Friday, March 13, 2009
StephenReed
Today was the last day of our volunteer service. We went to Nashville Rescue Mission again which has been my favorite place to help out. The group that I was in went down to the Basement where they store most of there donations that they receive that has to be sorted before they can give them out. We sorted and sorted rest of the stuff that we had worked on for the 3 days that we had been there earlier in the week. After lunch we met up with Brother Thomas again who is always a happy go lucky kind of guy. He sent us out on more work which is what we were sent here to do. Im so glad we were of service to these nice mean though im sure that lots of the girls in our group would like to have worked in the womens center. We worked on folding sheets trying to fix the miss communitcation we had earlier in the week. With so many things going on at the same time from time to time people make mistakes but you can’t get upset when it happens for if you do you won’t get anything done. I must say this trip has been good on most of the people though there were some that don’t seem to have come on the trip for the right reasons but I suppose you will always have a few of them on a trip. At the end of our evening with NRM they did something special for us which blessed us all. Im sure most of us didn’t do this type of work for thank you’s or for pats on the back but when they do happen its nice to get them.. They fixed us a nice dinner with lots of food from shrimp to chicken. We all enjoyed it and filled our stomachs up though a few of us felt bad cause we were getting some really nice food and the people that don’t get lots of food weren’t getting that type of food. Oh and by the way in my first paper I wrote that I met a guy named Pittman well we found out it was his birthday and wished him a happy birthday he just turned 37. He told us that we blessed his heart and hopes that we come back. I do hope I get to come back and help out for if you give your time you will fill good about yourself and make peoples lives better. Im so glad I came and I thank all who made this trip possible. Thank you all!!!!
NicoleDuvall
Tuesday, March 9, 2009
Today we got to sleep in a little longer and then it was off to the Campus for Human Development, which isn’t too far from the Nashville Rescue Mission. Luckily, the weather was nice today- no too hot, not too cold. When we got there we met, Ms. Wendy, who is, I guess the director of the Campus. She seemed very friendly and eager to have us help work around the campus. First, she gave us a tour around the building, which looked a little rough on the outside but was actually pretty nice on the inside. It seemed to be a happier place to me than the Rescue Mission, which, don’t get me wrong, is a really nice place, but Campus seemed to have more life to it and activities for its participants. Ms. Wendy said that everyone that walks through the front doors has to have respect for everyone otherwise, there will be problems. Later on in the day when we were working outside, we saw a little quarrel break out between two male participants- I don’t know what was going on-just saw one spit on the other and then Ms. Wendy went over to investigate and they immediately backed off. It seems to me that she has a very good influence over the participants of the campus and that they look up to her-like a mentor.
My job for the day was to help clear out a building that had survived a fire but it’s contents were pretty messed up. I had to throw away a lot of canned foods that were old and in the fire about a year ago. I also cleaned up some scrap that was laying around. When I took the canned garbage over to the dumpster, a gentlemen asked me why I was throwing it away; that we should donate it to a food bank or something. I told him that I was told to throw it away; that the food was not good for anyone to eat. Later on when I came back, I saw him digging through the dumpster, picking various canned items out. I guess he was desperate, but I hope that he doesn’t get sick-I did tell Ms. Wendy about it. She said that was normal behavior of his.
Later on after lunch I went outside again to help clean out the shed and clean up dirty laundry baskets and after that I went inside to help paint cubby holes different colors for the participants to put their belongings in. it was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be. I learned that I am a terrible painter. I noticed that Campus didn’t have security outside at all but inside, it seemed like their was a gazillon doors and they all were locked-as safety measures-which made me feel kinda weird, like a was trapped and had no way out. Later I realized it was for everyone’s own safety, because you just don’t know what someone is capable of doing to hurt someone else, even though Campus is a very peaceful-non violent facility. I also learned that both these programs help people out in different ways but I’ m glad that Nashville has both The Mission and The Campus to help the homeless find a way to get back on their feet and into a normal life.
Today we got to sleep in a little longer and then it was off to the Campus for Human Development, which isn’t too far from the Nashville Rescue Mission. Luckily, the weather was nice today- no too hot, not too cold. When we got there we met, Ms. Wendy, who is, I guess the director of the Campus. She seemed very friendly and eager to have us help work around the campus. First, she gave us a tour around the building, which looked a little rough on the outside but was actually pretty nice on the inside. It seemed to be a happier place to me than the Rescue Mission, which, don’t get me wrong, is a really nice place, but Campus seemed to have more life to it and activities for its participants. Ms. Wendy said that everyone that walks through the front doors has to have respect for everyone otherwise, there will be problems. Later on in the day when we were working outside, we saw a little quarrel break out between two male participants- I don’t know what was going on-just saw one spit on the other and then Ms. Wendy went over to investigate and they immediately backed off. It seems to me that she has a very good influence over the participants of the campus and that they look up to her-like a mentor.
My job for the day was to help clear out a building that had survived a fire but it’s contents were pretty messed up. I had to throw away a lot of canned foods that were old and in the fire about a year ago. I also cleaned up some scrap that was laying around. When I took the canned garbage over to the dumpster, a gentlemen asked me why I was throwing it away; that we should donate it to a food bank or something. I told him that I was told to throw it away; that the food was not good for anyone to eat. Later on when I came back, I saw him digging through the dumpster, picking various canned items out. I guess he was desperate, but I hope that he doesn’t get sick-I did tell Ms. Wendy about it. She said that was normal behavior of his.
Later on after lunch I went outside again to help clean out the shed and clean up dirty laundry baskets and after that I went inside to help paint cubby holes different colors for the participants to put their belongings in. it was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be. I learned that I am a terrible painter. I noticed that Campus didn’t have security outside at all but inside, it seemed like their was a gazillon doors and they all were locked-as safety measures-which made me feel kinda weird, like a was trapped and had no way out. Later I realized it was for everyone’s own safety, because you just don’t know what someone is capable of doing to hurt someone else, even though Campus is a very peaceful-non violent facility. I also learned that both these programs help people out in different ways but I’ m glad that Nashville has both The Mission and The Campus to help the homeless find a way to get back on their feet and into a normal life.
StephenReed
So today we were at the Campus for Human Development. It was a little different from the other shelter we have been to. We first met Wendy the director of the Campus; she took us on a tour of the grounds. She showed us all that the Campus has to offer, from classes to living areas. Once we finished with the tour we went off into different groups to help out around the Campus from improving the outside to finishing some of the projects she had the other group start. In our group we worked on painting the bathrooms that so desperately needed some touch ups. While we worked there were all kinds of people coming in and out of the Campus. While we were working on the bathrooms we kind of took up some space in the hallway when an older gentlemen came down the hallway with a guide helping him navigate the mess we had made. The man that was his guide told us that he couldn’t see well so we cleared the way so he wouldn’t trip so he could get into the laundry room they have for them there. We went back to working and had some stuff strung out in the hallway yet again so when he came out of the laundry room I stopped what I was doing so I could guide him through. He was a nice guy and thanked us for all the work we were doing. Then again a few of the gentlemen there thanked us for our time. I don’t think I have done that much work but I still have gotten a lot of thank you’s. I guess though it is a lot of work considering that they don’t have a lot of people that do work around the shelter without them having to pay them. I think people should give more of their time I mean if a person gave an hour of their time from time to time it would make the world a better place. Which is why I think people like us are here. We give up our time to show other people that there are kinds of people out there so perhaps they will do something nice for there community when people from another state come and give of theie time making there place a better place.
