For the past three years, Kelly Rick and daughters Sydney and Avery, have packed bags for a getaway to Honduras.
It’s not a vacation. In fact, this recent July junket served as another teaching moment for the Rick siblings, a chance to understand their place in the world and how they connect to the Earth community.
Kelly Rick, a physics and chemistry teacher at Monroe High School, joined the Students Helping Honduras movement initiated by Japanese-American philanthropist, Shin Fujiyama, and his sister, Cosmo Fujiyama, which involves construction of schools throughout the Central America country. Her daughters showed expected reluctance initially.
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Despite friends and family who warned against traveling to Honduras with concerns about safety, malaria, and no air conditioning, Rick had a one-sided conversation before their first trip.
“You’re coming with me to Honduras. I wanted them to experience what it’s like for people who don’t have the advantages we have. Yes, quite frankly, I made them go. And, no, they were not happy with my demands initially,” Rick confessed during a June conversation inside Brookwood Restaurant, a popular Hamilton Twp. eatery owned by her family, including husband, Jeff, a retired Lawrence High School teacher.
Rick explained that while cycles of poverty exist in the U.S., so to do circles of wealth.
“We live in Pennington, a very affluent community where teens and young adults drive expensive cars — BMWs, Rubicons, Teslas, you name it — and want for nothing,” explained Rick, before offering a $64,000 question.
“The question became, ‘How do Jeff and I break that sense of entitlement?’ How does any parent convince their children that they need to be grateful for something when they don’t realize they’ve been blessed because everyone around them enjoys similar (wealth)?”
Pennington, a one-square mile borough in Mercer County, about 10 miles north of New Jersey’s state Capitol Trenton, includes approximately 2,600 residents with an average household income near $165,000 and median property values close to $563,000. Both rank as twice the national average of$81,000 and $281,000, respectively.
“We try to teach our girls that this affluence we have is not normal, it’s not even close to how the rest of the world lives. We are literally one drop in a bucket. We’re just fortunate to be part of that drop. So, yes, that’s one of the main reasons we head off to Honduras,” Rick noted.
The Rick’s Honduras connection began with Avery (now 15), who at 13 years old turned a $10 gift from St. Matthews Episcopal Church of Pennington into an outreach that raised hundreds of dollars used to purchase items for children in Honduras. A St. Matthews priest had instructed youth to spend the money however they pleased and Avery Rick became a young philanthropist.
The 2024 summer trip to Honduras included Kelly Rick, Dori Alvich, retired superintendent of Monroe Twp. Public Schools, and her daughter, Danika, two teachers from Monroe High and several teachers from Lawrence High.
Alyssa Katz, coordinator of the Students Helping Honduras Club at Lawrence High, had preceded locals to a town named El Progresso. Before that departure, Sydney Rick, 18, had received inspiration from a Hopewell Valley educator. In June, that teacher made this observation as Sydney packed boxes of items being shipped to Honduras.
“Sydney, you make such an effort to take care of others,” he offered. The affirmation, well, anyone can imagine the impact that compliment had on the senior who has just started her first year at Stockton University.
“Of course, it made me feel good. You, know, until then, I never really noticed that in myself. I was just being me,” Sydney Rick, a talented track and field pole vaulter and accomplished student, said.
Caring for others rates as more a learned quality than one we arrive with on Earth at birth. Parents, spiritual leaders, teachers, friends and a litany of other forces help to cultivate positive attributes. Benevolence has become part of DNA belonging to Avery and Sydney.
“Kids are just kids and most of the time they have no idea of the power they have to change their community or the world. Hey, a lot of adults don’t understand that,” Kelly Rick said.
“Passion is such an amazing attribute. When a person finds his or her passion in life, wow, it can take you many places where you believe truly you can make a difference whether it’s in Honduras, Trenton, wherever.”
Imagine the passion in play at Lawrence High as Katz inspires students not only to believe they can help others but to move, understanding that love as an action verb dwarfs love as a noun.
Rick delivered both parental and pastoral insights as our conversation ended.
“I believe in the St. Francis prayer that in giving, we receive, maybe not in the moment but somewhere in life, good and love offers a tremendous return on investment,” Rick assured.
A Dalai Lama famous quote notes: “Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.
“Every person should consider their ripple potential, what they want to do with their lives. Hopefully, it’s not just about money and material stuff,” Rick said.
“Jeff and I want Avery and Sydney to have a ripple effect with their lives. They will make the world a better place.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 08:32:00
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