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.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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
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!
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
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
D.C. Service Trip
For my service opportunity I choose to travel to Washington D.C. along with 20 other students to volunteer through the organization called YSOP. Staying in washington was a really interesting experience which opened my mind to the real statistics and challenges homeless people are faced with today. The service group I was paired with for the week consisted of Me, Melia, Gianna, Kara, Ruta and our chaperone Sarah.
Our first service position was at Martha's Table, an organization which is composed of three different programs all geared toward serving the community and helping the homeless. During the day our group worked for the program of Martha's Table called Mckenna's Wagon, this is a seven day a week mobile soup kitchen which makes and distributes meals for the homeless and brings them in a vehicle to the places the meals need to go. Due to the large number of people they feed(1200) we spent the day preparing and packaging food in order for it to be distributed. Although the work seemed tedious at first(Kara and I must have quartered at least 1,000 strawberries) it was clear that they appreciated all the help we were able to offer, they even made sure to thank us as well as let us know how much of a difference even the little things we did made for them.
Out of each service opportunity I had I must say that my last day at the organization Thrive D.C. was the most memorable because of how much I learned. The Managing Chef Kevin was extremely knowledgeable and prepared when it came to feeding the almost 200 men and women who attended the breakfast. He made use of all of our help by having us wash and clean dishes, prepare food for the next day, and serve the breakfast that morning. It amazed me how much work he did and how organized he was while working. The food he served was extremely well prepared and smelled great, he had many options which was important because not everyone likes the same thing. One of the tasks Ruta and I were assigned was to wash and thaw frozen fish and then once it was clean we had to soak it in eggs and then cover it in bread crumbs and put it on trays in preparation for the following day's meal. While the job was extremely smelly it really introduced me to the reality of preparing a meal for hundreds of people and also forced me to appreciate all the hard work volunteers like Kevin do to help others.
Overall the experience I had working with the homeless was great. I feel extremely lucky to have such an amazing life and family and after experiencing all that we did in Washington D.C. my life has changed for the better. I find myself having more compassion and understanding towards the homeless and I am eager to continue doing service this summer in Rhode Island.
-Mimi
Our first service position was at Martha's Table, an organization which is composed of three different programs all geared toward serving the community and helping the homeless. During the day our group worked for the program of Martha's Table called Mckenna's Wagon, this is a seven day a week mobile soup kitchen which makes and distributes meals for the homeless and brings them in a vehicle to the places the meals need to go. Due to the large number of people they feed(1200) we spent the day preparing and packaging food in order for it to be distributed. Although the work seemed tedious at first(Kara and I must have quartered at least 1,000 strawberries) it was clear that they appreciated all the help we were able to offer, they even made sure to thank us as well as let us know how much of a difference even the little things we did made for them.
Out of each service opportunity I had I must say that my last day at the organization Thrive D.C. was the most memorable because of how much I learned. The Managing Chef Kevin was extremely knowledgeable and prepared when it came to feeding the almost 200 men and women who attended the breakfast. He made use of all of our help by having us wash and clean dishes, prepare food for the next day, and serve the breakfast that morning. It amazed me how much work he did and how organized he was while working. The food he served was extremely well prepared and smelled great, he had many options which was important because not everyone likes the same thing. One of the tasks Ruta and I were assigned was to wash and thaw frozen fish and then once it was clean we had to soak it in eggs and then cover it in bread crumbs and put it on trays in preparation for the following day's meal. While the job was extremely smelly it really introduced me to the reality of preparing a meal for hundreds of people and also forced me to appreciate all the hard work volunteers like Kevin do to help others.
Overall the experience I had working with the homeless was great. I feel extremely lucky to have such an amazing life and family and after experiencing all that we did in Washington D.C. my life has changed for the better. I find myself having more compassion and understanding towards the homeless and I am eager to continue doing service this summer in Rhode Island.
-Mimi
Laurel Hill
For my service project I went to Laurel Hill Elementary School. I spent the past two weeks in Mrs. Hanley’s fifth grade class. During my time at Laurel Hill, I worked closely with each student helping them in English and math. I also assisted them with health posters that they created for the High School students from the MET. My class had the opportunity of having High School students from the MET come every Tuesday to teach them about health and fitness. Their assignment was to make posters displaying the information they learned throughout the weeks the MET students were there. I also had the chance to work with the kids in the gym, teaching them how to play basketball. This was especially fun because it was amazing to share something I love with kids who were so eager to learn. Over all, this experience is one that I know I will never forget. I feel as though I got to know each student personally and connected with each one on a personal level. I also had the privilege to watch a skilled teacher set high expectation for each of her students and support them in every way she could to have them be successful. I am very fortunate to have shared some time with Mrs. Hanley and her fifth grade students.
Jenna Lemoi
Jenna Lemoi
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