Washington D.C

I had an amazing time with the Washington D.C group. Our group as you already know worked with the hungry and homeless and it was a trip that gave me a greater sense of self awareness as well as impacted my life. The stories that we heard from both volunteers and a special speaker named Jo- Ann really made me think about how we are dealing or more so not really dealing with the problem of poverty and homelessness and I think a really important idea that was stressed when people talked to us was the multi faceted causes of homelessness that we arent exempt from and listening to the stories of the homeless and hungry guests we ate dinner with sometimes it is just one bad choice that you make that can change your life and we are all human and aren't exempt from making bad choices and I think that was something I have thought about a lot both during and after the trip.

Missing Room 13

As we all know tomorrow is the day of our presentations and i have been doing a lot of thinking regarding my stay at Laurel Hill and what i learned from my students and my experience. I didn't expect room 13 and the kids in it to have such a profound impact on my life but I find myself thinking about them frequently. Many of the children in my class came from broken homes with very little support and love and i find my heart breaking over the fact that they have no one to guide them in their future. I now see what people mean by the next generation is the future. The children were so beautiful and brilliant and the fact that they may be left behind and forgotten is a travesty. What i have taken with me from this internship is the power of change, we actually can make an impact on these children's lives and their future.

South Dakota

(I disabled that silly Hindi transliteration thing, everything should be in English from here on out)


The first day we arrived at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, we were greeted by a meal of mystery meat topped with a layer of mushy tater tots and a side of cauliflower. Based on the food selection alone, I immediately freaked out. I wondered how I was going to survive for a week on such unappetizing fare. Then Tom (the director of the organization) said something that changed my attitude about the whole situation. He basically told us that we ate better than everyone else on the reservation. As the week went on, I realized Tom really wasn't kidding. There is mind-numbing poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. 19 people in a one bed-room trailer home, no running water, no electricity, no telephone, and no income-- and these are all common occurrences. For a reservation that is slightly larger than Connecticut, there is only one supermarket. The life expectancy is the second lowest in the whole western hemisphere. Children as young as 5 are often involved in gang activities and drug-dealing. When I heard these facts, I couldn't believe them. It was really eye-opening. After hearing these things, I couldn't help but feel a little angry and guilty. But the ever-so-wise Tom soon reminded us that it wasn't his goal to make us feel guilty. Instead, he wanted us to stand alongside the Lakota people and be their advocate. Overall, it was amazing week. I learned so much and I'm so glad I had this experience.

-Liz

W&I Hospital

Hey everyone.

So this time I am actually going to put up a real post! OKay. I was at Women and Infants Hospital for the past two weeks. I was working in the pathology lab in the different departments. Pathology, i.e. Blood, Organs, Bodily fluids, and other cool stuff like that. The whole experience was really fascinating. I learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes. Like on the med TV shows when some one (like House) says "Go run a full blood work up and Test for such and such" I got to see how that happens. I also worked in the family van for a day, which goes out into the community and runs free glucose and cholsterol (sp?) testing.
I enjoyed the week (except when I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning so i could follow the phlebotomist on her morning rounds. Not only did i have to wake up at a crazy time, i also had to watch her draw blood and i HATE needles). It was truly a learning experience. I am now pretty sure I do not want to be a Medical technician. However, I still love Ebola so maybe the CDC or USAMRIID has an opening...lol

FG

P.S. the picture is a waste container that they use for dumping chemicals. I obviously played with it a little...

