CASA is a national nonprofit that trains people to speak on behalf of children in foster care in court. CASA of McLennan County, located two miles from Baylor, is dedicated to fulfilling this mission in the Waco area.

In an interview with The Baylor Lariat, Ryan said he wants to engage college students throughout his campaign especially due to having college-aged children. Currently, Ryan has two children that attend Baylor, Dallas junior and senior Catherine and Benjamin.

The mission trip is hosted by CURE International, a non-profit Christian organization that operates charitable hospitals and programs in 29 countries worldwide. The destination for the service team will be the CURE Hospital in Kenya, an affiliated hospital that performs over 1,500 life-changing reconstructive and orthopedic surgeries for children suffering from treatable disabilities.

“I didn’t think there was any reason to be nervous since the last serious tornado in Waco was in the 1950s,” Tucker said. “I did have some pretty serious hail damage to my car; I definitely wasn’t expecting that, it didn’t seem like hail was a real possibility since it had been so hot earlier that week.”