NicoleDuvall
Today we started early and we went back over to the Nashville Mission to volunteer our services. I was real excited today because we were able to choose where we wanted to work-basement, kitchen, folding clothes, etc. I chose to work in the kitchen because I really wanted to help serve and I figured that would be a good opportunity to talk one on one with the mission’s program participants. I didn’t get a chance to work on the serving line but I did get to help get desserts ready and chop up some ham. It was fun, but still kind of tiring but I was definitely more exhausted yesterday working in the basement.
While I was picking up trays in the dining area, a gentlemen by the name of Mike, asked me if I would mind getting him a cup of ice and I told him that sure, I didn’t mind and then he asked for some water. He seemed really friendly and was asking me what brought me to TN. I told him that we were a group of college students, my major, and a few other facts about me. Then, what I found really interesting was that when I got ready to leave, he said “Pleas don’t leave me,” and I just immediately sat back down. Sitting across from us was a middle aged guy who was just talking nonstop… to himself… Mike said that he does that just to get attention and that I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable, because I guess it was obvious that I looked a little uncomfortable. Then he told me a little bit about his life, that he had a son that he hadn’t seen in a while and that he has been in the program for a couple months trying to get his life back on track. He also said that the Mission has really helped him come through a lot of hard times.
I also talked to another guy named Willie also. He told us that he had a son and a daughter back in Alabama and that he missed them greatly but doesn’t want to go back until he gets his life turned back around- he had a drug problem evidently- I didn’t want to ask too much. He seemed to know a lot of people for having had been there since December 2008. I almost cried when he was telling us that he had lost his wife, mother, and father last year and it just sent him into a downward spiral. I really almost cried-it was very depressing-I get so emotional. That is one thing that I ‘m really worried about-is just breaking down and bawling-so far, I’ve been able to control myself.
Later on I went back downstairs and sorted through shampoo and different hygiene products. There is endless stuff to sort through downstairs and we certainly made a dent, but most of the day I spent upstairs.
In the evening we went over to the Campus for Human Development-which was the first time for me- for game/movie/pizza night. I played a Pictionary sort of game while others watched Stomp the Yard. The campus definitely was definitely not as nice as the mission-building wise. We really didn’t get to interact with some of the people but Ms. Wendy seemed pretty nice. I’m a little nervous about tomorrow thought, because I hear she is a little rough and demanding. Hopefully tomorrow will be fun and we will get to meet some really cool people.
While I was picking up trays in the dining area, a gentlemen by the name of Mike, asked me if I would mind getting him a cup of ice and I told him that sure, I didn’t mind and then he asked for some water. He seemed really friendly and was asking me what brought me to TN. I told him that we were a group of college students, my major, and a few other facts about me. Then, what I found really interesting was that when I got ready to leave, he said “Pleas don’t leave me,” and I just immediately sat back down. Sitting across from us was a middle aged guy who was just talking nonstop… to himself… Mike said that he does that just to get attention and that I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable, because I guess it was obvious that I looked a little uncomfortable. Then he told me a little bit about his life, that he had a son that he hadn’t seen in a while and that he has been in the program for a couple months trying to get his life back on track. He also said that the Mission has really helped him come through a lot of hard times.
I also talked to another guy named Willie also. He told us that he had a son and a daughter back in Alabama and that he missed them greatly but doesn’t want to go back until he gets his life turned back around- he had a drug problem evidently- I didn’t want to ask too much. He seemed to know a lot of people for having had been there since December 2008. I almost cried when he was telling us that he had lost his wife, mother, and father last year and it just sent him into a downward spiral. I really almost cried-it was very depressing-I get so emotional. That is one thing that I ‘m really worried about-is just breaking down and bawling-so far, I’ve been able to control myself.
Later on I went back downstairs and sorted through shampoo and different hygiene products. There is endless stuff to sort through downstairs and we certainly made a dent, but most of the day I spent upstairs.
In the evening we went over to the Campus for Human Development-which was the first time for me- for game/movie/pizza night. I played a Pictionary sort of game while others watched Stomp the Yard. The campus definitely was definitely not as nice as the mission-building wise. We really didn’t get to interact with some of the people but Ms. Wendy seemed pretty nice. I’m a little nervous about tomorrow thought, because I hear she is a little rough and demanding. Hopefully tomorrow will be fun and we will get to meet some really cool people.
TiffanyMcMahan
Tiffany McMahan
March 09, 2009
Today at the Nashville Mission we took a tour of the building. The dorms were very interesting because there were so many beds that were very close together. We were told that on an average night that almost all the beds if not all beds were full. We also got to help in the kitchen by doing the desserts and meats for the dinner. We got to see how much they cook for lunch and dinner. We also helped in the dinning hall with the homeless and the halfway residents. We had interaction with the homeless and halfway residents by helping take up their trays. We met a guy named Willie that had been there for 6 to 7 months after leaving Alabama (leaving behind his entire family) to kick a drug addiction. He told us how at one point he took so many drugs that he prayed to never wake up; then he went on to explain how the mission changed his life and that he had been passing all of the drug tests. This actually gave us insight into how they feel about the mission and how much appreciation they have for the mission. He expressed how thankful he was that we came to help during our spring break. Many of the residents were very appreciative of us giving up our spring break for volunteering.
Later tonight, we visited the Campus Center and got to watch a movie and play games. We got to see how different it was from the Mission and we also got to have interaction with our entire group. I think this was a good idea because we learned more about each other as a group, and it gave us time to get to know each other. This is important because the more we know about each other the better we will work together as a group; therefore, we will make more progress.
March 09, 2009
Today at the Nashville Mission we took a tour of the building. The dorms were very interesting because there were so many beds that were very close together. We were told that on an average night that almost all the beds if not all beds were full. We also got to help in the kitchen by doing the desserts and meats for the dinner. We got to see how much they cook for lunch and dinner. We also helped in the dinning hall with the homeless and the halfway residents. We had interaction with the homeless and halfway residents by helping take up their trays. We met a guy named Willie that had been there for 6 to 7 months after leaving Alabama (leaving behind his entire family) to kick a drug addiction. He told us how at one point he took so many drugs that he prayed to never wake up; then he went on to explain how the mission changed his life and that he had been passing all of the drug tests. This actually gave us insight into how they feel about the mission and how much appreciation they have for the mission. He expressed how thankful he was that we came to help during our spring break. Many of the residents were very appreciative of us giving up our spring break for volunteering.
Later tonight, we visited the Campus Center and got to watch a movie and play games. We got to see how different it was from the Mission and we also got to have interaction with our entire group. I think this was a good idea because we learned more about each other as a group, and it gave us time to get to know each other. This is important because the more we know about each other the better we will work together as a group; therefore, we will make more progress.
TiffanyMcMahan
Tiffany McMahan
March 11, 2009
Today was very sad because we all knew that it was our last day at the Mission. I worked down in the basement sorting items such as shampoo and conditioner. I also took many pictures of the staff and residents there, so that I would have some memory to take back with me. During lunch time there was another volunteer group there to help. After lunch some of the residents asked us if we would be coming back; since we wouldn’t be going back down to the dinning hall for dinner we all said our good byes and it was very sad for us.
I don’t think any of us expected what happened at the end of the day. We all were very tired from working and thought that we would just have our normal dinner in the dinning hall with the rest of the halfway residents. We did not expect the meal that they prepared for us. It was very well prepared and much appreciated. We all thanked them for the meal, and it made me very sad but yet happy at the same time. I knew that we made a huge impression at the Mission and our efforts really helped out, but it was also very sad because this was the end of our service.
