COVID-19 UPDATE | 1.31.21

We are making every adjustment we can to safely resume our summer project in Los Angeles in 2021. Our staff team is eager to meet you, invest in your life, and grow alongside you this summer.

If you have questions, which are not answered below, don’t hesitate to reach out to a TTT staff who have been assigned to each participant in process, or by contacting our offices at (855) 546-7363.

Claude Hickman, Executive Director

Below are some common questions and answers going forward:

What is the likelihood of the IT Project getting canceled?

We consider the likelihood very low that we will need to completely cancel in 2021. While it is impossible to fully control all the elements of our project, we feel very confident that summer 2021 does not have the same unique challenges as 2020 had concerning COVID-19. While California has had many shutdowns and safety guidelines imposed, they have also created the most changes to allow life and business to begin moving again. We will take the same approach that we did in 2020, planning on as much of our normal project as we possibly can, working with our team and partners in California, while watching what develops through the Spring and communicating with our applicants regularly. In 2020 we were able to make a decision by April concerning cancelling the project and at that time all donations were available for refund by request to all students.

Will the project still be hosted in California?

Yes. We have considered other options for locations for IT Project and will continue to monitor what happens in the next few months, however California remains our aim. While California has had many shutdowns and safety guidelines imposed, they have also created the most changes to allow life and business to begin moving again. We have been hosting our IT Project for over twenty years in the Los Angeles area and have the most knowledge, contacts, church partners, speaker and temple options of any city to adapt our project to this area.

If the project gets cancelled what will happen to my support?

In 2020, we offered a full refund to all donors by request since we had to cancel our project. Not all ministry organizations do this. According to the IRS, gifts to a non-profit are not usually refunded and not required to be refunded since they are primarily to the non-profit. If a student decides not to participate and a ministry project continues to happen, those donations are not considered refundable by law from a non-profit and TTT cannot guarantee a refund for a student who backs out. However, if The Traveling Team cancels our project which those donor gifts were intended for, we have the full IRS ability to offer a refund to donors upon request at that is what we will do in the future, just like we did in 2020.

Do I have to get a COVID-19 vaccine before I come to IT?

No. However, we highly recommend that you get one of the three FDA approved and available vaccines if you can. We recognize that not everyone will have the opportunity to get a COVID-19 vaccine before the summer. If you have been vaccinated before the summer, you can provide documentation for that as needed. It may provide some extra comfort given the nature of our project and being with others over the 7-weeks together.

What is the Covid protocol before and during the project?

We are working on a set of guidelines that will be provided to each participant before they come out to Los Angeles. This may include helpful guidance such as a negative COVID test within the week before leaving, a 5-7 day quarantine to monitor for symptoms before coming, planning for safe travel to LA, and providing a short history of any COVID infection or vaccinations to survey where our project is with their immunity. We will be following whatever national, state, and country CDC guidelines are implemented at the time to the best of our ability but recognize there is no guarantee of 100% protection against such a contagious and elusive virus.

Will students be required to quarantine before flying to California?

Possibly. It would be wise to implement a 5-7 day self-quarantine to monitor for symptoms before coming, or acquiring a negative Covid test in the days before coming out. Your summer information packet and project director will determine the specific requirements for all participating students who are coming out and it’s likely there will be special circumstances where we will ask this year’s students to take extra precautions like this.

What happens if I get Covid?

In the twenty years of our project, there are times we have had students get injured, sick, broken arms, and other unforeseen emergencies that have required attention of our staff to care for them. All students are required to provide proof of valid medical insurance and history before coming. We always have staff available to stay back and care for any students that need to rest, quarantine, or be admitted to a hospital for any sickness. If the emergency is more than a normal sickness, we reach out to an emergency contact promptly. Costa Mesa which is in Orange County, is equipped with state of the art medical facilities and urgent care that is home to some of the most affluent people in the world. God has placed us in a great place for excellent medical care if needed. Testing, a physicians medical treatment plan, and guidance from family, will all likely give input into the best path forward for a sick student.

What happens if someone else at the project gets Covid?

We will have plans for as many scenarios as we can foresee but the circumstances will have to determine what happens. An infected person will need to quarantine at Vanguard and continue with reading or other project material as they can, while resting and recovering. Students in close contact will be monitored or tested accordingly and we will adjust as needed to protect our project from further spread. It is likely that masks, sanitation and keeping students in smaller groups will be part of the dynamic of the project to help limit virus spread before it is detected. We have options to house and isolate a person if needed to help contain infection. This is a huge and almost impossible challenge and we recognize there is risk involved with any social contact in the season our world is in.

Will we still attend temples / churches?

Yes. Religious organizations have been given increasing freedom to continue to meet and gather, sometimes outside, always with guidelines to make the environment safe for worshippers. We will do our best to experience these religious temples in a way they have safely allowed. It will certainly look different than the years past, but we think it may open opportunity for new ways to experience these temples in smaller groups. We will have to wait to see what that experience will be like come June 2021 but we feel like it will be more open than it is today and that is promising.

Will we be attending large social gatherings?

If we are able to attend gatherings, they will be in an atmosphere that is following current California State and Regional guidelines which are still the strictest in the nation. In the past we have attended baseball games, fun events, done evangelism, and visited locations that involve lots of people; but the reality is those things may not return to “normal” in the near future. We desire for students to learn, be challenged by God, grow in their vision for the world, as well as have a fun time with other peers, learning how to be a light in the normal experiences of life. Some of our most influential times of ministry have come in the middle of unstructured experiences alongside other people. Our aim is to land on the conservative side of anything we can control, encouraging our students to follow CDC guidelines, and opting out of events that we know are disregarding state or national guidelines.