Design for Change trip canceled

by Mary Malone Staff Writer
| October 5, 2019 1:00 AM

SANDPOINT — Design for Change Sandpoint announced Friday that the 2019 DFC trip to Rome has been canceled.

“Due to circumstances beyond our control regarding organization from Design for Change International, the group felt it was best to halt plans to attend the international conference and instead focus on forwarding local projects at this time,” DFC Sandpoint officials said in a statement.

The DFC global summit, to be held in Rome at the end of November, will feature students from across the globe who have made a difference in their communities and beyond. DFC was implemented locally at Washington Elementary in 2016 and continues to expand in the community. Some of the student projects over the past few years have included everything from food waste reduction and plastic recycling, to hunger and poverty and racism and discrimination.

The first group of DFC sixth graders at Washington Elementary took on suicide awareness and prevention, and ultimately represented the United States at the 2017 global summit in Spain. This year’s conference is slated to be the largest yet.

About 20 students representing six projects were to take the trip in November, and have spent the past several months raising money for travel expenses. DFC Sandpoint officials said in the statement that they are currently working on returning all donations, and request patience as they work through the best way to return funds to the “generous community members who donated to the trip.”

Anyone with questions or concerns about their donation’s return should contact Design for Change Sandpoint by mail at P.O. Box 1585, Sandpoint ID, 83864; or by email at dfcsandpoint@gmail.com.

“The kids of Design for Change would like to say a huge thank you to the community for all of their support and would like everyone to know that they plan on continuing this amazing program locally long into the future,” officials said in the statement.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.