When I got back to the room, it all kind of hit me; I became very sad because I got thinking that not many people especially students would give up their spring breaks to volunteer at homeless shelters. This trip really showed me how the homeless lives and what their lives are like. I never thought about many of the things that I seen on this trip. I think that this opened all of our eyes and taught us a lesson that none of us will forget. I would love to be able to do this type of service more often. Since we are all college students, I feel that this trip was a good experience for us because some of us if not all have never had to deal with such things and live in the conditions that they live in. I think the Mission, the Campus, and the homeless that were involved with our service volunteering really appreciated it.. We may not be able to see the impact we made, but I know that just the small things that we did made a huge impact of them. If only everyone took the time to do a small part in helping someone else then everyone in America would have a safe place to stay and a warm meal to eat.
March 11, 2009
Today was very sad because we all knew that it was our last day at the Mission. I worked down in the basement sorting items such as shampoo and conditioner. I also took many pictures of the staff and residents there, so that I would have some memory to take back with me. During lunch time there was another volunteer group there to help. After lunch some of the residents asked us if we would be coming back; since we wouldn’t be going back down to the dinning hall for dinner we all said our good byes and it was very sad for us.
I don’t think any of us expected what happened at the end of the day. We all were very tired from working and thought that we would just have our normal dinner in the dinning hall with the rest of the halfway residents. We did not expect the meal that they prepared for us. It was very well prepared and much appreciated. We all thanked them for the meal, and it made me very sad but yet happy at the same time. I knew that we made a huge impression at the Mission and our efforts really helped out, but it was also very sad because this was the end of our service.
When I got back to the room, it all kind of hit me; I became very sad because I got thinking that not many people especially students would give up their spring breaks to volunteer at homeless shelters. This trip really showed me how the homeless lives and what their lives are like. I never thought about many of the things that I seen on this trip. I think that this opened all of our eyes and taught us a lesson that none of us will forget. I would love to be able to do this type of service more often. Since we are all college students, I feel that this trip was a good experience for us because some of us if not all have never had to deal with such things and live in the conditions that they live in. I think the Mission, the Campus, and the homeless that were involved with our service volunteering really appreciated it.. We may not be able to see the impact we made, but I know that just the small things that we did made a huge impact of them. If only everyone took the time to do a small part in helping someone else then everyone in America would have a safe place to stay and a warm meal to eat.
NicoleDuvall
Today was our last day at the Nashville Rescue Mission and it was kinda sad. The people there were really nice and so appreciated all of our efforts and help. When we got there, a bunch of us went straight down to the basement again to sort canned food items and crushed boxes for a couple of hours.
During lunch we said “bye” to Pittman and wished him happy birthday –Willie told us because we asked where he was because we wanted to say goodbye. Stephen and I really liked him-he was really genuine and friendly. I hope things go well for him.
Later on, we moved over towards the shampoo, lotions , & toothpastes, (toiletries) etc. into boxes for the Mission to distribute to the participants. It seemed like a never-ending process, but we did make the area a lot neater and got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I am very proud of all the hard work we did. We definitely made a difference. It was fun too, working with everyone helped the time pass by faster.
Before we left, the people at the Mission decided to do something special for us- they served us a really nice dinner in a special conference like room. I don’t think any of us were expecting them to go to that extreme for us because we were there to help, not to earn food. I mean there are other people there who were more deserving of that food that we were. I was in Heaven-2 kinds of chicken! Can’t beat that! They even had dessert! I was really excited!
After that, we said our goodbyes and thank you’s and I’m pretty sure some people got a little teary eyed, since we did get pretty used to being there and they were very hospitable.
After we got back to the hotel, I took a nap and then it was off to the Bicentennial Park to at nighttime. It was a little dark, but still pretty and the Parthenon was gorgeous. After the park we went back Downtown and walked around the streets to do some sightseeing. It was really cold, but I’m glad I went because all the little shops are so neat. We even got serenaded by two gentlemen on the street playing the guitar. They were really talented. A few people gave them money and they were very appreciative, saying that it was going to go towards a hotel room, since the temperature was dropping.
I am definitely very thankful for the opportunity to come to Nashville to visit the Campus for Human Development and The Nashville Rescue Mission. I was glad to make a difference helping clean up as well as getting to meet new people and hear their stories. It really made me realize how lucky we all are and that when a group a people come together, a lot can be accomplished to help better others. I hope that the Bonner Program will be able to do this again next year. Even though I will have graduated, I think it was a very successful trip and that most people did enjoy making a difference. Thanks Jesse and Alex for making this trip possible, successful, and for keeping us safe! :)
During lunch we said “bye” to Pittman and wished him happy birthday –Willie told us because we asked where he was because we wanted to say goodbye. Stephen and I really liked him-he was really genuine and friendly. I hope things go well for him.
Later on, we moved over towards the shampoo, lotions , & toothpastes, (toiletries) etc. into boxes for the Mission to distribute to the participants. It seemed like a never-ending process, but we did make the area a lot neater and got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I am very proud of all the hard work we did. We definitely made a difference. It was fun too, working with everyone helped the time pass by faster.
Before we left, the people at the Mission decided to do something special for us- they served us a really nice dinner in a special conference like room. I don’t think any of us were expecting them to go to that extreme for us because we were there to help, not to earn food. I mean there are other people there who were more deserving of that food that we were. I was in Heaven-2 kinds of chicken! Can’t beat that! They even had dessert! I was really excited!
After that, we said our goodbyes and thank you’s and I’m pretty sure some people got a little teary eyed, since we did get pretty used to being there and they were very hospitable.
After we got back to the hotel, I took a nap and then it was off to the Bicentennial Park to at nighttime. It was a little dark, but still pretty and the Parthenon was gorgeous. After the park we went back Downtown and walked around the streets to do some sightseeing. It was really cold, but I’m glad I went because all the little shops are so neat. We even got serenaded by two gentlemen on the street playing the guitar. They were really talented. A few people gave them money and they were very appreciative, saying that it was going to go towards a hotel room, since the temperature was dropping.
I am definitely very thankful for the opportunity to come to Nashville to visit the Campus for Human Development and The Nashville Rescue Mission. I was glad to make a difference helping clean up as well as getting to meet new people and hear their stories. It really made me realize how lucky we all are and that when a group a people come together, a lot can be accomplished to help better others. I hope that the Bonner Program will be able to do this again next year. Even though I will have graduated, I think it was a very successful trip and that most people did enjoy making a difference. Thanks Jesse and Alex for making this trip possible, successful, and for keeping us safe! :)
TiffanyShaver
Tiffany Shaver
Dr. Campbell
3-11-09
Reflection Journal- Day Five
It is the last day we are working at the Nashville Rescue Mission and I have so many mixed emotions right now. I am sad that today is the last day because this has been one of the most rewarding weeks of my life yet I am happy because I know that I have made a difference this week. This week I have had the opportunity to work with two agencies, the Nashville Rescue Mission and the Campus for Human Development and I can honestly say that I am a different person.
This week has been such a humbling experience. I have always known that homelessness was a horrible problem, but I have never has the chance to see that firsthand; this week changed that. Like I said before, today was the last day working at the Mission and the whole day I had to keep myself from crying. I worked in the kitchen today and it was an absolute blast. I became very skilled at potato peeling and de-boning turkey. Working in the kitchen can be very tiresome, but you get the chance to interact with all of the staff and people in the program. It’s an amazing experience to serve them their food as well, because you can just see the happiness in their face as they walk by. Working in the kitchen is probably my favorite because you do have that interaction and you have the chance to see the homeless face to face and it makes you realize just how blessed you are. I have learned that lesson a lot this week.
After working in the kitchen all day, it was time for goodbyes, which was the hardest part. You can tell that they were so appreciative of having us there and I feel blessed to be there. The men that I came to know fairly well was Willie, James, Len, and Keith. We were able to get our pictures with them and their contact information which was really awesome. Willie is the man whose daughter has been missing since Friday, so we wanted to keep in touch with him to get updates on his situations. As he was talking about it, you could just see the pain in his eyes and how hard he was trying not to show it. I almost lost it then and there. Earlier, they prayed for us and was asking God to bless us and it blew my mind away. These people are in need of so much and yet they ask God to bless us. It blew my mind on how unselfish these men are and how I need to learn from them.