South Dakota

I did my project at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with the Re-member organization with Liz, Caroline and Nilses. Re-member is a non-profit organization that is basically outreach to the Lakota Oglala people. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of this trip. I didn't even know what to expect from South Dakota, since I'd never been to that part of the country. The minute we got off the plane, even before we got off the plane, as we were landing, we could tell that this was a completely different place than Rhode Island. The land just went on forever, and there were no houses. As we approached the Reservation, and drove through the Reservation, we could see the run down houses, with broken down cars in the front lawn. We later learned that many of the Natives take broken down cars and sell the parts that work, to make a little extra money for essentials, like food. Most people on the reservation don't have jobs (unemployment is 80-90%), so its the little things like that that get them through day to day.
On Sunday we went to Wounded Knee, where we picked up trash. That afternoon, we went to The Badlands, which was amazing. On Monday, we stayed at the Re-member campus at the workshop to make bunk beds. Tuesday was by far the hardest day. We went to a woman named Yvette's house to clean out the huge piles of trash in her backyard. Many of the Lakota people are so poor, they have no other way of getting rid of their trash, except to throw it in their backyard. There were two huge piles, we don't even know how long they'd been there. There was everything back there, even an old oven. Food, clothes, toys. There were mice crawling through the trash, as we picked it up. Yes, it was physically trying, but it was mostly hard to see someone live like this, especially someone as nice as Yvette who has up to 17 people living in her house at once. She takes in people who don't have anywhere else to go. We learned this was common among the Lakota people, because they have such a strong sense of family. It was so crazy meeting these people who have absolutely nothing, but literally gave up the coats on their backs for us when we looked like we were cold. Thursday was great too; we distributed the beds we'd made earlier in the week. Although it was hard, the sadness was forgotten when we saw the happiness on these people's faces when they saw their new beds, with mattresses and sheets.
Overall, this experience was irreplaceable, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. The Lakota people are so giving, like I said before. They look at you with a smile, and make jokes. Re-member has a great reputation on the Reservation, and when we drove around in the bus, we would get waves and peace signs from the Lakota people. I think we were all a little nervous going, especially because I couldn't properly operate a drill for my life, but that doesn't matter. Just showing up with a smile is enough :)

Madeleine

My post didn't show up last time so I'm trying this again.
I did my internship at Child and Family Services of Fall River. I was given a desk and a laptop and an email account (!!) for the duration of my stay with 6 ladies who work for Parent Mentors. They go out into the community and visit homes to see how families can change their lifestyles so they can keep their children. It's a very difficult job.
The best part was when I went on a retreat I had helped plan last weekend because they ended up paying me 100.00 for taking pictures. Technically my internship was up so I had been hired for the weekend!
Bente

internship

Hey Everyone
I did my internship at Crayons Child Care Center in West Warwick. I worked in the infant room and it was a lot of fun playing with babies all day long. The kids were very cute and the place where i worked was really nice. The Center mainly works with mentally handicapped kids and most of the infants had some sort of disability although its hard to tell since they are all so little. One little girl is so small that she is only 9 pounds at 7 months and then there was one baby that was probably a good 25 pounds at 5 months old but both of them were really adorable. I mainly spent my time playing with the kids or feeding them. Overall it was a really fun experience. I did have one incident however that was a bit amusing as i was washing down the cribs I somehow managed to bump into the fire alarm pulling down the fire alarm and setting off the alarm. Everyone in the entire building had to evacuate and about 6 fire trucks showed up to the school. It was incredibly embarrassing and i felt so bad but looking back now of course i would do something like that.. hah i am such a mess. I hope everyone else had a fun time at their internships i know i had a great time at mine!
all the best
Erika

project

Hello everyone
I went to Washington, D.C. with other 11 people for Service Project.
I worked in a lot of organizations such as Food & Friends, Some, and D.C. Central Kitchen. I also did some yard work at two houses. I met a lot of people and something common about them is that they really want to help out others. When I did volunteer work other than this time, sometimes I felt as if I was forced to do so I didn't enjoy volunteering as much as I should be. This time, I really saw homeless people who really need help from others and also saw volunteers who were eager to help. It was very touching and I learned a lot. More importantly, I had a very meaningful time down there.
Not only did we work but also we saw a lot of things in D.C.
Here is the picture of me in front of White House.

I Hey everyone, I just got back from Paris on Friday and absolutely loved my internship! It was on immigration in Europe, specifically France. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of good connections in Paris. I had classes four hours a day five days a week at the Alliance Francaise. It was a french immersion program. There I met a lot of people from various countries. I was the youngest in the class by nine years, but I still made a lot of great friends that I plan on keeping in touch with. Au revoir, Jaime

Homelessness / Volunteering

I also had the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. and work with the homeless, the poor, and the hungry as did Carlene. Our stories are similar except for the fact that our group of 10 was split into two groups of 5, she was in the red group and I was in the blue group. Each group went to the same sites except for one site which for our group was Food and Friends. I have been to D.C. many times in my life and I was surprised at myself that I could remember how to get places and use the metro and recognize street names, but I was also surprised that I had never noticed the amount of poverty and homeless people there are in D.C. I was sort of ashamed of myself as I realized that either I never cared or I chose to stay oblivious to that part of the reality of Washington D.C. The service trip was pleasantly surprising as well. I knew beforehand that we were going to work with the homeless and the poor but never at such an intimate level. The day that we cooked and served dinner to our guests who were homeless and staying at nearby shelter was the best day for me. It was also the most productive day and the most tiring since my group had been up since the early morning volunteering at our site. It was amazing to see everyone's energy, after such a long day, as we all went around mingling and interacting with our guests and through this creating new friends, sharing in mutual laughter, trading stories, and playing games. I especially bonded with Clifton, Wayne, and Ron and the saddest part about my new friendships is that I might never see them again. There are no words to describe this experience. It wasn't eye opening since I had a vague idea that our country did have many homeless people and it wasn't a once in a lifetime experience because I hope to have similar experiences in my future. All I can say is that I never knew that a bond could be formed between people so easily and quickly when at this point in my life and theirs we are completely different from one another.

