RUMFORD – Trying to get cash donations during a recession to help pay for an educational and overseas community service trip next summer to Italy and Greece has been tough for Rebecca Maifeld.

Maifeld, 14, a Rumford freshman at SAD 43’s Mountain Valley High School, was nominated in August by a teacher to participate in former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s People to People Ambassador program.

“I’ve asked people at four banks. Two said no and two said they’d think about it,” she said last week after school while visiting her dad, Rumford police Cpl. Doug Maifeld, at the police station.

“Dad suggested sending a letter to Oprah and big corporations like Wal-Mart or Proctor and Gamble,” Rebecca said of her father, who raises money for Special Olympics Maine.

The program, she added, prepares students for success by providing international travel and positive, life-altering educational experiences.

“I’m interested in architecture. That’s why it’s really exciting to be going there. I also like the idea of building buildings,” she said.

Rebecca would also earn an academic credit that can be applied to high school or college.

Additionally, the teen, who has a 3.8 grade point average, said she wants to gain a greater understanding of people and cultures around the world while helping to promote world peace.

“I was nominated a year ago to go to China with People to People, but I didn’t take it because that was a lot of money,” Rebecca Maifeld said.

The 19-day trip to the Mediterranean countries costs less. However, $6,900 is much more than her parents can afford.

As of last week, Rebecca’s sponsors, so far, include her hairdresser and Auburn orthodontist, from whom she learned that his son went through the same program twice and was happy to help her, too.

“My biggest concern, obviously, was the money, but I told her not to commit to it unless she was serious,” Doug Maifeld said.

An informational meeting in September in Portland with 39 other Maine children also chosen to become ambassadors convinced Rebecca to start saving her pet-sitting money.

“She definitely wants to be in the architecture field. She really loves Greek stuff. It’s definitely a chance of a lifetime. The money part of it scares us and, of course, I’ll be petrified the whole time she’s gone, because she’s my baby.

“So, if I have to take out a loan, I take out a loan. It may cost me money now, but it may save money down the road. I can’t see not giving my daughter the chance of a lifetime,” Doug Maifeld said.