By Alexa Larson
The well-known non-profit organization HEFY, short for humanitarian experience for youth, underwent a rebranding to now be named Humanitarian XP. The rebranding is being well-received.
'We found out that XP is an old symbol of Christ and we thought wow that would be perfect for us. So we changed the name to Humanitarian XP, just to align a little bit better with our desire to follow Christ,' Humanitarian XP CEO Amy Antonelli said.
The organization hopes the name change will help to increase the number of volunteers who may not be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
'Our name has always been humanitarian experience, it still is. But you know years ago, people just kind of adopted the nickname of HEFY and I think it's kind of caused some confusion with the EFY program at BYU because we're not in any way associated with them,' Antonelli said.
'I think our re-brand is helping us really focus even more so on our mission of changing lives through sustainable service,' Caribbean and Central America program manager Kim Gonzalez said.
'Now with their focus on HXP, Humanitarian Experience, I think that'll just be a little more obvious and will draw people in more and be like 'wait what is this, I haven't even heard of this before,'' trip leader Kenny Ahlstrom said.
The name change isn't the only exciting thing happening at the organization. Due to COVID-19, Humanitarian XP decided to open up trip locations stateside.
'There is just as much of a need in some places that we go in America as there is in international locations,' Antonelli said.
This year, they will continue to send volunteers to those locations as well as open up new locations both nationally and internationally, bringing their total number of global trip locations to 57.
'It's just amazing to see, you know, the impact that these kids can make all over the world. Particularly when they sort of align their desire to serve with their understanding of who they are in the light of the restored gospel,' Antonelli said.
With all of the changes, the organization is expecting an immense growth in the number of applicants this year for all positions including youth volunteers, trip leaders and parent builders.
Registration for youth volunteers is Nov. 8-12. More information on Humanitarian XP is ontheir website.