Later on in the day, Billy and some other men at the mission cooked us a fancy dinner. They had tables set up with centerpieces and amazing food. However, as I was walking through the line I noticed how familiar some of the food look. The sweet potatoes that we had peeled were cooked on the table. I had watched the desserts being placed on the crystal plate while I was in the kitchen and I remembered how Billy was telling the workers how the desserts needed to be placed so it would look good. It broke my heart to think how much effort they put into making us feel welcome. It also broke my heart to know what the Mission people were eating while we had a fancy dinner. I can honestly say that I will never look at anything the same again. Its been the most frustrating yet rewarding week of my life and I truly mean that. Life and the way I see it has changed and I know its for the better. I will miss the Mission and the Campus, but mostly the Mission because I came so close to that place and the people there. I have already cried once since coming back to the hotel because I didn’t want to leave. I will miss this place and the Mission, with the people there, has changed my life.
Dr. Campbell
3-11-09
Reflection Journal- Day Five
It is the last day we are working at the Nashville Rescue Mission and I have so many mixed emotions right now. I am sad that today is the last day because this has been one of the most rewarding weeks of my life yet I am happy because I know that I have made a difference this week. This week I have had the opportunity to work with two agencies, the Nashville Rescue Mission and the Campus for Human Development and I can honestly say that I am a different person.
This week has been such a humbling experience. I have always known that homelessness was a horrible problem, but I have never has the chance to see that firsthand; this week changed that. Like I said before, today was the last day working at the Mission and the whole day I had to keep myself from crying. I worked in the kitchen today and it was an absolute blast. I became very skilled at potato peeling and de-boning turkey. Working in the kitchen can be very tiresome, but you get the chance to interact with all of the staff and people in the program. It’s an amazing experience to serve them their food as well, because you can just see the happiness in their face as they walk by. Working in the kitchen is probably my favorite because you do have that interaction and you have the chance to see the homeless face to face and it makes you realize just how blessed you are. I have learned that lesson a lot this week.
After working in the kitchen all day, it was time for goodbyes, which was the hardest part. You can tell that they were so appreciative of having us there and I feel blessed to be there. The men that I came to know fairly well was Willie, James, Len, and Keith. We were able to get our pictures with them and their contact information which was really awesome. Willie is the man whose daughter has been missing since Friday, so we wanted to keep in touch with him to get updates on his situations. As he was talking about it, you could just see the pain in his eyes and how hard he was trying not to show it. I almost lost it then and there. Earlier, they prayed for us and was asking God to bless us and it blew my mind away. These people are in need of so much and yet they ask God to bless us. It blew my mind on how unselfish these men are and how I need to learn from them.
Later on in the day, Billy and some other men at the mission cooked us a fancy dinner. They had tables set up with centerpieces and amazing food. However, as I was walking through the line I noticed how familiar some of the food look. The sweet potatoes that we had peeled were cooked on the table. I had watched the desserts being placed on the crystal plate while I was in the kitchen and I remembered how Billy was telling the workers how the desserts needed to be placed so it would look good. It broke my heart to think how much effort they put into making us feel welcome. It also broke my heart to know what the Mission people were eating while we had a fancy dinner. I can honestly say that I will never look at anything the same again. Its been the most frustrating yet rewarding week of my life and I truly mean that. Life and the way I see it has changed and I know its for the better. I will miss the Mission and the Campus, but mostly the Mission because I came so close to that place and the people there. I have already cried once since coming back to the hotel because I didn’t want to leave. I will miss this place and the Mission, with the people there, has changed my life.
TiffanyShaver
Tiffany Shaver
Dr. Campbell
3-9-09
Reflection Journal-Day Three
It is the third day of the ABS and so far it has been my most rewarding day. We worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission once again with our entire group. Where there were so many of us, the staff divided us into different groups, some working in the kitchen, some working downstairs in the warehouse, and some of us working in classrooms. Since I am an education major, I joined the group that went to the classrooms. The Rescue Mission is certified to offer courses in order for their residents to obtain their GED. The course that I went into was the literacy class. During that time, I graded their essays based upon the question, “What are your favorite sections to read in the newspaper?” It was sad to read them, because the level of their grammar was that of grade school. It made me realize how lucky I am and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to obtain an education. These men have trouble reading and writing and you can see in their eyes how much they want to accomplish. They also read from newspaper sections about the economy and stem cell research. It was extremely interesting to hear their opinions and discussions about these topics. These men are very intelligent, they just have never been told so or had the opportunity to enhance that. It was hard to look and them and to hear them as they read, because at times they would get frustrated. Like I said before, you can see it in their eyes on how much they want to succeed through this program.
After lunch, I stayed in the kitchen to help prepare dinner. One guy that I met was named Willy, one of the main kitchen staff. Talking to him was probably one of the most humbling experiences. He has been through the program and you can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice how passionate he is about that place. He loves those men and wants to see them succeed so much. He said that he knows he could be somewhere else making six times more money that he is at the Mission, yet he chooses to be there because he feels that he has so much to offer. As we were leaving, he thanked us and then asked for a favor. He asked the five of us to pray for him; his 13 year old daughter has been missing since Friday and they have put an amber alert out for her. I asked if it would be okay if we went ahead and prayed for him then, he said yes and so we did. Before we did however, he told us something else. This is the part where I start tearing up because I can still see the pain in his eyes. He told us that he had been through the program and had learned to put situations in God’s hands, but this time was so hard. Willy starting crying and said that he really wanted to trust God, but it was hard. That experience was so humbling and it made me realize how selfish I am at times. So many times I complain about how incontinent helping others may be; I come up with so many excuses like I’m tired or I have too much homework. I had a slap in the face today, because I realized if this man can still help others while his daughter is missing, then was is my excuse? I have no excuses because Willy is making no excuses.
So all in all, today has been the best so far. I was very humbled and realized how blessed I am to have an education, to have a loving family, to have the opportunity to spend my spring break helping others. I now know that every time I start to make excuses about helping others, I’ll always remember Willy.
Dr. Campbell
3-9-09
Reflection Journal-Day Three
It is the third day of the ABS and so far it has been my most rewarding day. We worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission once again with our entire group. Where there were so many of us, the staff divided us into different groups, some working in the kitchen, some working downstairs in the warehouse, and some of us working in classrooms. Since I am an education major, I joined the group that went to the classrooms. The Rescue Mission is certified to offer courses in order for their residents to obtain their GED. The course that I went into was the literacy class. During that time, I graded their essays based upon the question, “What are your favorite sections to read in the newspaper?” It was sad to read them, because the level of their grammar was that of grade school. It made me realize how lucky I am and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to obtain an education. These men have trouble reading and writing and you can see in their eyes how much they want to accomplish. They also read from newspaper sections about the economy and stem cell research. It was extremely interesting to hear their opinions and discussions about these topics. These men are very intelligent, they just have never been told so or had the opportunity to enhance that. It was hard to look and them and to hear them as they read, because at times they would get frustrated. Like I said before, you can see it in their eyes on how much they want to succeed through this program.
