Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Pay it forward.

When Kate and Emmy first approached me about joining the ASB group in a “chaperone” capacity, my feelings were mixed. Sure, I’d been on several group service trips in my day, both with church youth groups and at Centre, but that was a long time ago. I remembered sleeping in bunk beds, waking up excruciatingly early, and doing dirty work until it was time to hit the bunk beds again. That was great…as a teenager or as an early twenty something. Now, at the old age of 25 (almost 26), I wasn’t sure if I could handle that again. Nonetheless, I agreed to go along. “Someone did this for me once,” I thought. “I guess it’s time to pay it forward.”

So, plans for Centre’s inaugural Alternative Spring Break trip progressed very quickly as Emmy and Kate started to flex their leadership muscles. Pretty soon there were nearly forty students signed up, and two of us staff members along for the ride. Kate and Emmy wrote a brilliant funding request and were awarded money from the Student Government Association to cover nearly the entire cost of the trip. Megan Noltemeyer, the other staff member, and I met twice with the ASBers before we left. They seemed like a great group, but I still didn’t know what to expect. We kept telling the students to be patient and flexible because we didn’t know much about the type of service we’d be doing or where we were staying or really anything. I was saying that as much to myself as I was to the students.

Before I knew it, the day of departure arrived and all 39 of us were waiting for the bus behind the Campus Center with our week’s worth of luggage. Robert, our awesome driver, and his big purple and pink charter bus picked us up, and that’s where the adventure really began.

When we arrived at the old church (now a community center) in the Fourth Ward of Atlanta, I noticed the shock on some people’s faces at the sight of our accommodations. The women’s sleeping room was a converted sanctuary packed with metal frame bunk beds with plastic mattresses. Some beds were just cots with a thin plastic mat. All of the beds were very close together. Also, the showers were in a portable Rubber Ducky trailer. I could tell this was not at all what people had in mind.

Later that evening, the volunteer coordinator for CCI, Candace, welcomed our group to Atlanta and the community center. Her message gave us some interesting perspective on our living situation. As it turns out, the living quarters (including the shower trailer) were set up as an emergency shelter. These conditions, she explained, are how people are forced to live indefinitely when they lose their homes to natural disasters. At least we were staying there by choice, with people we knew, and only for a week. Dinner that night at the center consisted of leftovers from homeless shelters in Atlanta. We were truly getting a taste of what people go through when they have lost it all. These are the people we set out to serve.

The next morning, our work began. As you’ll read from the other blog entries, the work was intense, often dirty, and changed each day. We had the opportunity to travel all over Atlanta to help with all sorts of projects. Each day was challenging and rewarding in its own way, but some things were the same no matter what. Every evening after work, we met as an entire group to reflect on the day. We shared highs and lows – what was awesome and what was awful – about the day.

I was really impressed with the insights the students shared. In fact, I was impressed with many things about the students on the trip. Some of the work we did seemed small, even menial. That tends to be the case with service projects, especially large, one-time projects. I was worried sometimes that the students would be unhappy and that their attitudes would reflect that. If they were displeased, they did not show that outwardly. They did what was asked of them, and then took initiative to do more.

The group of students was very diverse; some were in sororities and fraternities, some were not; some had lots of friends on the trip, some did not. I was concerned that cliques would form and some people would be left out. Again, I was worried for nothing. The students were inclusive, open to new people, and made friends with everyone. The students slept on their plastic mattresses, showered in a trailer, and got up really early without complaint.

Wow. This has turned into a very long blog entry even though I meant to write only a few paragraphs. I think that’s because I can’t say enough good things about the students and the trip. I had a great time. I was worried about so many things for nothing. Kate and Emmy had everything under control and the students were exceptionally patient and flexible.

In the end, I hope I was able to help facilitate an eye-opening experience for students, like so many people did for me.

Elizabeth Wisman (aka the Nice Aunt)
Centre College
Bonner Coordinator

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