Washington D.C Service Trip

Hello everyone,

For my senior act of service I decided to go on the Washington D.C service trip. I thought it would be a new and possibly challenging experience to go to a new environment such as D.C and preform various acts of community service. In Rhode Island, I have preformed multiple acts of community service and they have all had different impacts on my life. While in D.C, I realized my favorite kind of service act is working at soup kitchens or anything having to do with giving food to the homeless and hungry. Since there are not as many homeless/hungry people in Rhode Island, Washington D.C was a completely new experience and was actually very fun. My expectations for this trip were at an average level but from the moment we got there they seemed to continue to increase. The atmosphere in the city of D.C was a new and fresh and I especially liked walking around and discovering the city during the nights that we were there. However, the trip definitely kicked off after we were assigned our tasks for the week at YSOP.

Our service started off the second day we got there and I was in a team with Mrs. DiChiaro, Jill, Chelsea, Eliza, and Alex. We named our team S.O.S (Share Our Service) and we were told that we were going to be working with food all week. I had never worked at any sorts of soup kitchens before so I was a bit nervous but it actually turned out to be the most rewarding and enjoyable acts of community service I have ever done before. The places we served at were: S.O.M.E (So Others May Eat), Food for Friends, and DC Kitchen. Unfortunately, we missed the day we were going to go to the local food bank which was one I was looking forward to because I like working at food banks. I must say the most inspirational and enthusiastic place we served at was S.O.M.E. The fact that everyone was cheerful and eager to work towards a common goal in serving many homeless/hungry people of D.C made it so much more of a great experience for us as volunteers at a place we had never been before. After the first few minutes, we felt as if we were back at home and not hundreds of miles away. With that, I took away a gratitude filled experience. This made me think that if every place were just as enjoyable I would want to volunteer there all the time which helps them a lot. With welcoming and grateful people, comes a better volunteer outcome which (in this case) helped feed hundreds of people. If every organization can be like S.O.M.E then I feel as though people would volunteer more and problems such as hunger would be solved in a faster and more precise manner.

I am grateful and beyond impressed about the quality of this trip. If I could find soup kitchens in Rhode Island like the ones we serviced at in D.C I would volunteer more often which is among one of my goals for the next month.

Thank you all for such a memorable experience!

~Nikki F.

William D'Abate and Sackett Street School

I did my service project with Stacy at the William D'Abate Elementary School and Lilian Feinstein Elementary School at Sackett Stree. When Anita said that we could work with her friend Melissa Meyers (who the art majors work with a few times a year) I thought it sounded like a fun way to use my experience in art to help some kids whose art program is less than desirable. What I didn't expect was how much I would gain from the kids, the schools, and Ms. Meyers.
Our first school, William D'Abate, is in Olneyville and for the most part is a very underprivlaged student body. The kids at this school were really good and had far less disciplinary issues than at Sackett Street but their lack of an art room and art supplies is pretty low on the list of priorities. The neighborhood is tough, everyone around you speaks spanish, in many ways it feels like another country compared to the sheltered community of lincoln and the neighborhoods most of us have grown up in. At this school Melissa has a closet where she keeps supplies and a rolling cart to bring them from room to room. Our job was to help her get everything ready for each class and then Stacy and I would walk around the room as the kids worked and helped them with whatever questions they had about their project. The surprise at having these two older girls who weren't quite old enough to be real teachers never seemed to get old (at either school). The principal at this school was really friendly and involved in the school and he maked William D'Abate much more effective than the principal at Sackett. It was for this reason that we were only able to take pictures at D'Abate.
Our Second school was the school on Sackett Street. We were in for a culture shock here. Now for the most part I have to say the kids were really good and well behaved...however, there were several students with discipline and respect issues and they really stand out in my memory. In this school Ms. Meyeres has her own classroom but the support pretty much ends there. The principal in disengaged and though we never actually met her, the announcaments she gave in the morning and afternoon seemed incoherent. For a school with such a tough student body a principal lacking the skills to set discipline in place is an issue. With a more authoritative principal Sackett could be a really great school, so fortunately they will be getting a new one next year although no one knows who it will be. While most kids are good the kids who weren't were so far from what I have known it's hard to describe. They will directly defy what a teacher tells them to do, talk back, bully other kids, or just sit and refuse to do anything. It seemed to me that most of these kids just needed more support at home and at school but everyone seems more set on punishment or having them change school than anything. Lunch duty was really something...the teachers had whistles that were blown routinely (to no avail) and the kids were constantly screaming or being screamed at.
While the main focus of this entry has been on things that the schools or students lack, it is simply because we were so involved that we couldn't help but notice what the schools need. It's hard to know what kind of an impact our being there made on the kids, from the kids hugging us, remembering our names after only 30 minutes of class, and making us pictures, I think it is safe to say that even if we only helped for a few minnutes, it was a few more minutes of attention than most of the kids normally get in school.

