Costa Rica, 2025 — the MREF vision trip that became a love story
Where we give back
I grew up on a farm where there was a use for everything. That’s how I think about what this work has given me: the listening, the rooms, the reach — all of it has a use beyond us. These are the people we stand with.
Costa Rica, 2025 — the MREF vision trip that became a love story
The organizations
These aren’t line items. They’re our values — Lift & Elevate, Joyful Connection, Faith to Create — in motion.
Teaching kids and families the language of emotion — because empathy is a practice, not a trait. April writes and leads workshops with EQJOY, bringing “Empathy in Motion” to parents, teachers, and kids learning to name what they feel.
eqjoy.org →
The Marketing Research Education Foundation mobilizes our whole industry for under-resourced kids around the world. April serves and travels with MREF — including the 2025 vision trip to Costa Rica that changed how she sees everything.
mrgivesback.org →
The girls of Hogar Montiel taught the teacher — ten lessons’ worth, and counting. What began as a vision trip became an ongoing relationship: clothes, school supplies, presence, and prayer.
hogarmontiel.com →read the ten lessons →
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Since 2005, Baal Dan has funded food, education, and emergency needs for orphaned and street children around the world — because every child deserves ground good enough to bloom in.
baaldan.org →
Meeting practical needs close to home — warm meals, open doors, and dignity for neighbors walking through their hardest seasons.
hoseaserves.org →
The community that gave April the phrase she’s lived by since childhood — bloom where you’re planted — and keeps planting alongside us.
centerofunity.org →If your work lifts kids, families, or the people who serve them — April would love to hear about it.
Tell us about them