India Partnership Update: Applications Open for 2025 Pilgrimage, Sponsors Needed
Applications Open for 2025 Pilgrimage
The next First Church pilgrimage to India will be January 1 – 15, 2025. This pilgrimage is both a rich and taxing experience.
The rich experience comes in the encounter with our Unitarian siblings from across the world, opportunities to worship and reflect on your faith, and being embraced in a loving culture of the Children’s Village.
It is also taxing physically and emotionally because it requires 24-36 hours of travel each way, sleeping in less than comfortable places, being guests in a foreign culture with unfamiliar foods and daily patterns and a week-long engagement with the children of the Children’s Village. Food allergies or preferences beyond vegetarianism are not easily accommodated.
Costs associated with this journey:
The costs for the pilgrimage are $690/person ($450/child) for lodging and food which covers everything but incidentals once we are engaged with the group in India— paid to the church.
All flight costs are yours to assume. Airline costs range from $900 to $3000 depending on year and what you can find.
Seeking Sponsors for Children’s Village
We are currently seeking additional sponsors to support individual children and young adults in the Children’s Village. Sponsorship provides wraparound support in the form of room and board, clothing, school tuition and supplies. For young adults who wish to pursue additional training following high school graduation, sponsorship also provides support for college or trade school tuition, lodging, board, fees, and transportation. The financial commitment ranges from $350 for a partial sponsorship to between $700-$1200 for a full sponsorship, depending on the child’s age and educational progress. For more information about sponsoring a child in need, or to learn about our general support program for the Children’s Village, please contact Diane Mitschke at 817-807-1464 or dmitschke@gmail.com.
