Over the Thanksgiving break this year, seven ESD students traveled to Costa Rica to build Homes of Hope alongside Middle School science teacher Ellen Neill. Homes for Hope is an international organization dedicated to "bringing hope to thousands of impoverished families." This is the third year that ESD has participated in this service project.

These Eagles helped build a home - and furnish it - in just two days. Arriving on Friday, the group worked all day Saturday and Sunday to complete the project before returning to Dallas on Monday. They also took families to a grocery store, a place many of them have never visited before, to purchase groceries and other household items to accompany the furniture they are also given to complete the build. The entire project is funded completely on donations.

"This is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life," said Ellen Neill. "These families go from living on a dirt floor to having an actual home in the span of a weekend. It makes you think about how blessed we are." 

We are so proud of these Eagles for all their hard work and service both in our community and abroad!