daily life and our technology-based society, I was able to feel God calling to me and opening my ears and eyes to what He wanted to show me. I now feel called to incorporate missions into my life on a regular basis because of God’s calling!
- Corban Ricketts
The Dominican Republic has changed my life. Our first trip influenced the way we operated as a family and the way I saw the world. When I graduated high school my dad led a DR trip with MVPC and I got to participate with a group of my classmates. Going back reignited my love for the country, and further instilled in me my father's passion for service trips. The next year he asked if I'd want to lead a trip alongside him, and it was one of the best weeks of my life. It was only recently that I realized my dad was preparing me to continue his legacy of mission service. have had the opportunity to lead two more trips and, at this point, a year feels incomplete without a DR trip.
Our trip this November will have different significance as it’s in memory of our father, who tragically passed away in the Dominican Republic after serving for a week in April. He worked in churches his entire career and was an ordained pastor for over 20 years, and his passion for service, including with the people of the Dominican Republic, was infectious. He has inspired both of us to continue serving in his stead. This will be Quinn’s 6th trip and my 4th, and we are so excited to lead this team for our family and friends!
- Quinn Ricketts

HEALTH & SAFETY

Here For Kids strives to be diligent in protecting both our team members and the sites that we serve. HFK will purchase health insurance coverage for the duration of your trip and provide masks for you to wear during travel if desired.

To learn more about health & safety protocols, check out our FAQ’s here.

TIME COMMITMENT

Team members of this trip are expected to:

Attend two virtual pre-trip meetings with the team prior to traveling.
Participate in a week-long international service trip.
- Depart November 7, 2026 & Return November 14, 2026.
Attend at least one virtual post-trip meeting with the team after returning.

PHYSICAL DONATIONS

On each of our service trips, we provide physical, or in-kind, donations to our partners. We encourage each participant to gather requested donation items as part of their trip preparation. Each international partner has different donation requests which will be communicated to you during pre-trip communication and meetings. We ask all trip participants to limit the packing of personal travel items to their carry-on bag and backpack so that partner donations can travel in any checked baggage.

You can learn more here.

FINANCIAL COMMITMENT

Below is the breakdown of the costs associated with this service trip. Once your application is accepted, you will be asked to pay a $480 deposit to secure your spot on the team. Then, you will be required to follow the funding milestones on your Go Method profile to stay up to date on your trip payments. The total trip payment is due no later than 14 days before the departure of your trip.

Breakdown of Cost:

$1,100 - Airfare and Baggage Fees
$450 - Kids Alive in country costs (Food, lodging, project costs)
$500 - Kids Alive Childcare and Rescue Funds (Donation to support continued care for children and program growth)
$100 - HFK Operations & Care Package
$50 - Travel Insurance
$200- In-Country Excursion

$2,400 Total Trip Cost

FUNDRAISING & SCHOLARSHIPS

All trip participants are encouraged to fundraise to complete their total trip cost. To aid you in this process we recommend creating a Personal Support Page on Go Method. Once created, you can share this page as a personal fundraising link with your friends, family, and community for support. We also provide a Fundraising Info Sheet and a Fundraising Letter Template to assist you in the fundraising process. These and other Service Trip Resources can be found here.

For this trip, in addition to fundraising, we are offering the following types of scholarships for team participants that need financial assistance to complete total trip payments.

15% Scholarship
30% Scholarship

You can apply for a scholarship during the application process. Scholarship funds are limited and will only be awarded to participants on an as-needed basis. All scholarship recipients will be required to write a “Donor Thank You Letter” upon returning from their trip.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Trip schedules may vary but typically include:

Working on service projects alongside our partners.
Engaging in nightly devotionals and bonding activities with your team.
Having fun with kids and partner staff through sports, games, and other activities.
Being present during moments of prayer and worship.
Spending time in self-reflection to promote spiritual growth.
Learning ways you can support partner sites beyond your time in country.
Exploring the beauty of the country you travel to during a park visit, beach day, hike, or other excursion activity.

To see what we have done on past trips to the Dominican Republic, click here.