Five-year cooperation agreement provides Campbellsville students with opportunities to work with nonprofit serving vulnerable children and strengthening families.

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Nonprofits Buckner International and Campbellsville University announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding to provide students with opportunities to serve communities in Mexico and Texas.

Universities around the U.S. partner with Buckner so students can work with the faith-based ministry to care for vulnerable children, strengthen families and enhancing the quality of life for senior adults. The five-year cooperation agreement with Campbellsville ensures its students' involvement in mission trips, internships and collection drives.

The MOU was signed between Dr. Michael Carter, Campbellsville University president, and Dr. Albert Reyes, Buckner International president and CEO.

“We are pleased to enter into a relationship with Buckner International. Given our similar commitment to serving others makes for an opportunity for Campbellsville University students to find new ways to be involved in mission service to others,” Carter said.

Buckner will provide at least one designated staff liaison to Campbellsville for all Buckner ministries in Texas and Mexico, which will include extensive logistical support to groups traveling internationally. Buckner will also provide opportunities for students to do semester-long internships, while Campbellsville will in turn host annual collections of materials for use in Mexico, such as hygiene kits, backpacks, socks, water purification kits and more.

Over the past several years, Dr. Reyes has visited Campbellsville's campus as a guest lecturer - however, Buckner's ties to the area go back much further. Founder Robert Cooke Buckner spent much of his adolescence in Somerset, Ky., about 50 miles from Campbellsville. Buckner's father was pastor to Somerset Church from 1838 to 1853.

“Partnering with Campbellsville makes sense on so many levels,” stated Dr. Reyes. “Our history is tied to the university, while our future is in the hands of its students. We hope the mission trips will inspire Campbellsville's future leaders to lead lives of service, whether it be in politics, academics, business or possibly with nonprofits like Buckner.”

Campbellsville University is a widely-acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 10,000 students offering over 90 programs of study including 20 master's degrees, six postgraduate areas and seven pre-professional programs. The university has off-campus centers in Kentucky cities Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset, Hodgenville and Liberty with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville, all in Kentucky, and one in Costa Mesa, Calif., and a full complement of online programs. Learn more at Campbellsville.edu.

Buckner International is a faith-based nonprofit ministry dedicated to transforming the lives of orphans, vulnerable children, families and senior adults in the United States and internationally. Founded in 1879 in Dallas, Texas, today Buckner serves people through a variety of programs designed to protect children and build strong families. These programs include foster care and adoption, family transition programs, community-based family preservation programs and retirement services for senior adults. Buckner also provides humanitarian aid and crisis relief to poverty-stricken children and families. Learn more and get involved at Buckner.org.