Washington DC Service Trip (Week 2) and Laurel Hill

The service trip to Washington DC was an extremely eye-opening experience and it was a great way to wrap up senior year. Each day, our group was sent to a different service site where we worked for the day doing various activities dealing with homelessness. On the first day, our group visited a kitchen called Thrive DC where we helped prepare food for dinner that night; that same afternoon, we went to an emergency women's shelter called Open Doors where we did a lot of cleaning before the women came into the shelter for the evening. The next day, our group visited a site called Food & Friends, an organization that prepares and delivers food to HIV-AIDS patients in the Washington DC area. All morning, our group cooked food and in the afternoon, we put all the food in bags to be sent to the homes of the patients. The next day, we visited a site called Dress for Success, which is an organization that provides work-appropriate clothing, shoes, and accessories for homeless women who are going on job interviews or are already in the workforce. At Dress for Success, we organized shipments of jewelry and we also had the chance to do some fittings with the clients who came in that day. On the last day, we did Elder Buddies, a program that helps elderly people who are at risk of being evicted clean their apartments. The apartment that we cleaned was absolutely filthy and the woman who was living there was mentally ill; this experience was very sad because this woman wasn't really fit to be living on her own, but she was alone, confused, and pretty much helpless in her current situation. The good thing about this experience, however, is that our group helped to open this woman's mind to the idea of volunteers helping to clean her apartment.

Although I really enjoyed the service sites every day, my favorite part of the trip was the Community Meal that we had on Wednesday night. All the girls from Lincoln made a big cookout-style dinner and dessert and then we served it and ate dinner with the homeless community who came to the YSOP headquarters that night. I thought that this was a really cool way to set up dinner because it was so different from the common soup-kitchen style meal that is more like a lunch-lady assembly line. All of the volunteers had great conversations with the people we met that night, and I will always cherish that experience.

Going on the trip to DC was a realistic glimpse into a completely different lifestyle from my own, and it has really encouraged me to get more involved in helping with the issue of homelessness. 

I also did a week a Laurel Hill before going to DC and I've returned to the school this week to work with Room 17, a 5th Grade classroom. I have absolutely loved my time at Laurel Hill; the kids that I've worked with are extremely enthusiastic in everything that they do and they are also very grateful for the things that they have, even though most of them do not have much. Like Jade said in a previous post, working at Laurel Hill is very rewarding but also frustrating because there is only so much that we can do for these kids. I feel like I have 23 new siblings that I want to bring home with me, but all I can really do is help them with their school work for a few hours a day. As fifth graders, they all have a great deal of academic potential and I hope that all of them will continue on a straight path until they obtain the success that they deserve, but some of these kids don't have great support-systems at home or sufficient resources financially. Hopefully their academic curiosity will carry them through these difficult situations. Before volunteering at Laurel Hill, I never thought I had enough patience to put up with kids and I never thought that I would enjoy teaching, but my time in Room 17 has completely proved me wrong.

I hope that you all are having great service internships as well. See you Friday!

Love,

Haley