If you know anything about our Nautique team, you know that it is made up of incredible people; people who not only say they care about others, but who also prove it through their actions.

Last summer I had the opportunity to join a group of 21 Nautique employees for our first-ever employee mission trip. During that trip we travelled to Mexico to build a house for a needy family. The 21 people who served on that trip used their vacation time, paid to go, and spent days without running water or electricity. But, you know what they said when we were done? They said things like “best days of my life”, “most rewarding thing I have ever done” and “I cannot wait to do it again.”

In fact, last year’s trip was so rewarding that we had even more employees who wanted to serve on mission trips this summer. So, during our regularly scheduled summer shutdown week, we took two mission trips; one to Mexico to build another house, and another to Nicaragua to work with homeless mothers and their children.

This year’s Mexico trip was once again a huge success and our employees were able to build another house for a needy family. Once they completed the house, the mother cried as our team handed the house keys to her family. Our team shed plenty of tears themselves that night around the campfire as they reflected on how they had been transformed by their service work in Mexico.

The Nicaragua trip was equally rewarding. We had the opportunity to do some construction work at House of Hope, a homeless shelter for mothers and their children. The construction work was rewarding, but the real highlight of this trip was getting to work directly with the homeless mothers and their children.

It is amazing what an impact you can have on someone’s life just by letting them know you care. The little boys enjoyed playing with the football and Frisbee we brought and the little girls were enamored as our team helped them make their own purses. As with the Mexico trip, there were tears and hugs when the time came for us to leave those in Nicaragua at House of Hope.

That last night in Nicaragua, after leaving House of Hope, the Nautique employees shed even more tears together. Many on our team expressed a desire to do even more to help; some even expressed an interest in making another, more extended, trip back to serve.

These trips demonstrate once again the amazing hearts of our Nautique employees. I am incredibly happy to be a part of a team that is not only committed to building the world’s best boats, but that is also committed to helping others, both here in the US and abroad.