After lunch, I stayed in the kitchen to help prepare dinner. One guy that I met was named Willy, one of the main kitchen staff. Talking to him was probably one of the most humbling experiences. He has been through the program and you can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice how passionate he is about that place. He loves those men and wants to see them succeed so much. He said that he knows he could be somewhere else making six times more money that he is at the Mission, yet he chooses to be there because he feels that he has so much to offer. As we were leaving, he thanked us and then asked for a favor. He asked the five of us to pray for him; his 13 year old daughter has been missing since Friday and they have put an amber alert out for her. I asked if it would be okay if we went ahead and prayed for him then, he said yes and so we did. Before we did however, he told us something else. This is the part where I start tearing up because I can still see the pain in his eyes. He told us that he had been through the program and had learned to put situations in God’s hands, but this time was so hard. Willy starting crying and said that he really wanted to trust God, but it was hard. That experience was so humbling and it made me realize how selfish I am at times. So many times I complain about how incontinent helping others may be; I come up with so many excuses like I’m tired or I have too much homework. I had a slap in the face today, because I realized if this man can still help others while his daughter is missing, then was is my excuse? I have no excuses because Willy is making no excuses.
So all in all, today has been the best so far. I was very humbled and realized how blessed I am to have an education, to have a loving family, to have the opportunity to spend my spring break helping others. I now know that every time I start to make excuses about helping others, I’ll always remember Willy.
TreskaDunbar
Treska Dunbar
SOWK 350
Journal/Reflection
March 11, 2009
Today we worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission. I worked downstairs in the storage room. At first we were organizing can food, so that the kitchen staff will have an easier time finding what they need when they need it. Next, we sorted bed linens and bagged them. After we had them all sorted and bagged, another gentleman who works at the mission told us that they didn’t need them bagged and that we needed to take them out of the bags and place them in bins. This was frustrating. We had spent most of our day bagging these linens only to take them out and place them in bins. This miscommunication among staff caused the work ethic of the group to change. Everyone was in a good mood and had good work ethic until we were asked to move the linens and then everyone became annoyed and the work ethic shifted drastically.
Many of the homeless people mentioned that they could see the difference that we were making. They all were constantly thanking us for giving up our time to work for and with them. The staff at the Nashville Rescue Mission served us a delicious appreciation dinner. They were so thankful for the work that we have been doing there. However, I had mixed feelings about eating the appreciation dinner. It was a buffet of about ten different choices. It was hard knowing that I had all of these options of food upstairs, and the homeless were eating the cafeteria food downstairs.
I noticed on the first day that we ate at the mission that they don’t offer the clients any salt or pepper to season their food. I know they have plenty of salt and pepper, because when we were organizing non-perishable foods there was a large amount of salt and pepper. They provided us with salt and pepper at our appreciation dinner, so why can they not provide them with salt and pepper upstairs?
I am still amazed at the faith in God that these homeless individuals have. Today I spoke with a homeless individual and he asked about my faith in God. We were able to have a good conversation about God. It amazes me that he can have such a strong faith in God after all he has been through. Overall, today was a good day and I enjoyed serving this population.
SOWK 350
Journal/Reflection
March 11, 2009
Today we worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission. I worked downstairs in the storage room. At first we were organizing can food, so that the kitchen staff will have an easier time finding what they need when they need it. Next, we sorted bed linens and bagged them. After we had them all sorted and bagged, another gentleman who works at the mission told us that they didn’t need them bagged and that we needed to take them out of the bags and place them in bins. This was frustrating. We had spent most of our day bagging these linens only to take them out and place them in bins. This miscommunication among staff caused the work ethic of the group to change. Everyone was in a good mood and had good work ethic until we were asked to move the linens and then everyone became annoyed and the work ethic shifted drastically.
Many of the homeless people mentioned that they could see the difference that we were making. They all were constantly thanking us for giving up our time to work for and with them. The staff at the Nashville Rescue Mission served us a delicious appreciation dinner. They were so thankful for the work that we have been doing there. However, I had mixed feelings about eating the appreciation dinner. It was a buffet of about ten different choices. It was hard knowing that I had all of these options of food upstairs, and the homeless were eating the cafeteria food downstairs.
I noticed on the first day that we ate at the mission that they don’t offer the clients any salt or pepper to season their food. I know they have plenty of salt and pepper, because when we were organizing non-perishable foods there was a large amount of salt and pepper. They provided us with salt and pepper at our appreciation dinner, so why can they not provide them with salt and pepper upstairs?
I am still amazed at the faith in God that these homeless individuals have. Today I spoke with a homeless individual and he asked about my faith in God. We were able to have a good conversation about God. It amazes me that he can have such a strong faith in God after all he has been through. Overall, today was a good day and I enjoyed serving this population.
BrianCaulkins
Brian Caulkins
March 11, 2009
Psychology 350
Reflection for Alternative Spring Break – Day #5
Today was our last of volunteer work. Our last day of work was to be volunteered at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Our group had already been their once before and knew what to expect. Our objective for most of the morning was organizing and shelving canned foods. It is hard for the mission to give out the food if they do not know what they have. It didn’t seem like much to shelve the canned food and organize it but it meant a lot to the rescue mission. The last day to me was more of a relaxing one. We did work but the work was not strenuous and everlasting. One of the funniest things that I thought happened today was having so much canned pumpkin. I have never seen caned pumpkin and the mission had boxes and boxes of it. After our morning work of shelving and organizing canned foods we went to lunch.
One of the more rewarding things that happened today was the fact that every time a full-time worker made eye contact he knew who you were and spoke right away. They recognized us and were still appreciative of our hard work. Some even started talking right away. After lunch we went back down to the basement to work. Our job for the rest of the evening was organizing bed linens and putting them in the right bins. Although this was easy and boring work, it was still productive. We also had fun while working too. Every half-hour the employees would offer us a drink or ask if we needed anything. It was almost if they were catering us. One of the distinct phrases I remember one of them saying was “you are a blessing from God.” At first I thought to myself how weird it was to hear such a thing but then I realized that some people might not get as many blessing as me. They appreciate every little blessing that they can get.
One exciting thing that happened to me today was having the feeling of accomplishment. It was our last day of work and I can honestly say that my work during the whole week was productive and helpful. I can tell people that I made a difference in some peoples live because I took a little of my time to help out a lot of people. There is no way to measure how many people will benefit from our help but it is rewarding just to know that I helped just one person in need.
The frustrating thing that I experienced today was how some people took advantage of the last day of volunteering and didn’t do anything. They sat around all day and would do absolutely nothing. It didn’t make me mad that they were not working; it made me mad that they would not work for other people who needed their help. There is a different feeling you get when you help somebody cause they ask and when you help somebody who doesn’t ask and really needs it. I just wish that they would realize that just a little bit of work would help the organization out tremendously.
March 11, 2009
Psychology 350
Reflection for Alternative Spring Break – Day #5
Today was our last of volunteer work. Our last day of work was to be volunteered at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Our group had already been their once before and knew what to expect. Our objective for most of the morning was organizing and shelving canned foods. It is hard for the mission to give out the food if they do not know what they have. It didn’t seem like much to shelve the canned food and organize it but it meant a lot to the rescue mission. The last day to me was more of a relaxing one. We did work but the work was not strenuous and everlasting. One of the funniest things that I thought happened today was having so much canned pumpkin. I have never seen caned pumpkin and the mission had boxes and boxes of it. After our morning work of shelving and organizing canned foods we went to lunch.
One of the more rewarding things that happened today was the fact that every time a full-time worker made eye contact he knew who you were and spoke right away. They recognized us and were still appreciative of our hard work. Some even started talking right away. After lunch we went back down to the basement to work. Our job for the rest of the evening was organizing bed linens and putting them in the right bins. Although this was easy and boring work, it was still productive. We also had fun while working too. Every half-hour the employees would offer us a drink or ask if we needed anything. It was almost if they were catering us. One of the distinct phrases I remember one of them saying was “you are a blessing from God.” At first I thought to myself how weird it was to hear such a thing but then I realized that some people might not get as many blessing as me. They appreciate every little blessing that they can get.
