KristinaChampe

Kristina Champe

Alternative Spring Break Reflection

Day 1

3-7-2009

Today our group went to the Nashville Rescue Mission. It was a very humbling experience. When we arrived there we went straight to work in the basement storage area. This area is where they keep all their donations they get from people. They had so much stuff down there. We folded probably a hundred blankets and put them into piles, and stacked at least fifty or so mattresses. There were so many nice people at the Mission. They were very happy to have us there and we were very happy to be there.…….Or were we, I believe that some of us were happier than others?

We met some really nice guys there, one we named PG, and whose real name was Pitman. He was super nice and liked to joke with us. He made the day go by faster and it was fun. Then a few of us girls went upstairs and unpacked some cookies to be served later in the week. While unpacking cookies we noticed that some of the brownies had mold on them, (we threw them away) and didn’t say anything to anyone. Afterwards, we went into the kitchen and put on hairnets, gloves, and aprons and got ready to serve food. We had served some people and then the rest of our group showed up in the kitchen, washed up and got ready to eat. While we were standing there serving there was a situation that was not good at all. One of the girls in our group was standing in the assembly line talking to one of our other girls who was serving. I asked her if she was eating and she said, “I think I’m going to attempt it”. This made my blood boil. I wanted to tell her that this was all there was and that she had better get used to it. I was so mad at her I didn’t know what to say. She was being very rude and disrespectful, not only to us but the people at the Mission. I did not appreciate it at all.

One of the better event of the day happened after we were finished eating. My friend Megan and I went out in to sitting area and were told we could talk to some of the guys if we wanted or we could just clean table. We were on our way to the back of the room and one of guys said hello to us and so we stopped and talked and I am so glad that we did! These guys were so nice and friendly. I was happy that we had found some nice people to talk to. This one guy was asking us if we had eaten and we told them that it was good and that it was better then the food at our school, I don’t think they believed us. They main guy that we talked to sad that it wasn’t always that good and that it was probably because we were here. He also told us some stories about how the staff didn’t like the fact that sometimes they laughed and had a good time. We also met another guy who worked in the kitchen with us and he was super funny and he has two kids and joked and had a great time. At the end when we were waiting to leave, ne of the kitchen workers asked us where we were from and we told him WV and he said “so you guys gave us your spring break to come help us?!” and we said “yes!”.

I think that working at the mission is going to help me grow as a person and help me more with the understanding of my social work major, and I am very thankful that I have to opportunity to be a part of this. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week will bring.