An experience from my last day at Crossroads that evoked pondering...

Friday, May 28 was the last day Sarah and I would be at Crossroads. Friday was a sunny day. Lots of strollers were out and the families were enjoying the sunshine. Therefore, our turnout was not as high as we had hoped for. It being our last day and all we really wanted to say good by to DayShawn and Alia and their little sister. They never showed up.

There was a new mother who did show up, though. The mother looked to be about 15 or 16 years old and she was holding her little son. This was very sad for me to see because she was younger than both Sarah and I are and she had no one supporting her physically, emotionally, or financially. Where was the little boy's father? Where are her parents? I told her all about the activity (which was scrap booking) and showed her the demo Sarah and I had made. I enthusiastically talked to her for a good two minutes and all I got in return was a blank stare. I later learned that she only knew a few words of English. What is her future going to be like? She does not have a single person in the world that she can rely on. She does not have anyones couch to crash on. She is utterly and completely alone.

This is what I started thinking about: how easy would it have been that I would have been born into her position. I could have been that 16 year old girl. Any of us could be in that situation. What makes us different? Absolutely nothing. Therefore, why am I the one who gets to leave when 5:00 rolls around and go back to my house? This made me realize that if I were in that position I would want someone to volunteer her time to play with my little boy. I would want help. Therefore, this experience has taught me that it is not only unfair to sit around and not help but it is simply necessary that I do help. This one day at Crossroads has led me to believe that there are millions of people I could be right now. But I'm not. Since I am not, I have the opportunity to help. And that is what I know I truly need to do.

Oh District of Columbia...

Hello Hello!

So I’m going to be really honest here, because, you know, honesty is the best policy and such. I am also not going to summarize the entire trip and list my duties. Past posts probably already covered that. What I am going to do is express my true feelings about the service we preformed in Washington D.C., our lovely nation’s capitol.

I went on the DC trip for a couple reasons. One of which was to get away from Rhode Island; the other reason was that I thought serving the homeless would be good for me. I really have no desire to serve in my community. And it’s not even that DC is a different community, I just don’t think about service in a good way; this goes especially for the homeless. I don’t want to say I don’t care, I do, but I guess it is that I don’t care enough...point being I was pretty much surrounded by conceptions like ‘don’t give them money, they’ll use it for drugs’ or ‘he’s crazy, don’t go near him.’ (well, in New York, that’s kind of true, considering, like, 90% of the homeless there come from shut down physiatrist hospitals). I really counted on DC changing my mind not only about homelessness in general, but service in its entirety.

Okay, I’m not going to lie, I felt bad for most of the down-and-out people, but when I’m serving food to a homeless man who is talking merrily on his new looking touch screen cell phone, my previous misconceptions about homelessness were altered, alright. Then there was the guy dressed nicer than I was….I’m not saying I want them all to be dirty and destitute, but to have a cell phone you need both credit and an address, why was that guy at SOME (so others might eat)?? I really can’t get over it. Stop paying for the phone and buy food instead. But that is horribly insensitive of me.

Looking back, my perceptions of service and homelessness did change (like I will give money to the homeless I see- except that one on Thayer who just smokes all day) but something I didn’t expect effected me much more. The people who worked every day at those sights were amazing. They cant get paid that much, and some were volunteers, but still they came in and were nice, friendly, for the most part patient, and usually very happy! To do such meaningful work every day is really significant, and their attitudes (especially Michelle at SOME) were amazing. To see that level of destitution each day and continue joking, laughing, and having fun is really cool. After a while I’d get really jaded and bitter. Probably annoyed too. Of the entire trip, Miss Dot from DC central kitchen and Michelle were by far the most inspirational people I have ever met. Miss Dot had to be almost 80, can even drive anymore, but she was in that kitchen on a very hot day trying to teach some idiot volunteer how to properly and conservatively cut a tomato ( that volunteer being me, and I still can’t do it.). Good for her, you know? I admire that a lot, I wish I had that drive to help people, but if they don’t come to me and ask, I don’t seek out the needy. I probably should.

To conclude, I didn’t think I would learn anything from DC, but I kept an open mind and really enjoyed the work I did. I really admire the people involved with caring for the needy. I think I want to follow their lead and help, but not in the same way. They had hope for the future, maybe someday, hunger would be eliminated. Well, aside from going socialistic on the world (which I wont even get started on) I am going to go straight to the top of the political food chain one day and change things myself. Yeah, it’s a far set dream, but you never know….