One exciting thing that happened to me today was having the feeling of accomplishment. It was our last day of work and I can honestly say that my work during the whole week was productive and helpful. I can tell people that I made a difference in some peoples live because I took a little of my time to help out a lot of people. There is no way to measure how many people will benefit from our help but it is rewarding just to know that I helped just one person in need.
The frustrating thing that I experienced today was how some people took advantage of the last day of volunteering and didn’t do anything. They sat around all day and would do absolutely nothing. It didn’t make me mad that they were not working; it made me mad that they would not work for other people who needed their help. There is a different feeling you get when you help somebody cause they ask and when you help somebody who doesn’t ask and really needs it. I just wish that they would realize that just a little bit of work would help the organization out tremendously.
TreskaDunbar
Treska Dunbar
Journal/Reflection
SOWK 350
March 10, 2009
Today I worked at the Music City Mission. This agency was different than any other agency that we have worked with this week. At the Music City Mission they serve not only the homeless, but low income people as well. They provide the clients with food boxes as well as clothing. The clients at the Music City Mission were from differing backgrounds. I saw quite a few different racial groups, mostly Latinos. There were also a lot of children at the mission. The children all played with one another and seemed to have no idea of their economic state.
At one point today I was in the office as a lady was “checking out”. The mission only allows them to have 8 items of clothing per person. It made me sad to see that this lady had 8 outfits; however, she could only take half of them because of the eight item rule. Our group spent hours sorting clothing and there was a lot of clothing so I don’t really understand why they have the eight item limit.
While at the mission I did a variety of activities. I helped clean the facility; which, could seem like an obnoxious task, but I feel like it is important that the mission look nice and appealing for the clients. I also helped with the sorting of clothing. This is important, because it makes it easier for the clients to find the clothing sizes that they need. I felt like the work we did was important in helping this disadvantaged population better themselves.
One of the best parts of today for me was getting to talk to Paul. Paul is a social worker in Nashville and a volunteer at the Music City Mission. As a social work major it is always exciting when you get to talk to someone who is currently practicing social work, but it is more exciting to talk to a practicing social worker who loves what they are doing and in a field similar to the one you want to enter. Paul works with juveniles and is currently working with homelessness and specifically juvenile homelessness. My desire is to work with juveniles, so it was great to meet someone who is in the field I want to pursue. He gave me a lot of insight into the profession and the field as well as inspired me to fulfill my desire to serve the juvenile population.
Journal/Reflection
SOWK 350
March 10, 2009
Today I worked at the Music City Mission. This agency was different than any other agency that we have worked with this week. At the Music City Mission they serve not only the homeless, but low income people as well. They provide the clients with food boxes as well as clothing. The clients at the Music City Mission were from differing backgrounds. I saw quite a few different racial groups, mostly Latinos. There were also a lot of children at the mission. The children all played with one another and seemed to have no idea of their economic state.
At one point today I was in the office as a lady was “checking out”. The mission only allows them to have 8 items of clothing per person. It made me sad to see that this lady had 8 outfits; however, she could only take half of them because of the eight item rule. Our group spent hours sorting clothing and there was a lot of clothing so I don’t really understand why they have the eight item limit.
While at the mission I did a variety of activities. I helped clean the facility; which, could seem like an obnoxious task, but I feel like it is important that the mission look nice and appealing for the clients. I also helped with the sorting of clothing. This is important, because it makes it easier for the clients to find the clothing sizes that they need. I felt like the work we did was important in helping this disadvantaged population better themselves.
One of the best parts of today for me was getting to talk to Paul. Paul is a social worker in Nashville and a volunteer at the Music City Mission. As a social work major it is always exciting when you get to talk to someone who is currently practicing social work, but it is more exciting to talk to a practicing social worker who loves what they are doing and in a field similar to the one you want to enter. Paul works with juveniles and is currently working with homelessness and specifically juvenile homelessness. My desire is to work with juveniles, so it was great to meet someone who is in the field I want to pursue. He gave me a lot of insight into the profession and the field as well as inspired me to fulfill my desire to serve the juvenile population.
BrianCaulkins
Brian Caulkins
March 10, 2009
Psychology 350
Reflection for Alternative Spring Break – Day #4
Today we started our volunteer work an hour later. I think this was a good idea because most of the time we didn’t leave on time and everybody was grouchy and not willing to work. The organization we worked at today was called Music City Mission. When we first pulled up to the building it didn’t look like much but as soon as we walked inside it was pretty nice. I started my day off by washing out trashcans that were really dirty. It wasn’t that warm outside so the water was very cold. After cleaning out the trashcans I was assigned to rake leaves. By this time it had already warmed up and was pleasant outside. I decided to make raking leaves fun by raking them in a circle to look like a golf course. It wasn’t a masterpiece but I thought it looked pretty good for a leaf outline. After I raked leaves is when the real work started.
I became aquatinted with the head guy at the City Music Mission. His name was Bob. My job for the rest of the day was carrying out bags that the rest of the team packed up then load it onto the wagon. After the wagon was full, Bob and I took the wagon to a thrift store called Thrifts Mart. According to Bob, the Music City Mission receives compensation for every pound of clothing they bring. He told me that normally this was not the arrangement but with the economy being as low as it is nobody wants to donate clothes. The money that the Music City Mission receives goes towards electric bills and maintenance for the Music City Mission building. I believe that Bob and I made four trips to the Thrifts Mart. He told me that four loads was a good number since they only do this type of transaction twice a year. Another thing that I noticed while I was in the building was the customers. All of the customers were foreign and did not speak English. My girlfriend can speak Spanish very well and helped with some confusing conversations. Bob also told me that if you go up about another mile passed the building that all the stores are in Spanish or Arabic. According to Bob the last Census taken in that part of town stated that 80 to 85 percent of the population did not have a faith-based religion. It also shocked me when he told me that during Christmas time that his organization gave out 1200 toys to 300 kids. The funny thing was that the organization is Nazareth faith-based and 90 percent of the kids were foreign and was not of the same religion. It was not that it bothered him; it was just somewhat of a culture shock.
The good thing that happened to me today was learning about his part of town and how much I made a difference. I learned a lot about how our country is changing and how hard it is to be a successful person in a big city. It is something that I will always remember and take in into perspective once I am on my own. He was very appreciative and thanked every one of us. The frustrating thing that happened today was when Bob told me that sometimes people come into the building and are not in need. They are just “pros” as Bob would call them. These people take from the people who are in need. One of my friends today actually watched this happen. We went to the mall after our long day of work and recognized on the customer from the mission. These people were carrying lots of bags from expensive stores. This was a classic case of people being cheap and stealing from the needy. I don’t understand why people would do such a thing.
March 10, 2009
Psychology 350
Reflection for Alternative Spring Break – Day #4
Today we started our volunteer work an hour later. I think this was a good idea because most of the time we didn’t leave on time and everybody was grouchy and not willing to work. The organization we worked at today was called Music City Mission. When we first pulled up to the building it didn’t look like much but as soon as we walked inside it was pretty nice. I started my day off by washing out trashcans that were really dirty. It wasn’t that warm outside so the water was very cold. After cleaning out the trashcans I was assigned to rake leaves. By this time it had already warmed up and was pleasant outside. I decided to make raking leaves fun by raking them in a circle to look like a golf course. It wasn’t a masterpiece but I thought it looked pretty good for a leaf outline. After I raked leaves is when the real work started.