Hey Guys so for the last two weeks I have been working at St. Elizabeth Manor which is a nursing home in Bristol RI. What I did was spend time with the residents and give them someone to talk to. Most of them feel like their families just left them there and forgot about them so they like it when they have some they can tell their stories to and to just sit and read or make a puzzle with them. I also help with the activities that they do there like bowling, bingo and manicures. Over the two weeks i spent at the home I had a lot of fun and i was able to meet and form a relationship with some really cool people.
Jen Brigham

haha, forgot to put my name. That last post was from Genevieve

So for the past to weeks I've been working at Greenlock, which is a therapeutic riding center. Greenlock offers hippotherapy, which uses the horses natural movement to help enhance physical therapy. I have had so much fun. The people that work there are so nice and the kids are absolutely adorable, even if they cry for the whole half-hour. The first few days were hard since I had no idea what I was doing, but I caught on pretty quick. It's definitely hard work and by the end of the day I'm exhausted, but I wouldn't want to do anything else. If I don't get a job for over the summer, I'll keep volunteering here, so I don't think I'll be making much of an effort to fill out applications.

Washington D.C

Exactly a week ago, our group of twelve was meandering the streets of D.C., looking for some dinner around Georgetown, having just completed our first day of service.
That morning, my group, the red group, had gone to S.O.M.E. (So Others May Eat), where we helped prepare the dining room for the people who would be coming in for lunch. There were two rounds of lunch, each about a half hour long-- in total, we fed about 450 people in the span of an hour.
I stood by the door, hair net, gloves, and all, at the end of the long table on which the plates were being assembled. At the other end, an elderly woman took each empty plate and passed it down the table, as the plate was filled with pasta, vegetables, bread, and cookes in succession, and then given to me by another high school boy who was volunteering. The table space in front of me quickly diminished as the other volunteers were loading the plates very efficiently. However this problem was soon solved, as the people began to pour through the door and receive the plates I handed to them.
The most amazing part about this experience, and the reason I loved this day so much, was because of the variety of faces I encountered. Although each interaction was only for a few moments, each interaction was so unique that the plate-handing literally never got monotonous. Saying "you're welcome" and smiling 450 times never seemed so un-methodical. Each encounter was truly something different to look forward to.
There were some who smiled at me broadly, took the plate, thanked me, and walked on. There were some who would not lift their eyes from the floor, but mumbled a soft but unforgettable thanks as they trudged on to a table. There were some who stormed into the place, took their plate with purpose, and moved on. Simply by noting the way each person entered, looked at me (or didn't), received his or her plate, and walked towards the tables, I felt that I was able to understand a small part of each person's story, without asking.

These small, transitory, but unforgettable connections were what made our work last week the most memorable for me. On Tuesday, when YSOP (the group which assigned us our service sites) hosted a dinner for walk-in guests, either homeless and/or hungry, we were able to interact with our guests in a way that was priceless for both sides. I talked to one man for nearly half an hour, or rather I listened to him for half an hour, as he recounted to me the amazing story of his life thus far.

"How old do you think I am?" he asked me with a smile.
"Um..." I didn't want to offend him.
"Come on, take a guess!"
"Okay," I said. "35?" Seemed like a safe guess to me- and besides, he didn't look too old anyway.
He grinned. "Gonna be 53 soon!"

He told me how he hitch-hiked from D.C. to L.A. twice during his life, because he "wanted to see how the pioneers did it." He told me that he jumped onto freight trains, stopped in the most random parts of the country on his journey. "So much unused land out there, it's unbelievable," he said, shaking his head. "And here we are, all squished together, no space to move. Crazy."
He told me about his family. His siblings, with a pained expression, he explained were not that close to him. He told me how it had taken him months to find out where his mother lived, and was only reunited with her when he was notified that his father was dying. He started rummaging through a little cloth purse hanging around his neck, and drew out all the articles clearly most precious to him, including his license and a picture of him and his nephew, and eagerly began to show them all to me, telling me all the stories that accompanied these momentos.
To say that listening to all his stories inspired me, broke me, and touched me, would not really begin to cover it. What struck me the most, more than any of his actual stories, what how all the anecdotes of his life thus far just poured out of him for me to hear. The stream of consciousness, that clear connection with someone you barely know- that's what I really appreciated. I didn't contribute much more than Wow's and nods to the conversation, being so busy listening to his tales, but I could tell how much a pair of ears meant to him. I wonder when was the last time he told his story to someone. I wonder how many stories like that remain untold because there's no one to share it with.

