Some area high school students spent their recent Spring Break ministering in the north end of Winnipeg. The group, from Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna, chose to give back through the SOAR Heartland program, a ten day mission run through MB Mission.

As Shania Ginter explained, they spent their time serving families living at an immigrant and refugee community of a Manitoba Housing complex.

"We made sandwiches for the kids and we showed God's love by just spending time with them and getting to know them."

This was Ginter's second time volunteering with SOAR Heartland. She said she will always carry with her the memories of the people she met during the experience.

"The people in the north end of Winnipeg are absolutely amazing, they have huge hearts and they love everybody. The community that you don't always get to see in the north end is just so fantastic."

For Joshua Dyck, this was his third time volunteering with the program and he said each year has offered a different experience.

He added that being a part of this opportunity was important to him.

"At the start of SOAR Heartland you get to learn about the city and you get to just soak-in your experience. And then you get sent out and you get to just pour out God's love and you get to serve to some kids. It's just a really great experience."

Meantime, Luke Voth was a newcomer to the experience and he admitted to being slightly nervous at the beginning of the trip, but those feelings quickly subsided.

"As soon as we got there there were kids outside playing basketball so I went up and asked if I could play and they loved it! So we just started playing basketball and soccer outside. It was a good time."

He added that as the ministry went along, it was great to see just how happy the kids were with what the group was doing.

"Just to see how much they loved interacting with us and how much I loved interacting with them, it was good to see."