I leave you now, with a song. Coldplay's Beautiful World; because even though it kind of sucks sometimes, life, and the world, are beautiful.



Looooove... Alex

Potbelly Manor & Fax House

Hello everyone. So I did my two weeks at two different places. I spent my first week at Smith & Abbys Potbelly manor in North Kingstown. It's basically a place that takes in abused animals of any kind, the kind of animals a shelter would not take in (for example: cows). It was really interesting to see how much work goes into taking care of a farm and how much money it takes. I spent a ton of time just playing and socialzing with the animals. It was not all fun though, I had to shovel poop from time to time too. All the animals have a "story." All the animals there are really sweet and loveable, but they've had really difficult lives.
My second week was done at the Fax house. The fax house is a state run place for aids, abused, and drug babies. They also had three toddlers staying with them while I was there and I spent most of my time playing with them. It's so much work taking care of 10 babies at a time! Most of these kids have had really tuff lives and they probably won't get any easier for a while. I really enjoyed my two weeks at both places!

Reflection on the DC Service Trip

Last week in DC was a learning experience for me. In the past I have done community service, but nothing like I experienced in DC. Typically I am used to doing community service where I have little to no interaction with the people that I am directly helping. On the first night of the service trip the group of Lincoln students prepared and served dinner to the homeless. We all worked in the kitchen to prepare chicken, vegetable stir fry, cole slaw, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, and brownies for dessert. The dinner from the preparations until the last person was out the door lasted about 4 hours. Not only was it a wonderful experience to see the people in our class on this trip work together to prepare the meal, but the most magical moment of the night was seeing everyone interact with a new friend. I took a few moments to myself and just glanced around the room and there was not one guest at our dinner that didn't have a smile one. It was a very heartwarming experience. The next morning my group was assigned to serve breakfast at Thrive DC. Again we prepared the food under the orders of a very strict chef, and we were able to serve around 150 people that morning. At Thrive DC I over heard a man telling a group of his friends about the wonderful chicken that he ate last night. Immediately we recognized the man and became reacquainted and he thanked us tirelessly for the wonderful meal. It was great to see first hand how much these people appreciated the work we were doing and how they passed the news along to their friends. Of course my group also painted a very long fence one morning and also chopped hundreds of potatoes, onions, and scallions, but the experiences I had directly with the people I was serving were the most inspiring to me.

This trip has inspired me to do more service in the future. Although I like the interaction during service, I also don't mind shopping thousands of vegetables because I know that no matter what, the people I am helping are thankful. Our generation has the ability to change many of the problems in the world, and every little thing helps.

Kelsey Puddington

Washington DC Service Trip

This trip was quite impacting and eyeopening. The sites I attended were much different from places I have been in Rhode Island. I found myself doing much work that was often hands on. I had never packed that many cakes, and sliced that many potatoes, ever. One of the sites that really impacted me was S.O.M.E, it was a kitchen where we fed two rounds of meals to the homeless. Now this was different from the other sites where we just packed the food; here we passed the plate down the line and eventually handed it to the people who walked in the door. It was amazing to see all the people who walked in the door, some were injured, others exhausted, and there were a few who were in good condition considering their situation. It was sad though to think that these were just the people who were aware of the service that S.O.M.E offered, and that others would go hungry that day because they were not educated on where the proper services were provided.
What really inspired me and excited me was the feeling I had at the end of the day. This would not have been possible if it wasn't for the team effort I took part of every day. As a team, Mrs. DiChiaro, Chelsea, Alex, Eliza, Nikki, and myself conquered the challenges and carried out our service as we attended each site. Working side by side these individuals not only made things more fun, but together we felt as we had accomplished something because we each had individual skills that worked to make an unstoppable team. It was clear when we did a job well done because we would be thanked over and over for our presence that day. It was clear that these tasks were not a one person job. Yes, these organizations exist but they mean nothing if they don't have people to help operate them.
In the end, this trip took my value of service to a whole new level. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to serve another community and visit another community. This trip took the "number of service hours" out of the equation of serving for me. When you are doing something you enjoy and that benefits others, you totally lose sight of time. I sometimes wished we could spend more time at these places; we would work so fast and have so much fun doing it, the next thing we knew it was time to head back to the hostel. I hope that our experience impacts the underclassmen and that when we leave service will begin to play a larger part in the Lincoln community. We are such a small state, but we have so many girls in the community who are capable of sharing their talents to help serve others.

Thank you all who made this trip possible!

- Jill Soscia