I became aquatinted with the head guy at the City Music Mission. His name was Bob. My job for the rest of the day was carrying out bags that the rest of the team packed up then load it onto the wagon. After the wagon was full, Bob and I took the wagon to a thrift store called Thrifts Mart. According to Bob, the Music City Mission receives compensation for every pound of clothing they bring. He told me that normally this was not the arrangement but with the economy being as low as it is nobody wants to donate clothes. The money that the Music City Mission receives goes towards electric bills and maintenance for the Music City Mission building. I believe that Bob and I made four trips to the Thrifts Mart. He told me that four loads was a good number since they only do this type of transaction twice a year. Another thing that I noticed while I was in the building was the customers. All of the customers were foreign and did not speak English. My girlfriend can speak Spanish very well and helped with some confusing conversations. Bob also told me that if you go up about another mile passed the building that all the stores are in Spanish or Arabic. According to Bob the last Census taken in that part of town stated that 80 to 85 percent of the population did not have a faith-based religion. It also shocked me when he told me that during Christmas time that his organization gave out 1200 toys to 300 kids. The funny thing was that the organization is Nazareth faith-based and 90 percent of the kids were foreign and was not of the same religion. It was not that it bothered him; it was just somewhat of a culture shock.
The good thing that happened to me today was learning about his part of town and how much I made a difference. I learned a lot about how our country is changing and how hard it is to be a successful person in a big city. It is something that I will always remember and take in into perspective once I am on my own. He was very appreciative and thanked every one of us. The frustrating thing that happened today was when Bob told me that sometimes people come into the building and are not in need. They are just “pros” as Bob would call them. These people take from the people who are in need. One of my friends today actually watched this happen. We went to the mall after our long day of work and recognized on the customer from the mission. These people were carrying lots of bags from expensive stores. This was a classic case of people being cheap and stealing from the needy. I don’t understand why people would do such a thing.
JessicaKirk
Kirk, Jessica
3-11-09
Alternative Spring Break in Nashville
Day Five
Today I spent another day in the kitchen at the Nashville Rescue Mission. I like working in the kitchen because you have more one on one contact with the people that work and visit the mission which is probably the most rewarding aspect of the mission. There are some real characters there like the a guy named Donnie who even gave is his address so we could write to him and send him some picture of the mountains and rivers of West Virginia.
I really like working at the Nashville Rescue Mission because almost everyone that you get to work with is apart of the program that the mission offers or at one point was a participant. This surprised me a little because I was expecting them to be different; I wasn't expecting to meet some of the people that I did there. One man became homeless because his business had went under and even used to be a marine
The only frustrating thing that happened today was that as soon as it was time for us to start serving the food at lunch to the transients the same church group from the other day showed up and was ready to serve. One of the workers in the kitchen even told us to move so they could serve, but luckily Alex came to our rescue and told them that it wasn't going to happen cause we had been waiting all week to serve and we wasn't going to give it up again.
As far as a story goes I cant really think of any except for one that just sort of made me laugh. As I was in the serving line this one man who was at least 50 to 60 years old said something that struck me as odd. The man said "How ya doing there shorty", which is fine with me, but shorty definitely wasn't from his generation which made me laugh, and I replied "I'm good but Im not short" in a joking manner. Everyone who was around and heard it and even the man laughed. It was just something that I found was odd and funny at the same time.
3-11-09
Alternative Spring Break in Nashville
Day Five
Today I spent another day in the kitchen at the Nashville Rescue Mission. I like working in the kitchen because you have more one on one contact with the people that work and visit the mission which is probably the most rewarding aspect of the mission. There are some real characters there like the a guy named Donnie who even gave is his address so we could write to him and send him some picture of the mountains and rivers of West Virginia.
I really like working at the Nashville Rescue Mission because almost everyone that you get to work with is apart of the program that the mission offers or at one point was a participant. This surprised me a little because I was expecting them to be different; I wasn't expecting to meet some of the people that I did there. One man became homeless because his business had went under and even used to be a marine
The only frustrating thing that happened today was that as soon as it was time for us to start serving the food at lunch to the transients the same church group from the other day showed up and was ready to serve. One of the workers in the kitchen even told us to move so they could serve, but luckily Alex came to our rescue and told them that it wasn't going to happen cause we had been waiting all week to serve and we wasn't going to give it up again.
As far as a story goes I cant really think of any except for one that just sort of made me laugh. As I was in the serving line this one man who was at least 50 to 60 years old said something that struck me as odd. The man said "How ya doing there shorty", which is fine with me, but shorty definitely wasn't from his generation which made me laugh, and I replied "I'm good but Im not short" in a joking manner. Everyone who was around and heard it and even the man laughed. It was just something that I found was odd and funny at the same time.
JenniferHellems
Jennifer Hellems
SOWK 350
Dr. Campbell
Journal Entry 5
Wednesday March 11, 2009
Today we went back to the Nashville Rescue Mission and continued working on the different tasks that we had been working on all week. We worked, had lunch, went back to work, then they had a special dinner for us.
We started the day with part of us working in the kitchen, some of us working with the people in the GED program, and the rest of us went downstairs. Downstairs we worked in the pantry and sorted out boxes and boxes of food. We separated them all and put them on shelves so they would be easy to access. After we completed that task we went into the basement area and four of us went to bins of sheets and sorted all of the sheets pulling out any white ones we could find. Then we put them in trash bags 25 in each. After that we put all of the rest of the sheets back into the bin. After we finished that we went to lunch.
After lunch we went back downstairs and found that we needed to go back to the bins and go through the sheets and fold them and separate them to be washed. That took the rest of the evening. I kept switching back and forth between sheets and sorting boxes of things such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, and many, many other items.
After we finished all the assigned tasks we went back upstairs and waited for our special dinner. The guys who were in charge of our activities this week were so appreciative and said that we worked harder than most groups that are sent to them so they wanted to make us a special dinner. I really enjoyed it, it was so good. We talked to them and thanked them for everything and they thanked us in return.
The only thing I got frustrated about was when one guy brought us to the sheet bin and told us what to do then after we finished it another guy came along and told us to do something completely different. Actually that happedned a lot this week; apparently the guys all had different ideas as to what should be going, on and what things should look like, and how they should be done. Other than that I enjoyed my last day at the Nashville Rescue Mission and I was really happy that they enjoyed us being there. It really made me feel like I had done something for someone and it made me happy.
SOWK 350
Dr. Campbell
Journal Entry 5
Wednesday March 11, 2009
Today we went back to the Nashville Rescue Mission and continued working on the different tasks that we had been working on all week. We worked, had lunch, went back to work, then they had a special dinner for us.
We started the day with part of us working in the kitchen, some of us working with the people in the GED program, and the rest of us went downstairs. Downstairs we worked in the pantry and sorted out boxes and boxes of food. We separated them all and put them on shelves so they would be easy to access. After we completed that task we went into the basement area and four of us went to bins of sheets and sorted all of the sheets pulling out any white ones we could find. Then we put them in trash bags 25 in each. After that we put all of the rest of the sheets back into the bin. After we finished that we went to lunch.
After lunch we went back downstairs and found that we needed to go back to the bins and go through the sheets and fold them and separate them to be washed. That took the rest of the evening. I kept switching back and forth between sheets and sorting boxes of things such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, and many, many other items.
After we finished all the assigned tasks we went back upstairs and waited for our special dinner. The guys who were in charge of our activities this week were so appreciative and said that we worked harder than most groups that are sent to them so they wanted to make us a special dinner. I really enjoyed it, it was so good. We talked to them and thanked them for everything and they thanked us in return.
The only thing I got frustrated about was when one guy brought us to the sheet bin and told us what to do then after we finished it another guy came along and told us to do something completely different. Actually that happedned a lot this week; apparently the guys all had different ideas as to what should be going, on and what things should look like, and how they should be done. Other than that I enjoyed my last day at the Nashville Rescue Mission and I was really happy that they enjoyed us being there. It really made me feel like I had done something for someone and it made me happy.
