Jessica, a young woman in her late thirties, recently approached me after a school board meeting. With great feeling, she said, “Jack, I want to thank you for changing my life when I was a kid.” I knew her; she was a participant in our very first Trekkers expedition in 1994.

I was moved to tears, and stunned. Why stunned? Because in those early days Trekkers was such a small program—a 7th grade trip and a service project to Hurricane Island in the 8th grade. But what we provided Jessica and friends was a whole lot of time spent with them informally—caring, building trust, modeling, listening. She reminded me: it was enough to change her life.

Nowadays Trekkers has a full six-year program, well planned and executed with all the ingredients to help build young lives. Thankfully, building meaningful relationships is still at the core of Trekkers’ mission. As a result, more and more lives are being changed. Jessica has a daughter in the 7th grade who recently became a second-generation Trekker!

I have included Trekkers in my estate plans because I want Trekkers to go on changing young lives long after I’m gone . . . not only to benefit Jessica’s daughter and my granddaughters currently in the program, but for their children and coming generations!

– Jack Carpenter

Names have been changed