High School Senior Donates School Bus to Mexican Village
When he saw how hard it was for students to get to and from school, he knew he had to help.
Some people travel to Mexico to drink margaritas and sit on white sand beaches (no judgement, everyone needs a break!). Others go to give back.
High school senior Dylan Ence definitely falls into the latter category. He first visited Mexico with his family when he was a freshman. They traveled from their home in St. George, UT to a small village called Patamban in the state of Michoacan de Ocampo.
After seeing how students in the village were living in poverty, his family purchased sports equipment and donated it to the local school for their physical education classes. But Ence wanted to do more. When he learned that students at the school often stayed there overnight for days, sometimes weeks, due to the long distances they had to walk to get to class, he came up with the idea to donate a school bus.
"I had heard of groups that have donated them, so I was like, 'Well, why can't I do that myself?'" he told the St. George News .
"Shoot for something big, and maybe we can make a change." - Dylan Ence
Soon after, Ence purchased a retired school bus from an auction site in Minnesota. Once he had the bus back in Utah, he began collecting donations of school supplies and sports equipment to bring with him on the bus.
So far, Ence has raised over $5,000 to help pay for the bus and buy supplies. His school even held a "Sock-tober" event where they collected socks that will be donated to the village.
While the donations continue to roll in, Ence is working out the details with state and Mexico officials to make sure the trip over the border goes smoothly. He plans to leave for his trip on December 19th. Ence's family, and another family from Patamban, will join him on the bus ride, which is expected to take three days.
Ence updated his fundraising page a day ago to show his appreciation to everyone that has donated to his cause.
"Thanks for spreading the word about my project to your friends, and you personally helping me do this. I could never imagined anything this big without all of you."
You can contribute to Dylan's fundraiser by clicking here .
(Source: images St. George News )