I put a picture of the Washington Monument here because I found that throughout our stay in D.C., either my mind or my eyes kept drifting back towards it. Something about it moved me, seeing it up close, its height, the grandeur of its size and yet its beautiful simplicity. In it, I saw the idea of rising high, simply but unmistakably, up to the sky. Seeing something, and reaching for it, without wavering. And always standing tall for what you believe in, and surrounding yourself with what has led to you to the top, and never taking your eyes off of what you desire.

-Mohini

Pawtucket Credit Union

Hey everyone, I spent the last two weeks with Kristin Rojas, the community development officer at the Pawtucket Credit Union. I did a lot of things during my time there but the two I found most uplifting were visiting the San Miguel School and volunteering at the Special Olympics.
The San Miguel School is an all boys Lasallian school located in the West End of Providence that educates around 70 boys from low-income families in grades 5 through 8. The boys are specially referred to San Miguel by in the fifth grade as underachieving students. The first time we visited San Miguel I was overwhelmed with the energy at the school. The boys there were so unbelievably welcoming it was hard to imagine that they deal with daily issues of drugs, gang violence, and were referred here because of issues such as disciplinary problems in the first place. During our visits there we mentored a seventh grader. We would go in, have lunch with him, play card games, or just talk with him. Although these gestures were small I could tell they meant a lot to him just by the smile on his face and his need to make sure we would be back sometime soon. Seeing this meant a lot to me and I’m planning on making another trip back this week.
The other part of my senior project that touched me was the Special Olympics. Throughout the course of the two weeks I helped with last minute fundraising for the cause and on my last day I was able to volunteer at the event. Over 2,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities throughout Rhode Island participated in the event and to help them through something they cared so deeply about was extraordinary. I was able to help them get to the specific events they were competing in and help them ready themselves for the event. The enthusiasm shown by each of the athletes over the course of the whole day was greatly inspiring and I hope to somehow get the opportunity to volunteer again next year.
I hope you all had as much fun as I did during your senior projects!

-Alexa Fattore

जमेस्तोवं एनीमल शेल्टर

Hey all,
Jackie and Keira here, finishing up our internship. Apparently we've decided to go with the popular other-language lettering for titles.. anyhow, it's been an interesting week. A lot of driving, a lot of petitioning. We've been planning how to decorate a delapidated Fort Getty Pavillion into a black tie affaire setting, vsiting animal shelters and dresing up their dogs, meeting caterers, attending town council meetings, and writing classy invitations. There's apparently a surplus of cats on the island, because people all over the state dump their animals in Jamestown's parks. We've been working with Barbara Szepatowski, a town council member (and everyone in the town knows her on sight..), generally meeting her, getting assignments, and completing them that day. Last Tuesday, we attended the town council meeting, at which an eighth grade class petitioned for the creation of an animal shelter on the island (see title link). Overall, it's been fun, it directly affects the community, and we plan to continue our work well into the summer. To be exact, we plan to continue it until August 2nd, at the black tie event we are hosting.. come dressed in 1920s attire!

JO and KM

Laurel Hill Annex

For my service project I worked at the Laurel Hill Annex with a kindergarten class. I helped them with their writing and reading and also had the opportunity to go on a field trip with them at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium to see a play called "Max and Ruby." Working with this kindergarten class was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was so rewarding and such a great opportunity. I seriously fell in love with the children and I am going to miss them so much. They really impacted me and I plan on visiting them on my own time to see how they are doing. It was so great getting to know these students and help them out. Some of these students come from extremely different lifestyles than from what I am familiar with and it was a great experience to work with them. I learned a lot from these students and helping out at the Laurel Hill School really made me think about going into education as a career! The last day I was there at the Laurel Hill School with my students, I gave each of them a coloring book and passed out brownies. They were the happiest kids alive. Just being there and working with these students and giving them simple gifts like that meant the world to them. I really enjoyed my service project!

-ALLESANDRA DIORIO