JenniferParsons
Jennifer Parsons
Reflection # 5
Alternative Spring Break
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
We went back to the Nashville Rescue Mission. Everyone seemed to feel comfortable there since we had been there before. The people, as always, were very nice to us. I like that about the Nashville Rescue Mission.
The group I was in was first sent to the pantry to sort out the food onto the shelves to make it easier for them to find. This was easy for me, as I had worked in that area of the Mission as a previous task a couple days ago. Therefore, I already knew where most of the items belonged. It also helped that there were more people helping. So, as they sorted the food into boxes, I was sorting them onto the shelves, which made things move a lot faster than a few days ago.
After a few hours of doing that, we were sent to fold sheets. I was caught off guard and a little confused because they did not give us a heads up to let us know so we could clean up the pantry area and get it neater. But we did as we were told and went to fold sheets. Sorting the fitted from the flat sheets and folding them into piles of twenty-five sheets, we worked for about an hour and a half before lunch.
After lunch, we went back to folding the sheets. We sorted the whites from the colors because they keep the whites and give the colored sheets away to another Mission. Later, I went to help the two girls who were sorting out the toiletries. We separated everything into separate boxes and threw out the used and “nasty” ones. A few people came over and sat there, doing nothing. After a while, I get aggravated with their laziness and non-motivation. I was unimpressed with their poor attitudes and lack of work. We came here to work and it was the last day… work. They were not asking much of us. I just do not understand why people would come on a mission trip to help those who need it and to do what work is asked of us and then complain about it. Don’t come. After a while, I left because I did not want to say anything that I would regret later.
After we sorted the sheets out and put them into black garbage bags, we were told to put them into the big bins so they could be washed. We then had to take them out the bags we had just put them in. I began to wonder why we put them in the bags in the first place, but I did not ask questions and just did as I was told. Upon finishing this task, I returned to the toiletries. We finished sorting the items into boxes and put them back onto the shelves. I also apologized for leaving them earlier, but they said they understood and agreed that they, too, were becoming aggravated with the lack of motivation that was being portrayed.
We finished early, so we headed up to the cafeteria following clean-up. They had prepared a special dinner for us for coming to help them. It was very nice. They set up tables, made a lot of great food and showed wonderful hospitality. I felt honored to be in the presence of such great people. I am very glad that so many people are there to help and get help. That is where greatness starts.
Reflection # 5
Alternative Spring Break
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
We went back to the Nashville Rescue Mission. Everyone seemed to feel comfortable there since we had been there before. The people, as always, were very nice to us. I like that about the Nashville Rescue Mission.
The group I was in was first sent to the pantry to sort out the food onto the shelves to make it easier for them to find. This was easy for me, as I had worked in that area of the Mission as a previous task a couple days ago. Therefore, I already knew where most of the items belonged. It also helped that there were more people helping. So, as they sorted the food into boxes, I was sorting them onto the shelves, which made things move a lot faster than a few days ago.
After a few hours of doing that, we were sent to fold sheets. I was caught off guard and a little confused because they did not give us a heads up to let us know so we could clean up the pantry area and get it neater. But we did as we were told and went to fold sheets. Sorting the fitted from the flat sheets and folding them into piles of twenty-five sheets, we worked for about an hour and a half before lunch.
After lunch, we went back to folding the sheets. We sorted the whites from the colors because they keep the whites and give the colored sheets away to another Mission. Later, I went to help the two girls who were sorting out the toiletries. We separated everything into separate boxes and threw out the used and “nasty” ones. A few people came over and sat there, doing nothing. After a while, I get aggravated with their laziness and non-motivation. I was unimpressed with their poor attitudes and lack of work. We came here to work and it was the last day… work. They were not asking much of us. I just do not understand why people would come on a mission trip to help those who need it and to do what work is asked of us and then complain about it. Don’t come. After a while, I left because I did not want to say anything that I would regret later.
After we sorted the sheets out and put them into black garbage bags, we were told to put them into the big bins so they could be washed. We then had to take them out the bags we had just put them in. I began to wonder why we put them in the bags in the first place, but I did not ask questions and just did as I was told. Upon finishing this task, I returned to the toiletries. We finished sorting the items into boxes and put them back onto the shelves. I also apologized for leaving them earlier, but they said they understood and agreed that they, too, were becoming aggravated with the lack of motivation that was being portrayed.
We finished early, so we headed up to the cafeteria following clean-up. They had prepared a special dinner for us for coming to help them. It was very nice. They set up tables, made a lot of great food and showed wonderful hospitality. I felt honored to be in the presence of such great people. I am very glad that so many people are there to help and get help. That is where greatness starts.
JenniferHellems
Jennifer Hellems
SOWK 350
Dr. Campbell
Journal Entry 4
Tuesday March 10, 2009
Today we went down to the Music City Mission. At this place we helped with a few tasks and learned a little bit about the place. Music City wasn’t like the other missions we went to because it wasn’t a shelter nor did it serve food.
At Music City they accept donations of clothing, food, and other odds and ends. The stuff that is donated is sorted through and they only keep the good stuff, nothing that is old or rag like. Music City is sponsored by the Nazarene church of Rodan. The people that work there do not get paid and it is strictly a volunteer based service.
We sorted through a bunch of clothes and still had so much more upstairs. We also carried some pretty heavy things from upstairs in the mission to downstairs in the church. That was pretty hard work and some people were outside doing some yard work. Some people went through the large bags of rice and pinto beans and divied them up into zip-lock bags. They also worked on flour and sugar. One of the men that worked their explained to me that all the food is donated or bought with donated money. Most of it is bought in bulk and is divied and then handed out. They only hand out food and clothes. Everything they have they give away for free.
The only time I really was frustrated today was when me and a couple girls were dividing up the clothes and we had a nice neat system working. We knew what to keep and what tot get rid of. There was only so many people that could fit in the area and work together productively. Well a few of the other girls were finished with what they were doing so they came over and started picking clothes up and throwing them around, going through things we had already been through, and not knowing what to get rid of or what to keep. I was just really frustrated because it was hard to work with so many people.
While I was moving things into the church one of the other girls and I noticed a child in the back seat of a black ford explorer crying. Her mother was inside with a puppy and had been there for a while. I finished taking stuff downstairs and checking on the child each time I went by. When I was finished I walked back in and told the preacher of the church about it. He talked to the secretary and the lady left. I’m not sure if anything was said to her, but she did leave. It wasn’t super hot outside, but it the temperature was close to 80 today. I was not impressed with that woman’s parenting skills.
I felt really good when we left today because I knew as a whole accomplished a lot of things! I could tell that brother Bob and his dad were really happy with us and what we did for them. Tomorrow is another day at the Nashville Rescue Mission.
SOWK 350
Dr. Campbell
Journal Entry 4
Tuesday March 10, 2009
Today we went down to the Music City Mission. At this place we helped with a few tasks and learned a little bit about the place. Music City wasn’t like the other missions we went to because it wasn’t a shelter nor did it serve food.
At Music City they accept donations of clothing, food, and other odds and ends. The stuff that is donated is sorted through and they only keep the good stuff, nothing that is old or rag like. Music City is sponsored by the Nazarene church of Rodan. The people that work there do not get paid and it is strictly a volunteer based service.
We sorted through a bunch of clothes and still had so much more upstairs. We also carried some pretty heavy things from upstairs in the mission to downstairs in the church. That was pretty hard work and some people were outside doing some yard work. Some people went through the large bags of rice and pinto beans and divied them up into zip-lock bags. They also worked on flour and sugar. One of the men that worked their explained to me that all the food is donated or bought with donated money. Most of it is bought in bulk and is divied and then handed out. They only hand out food and clothes. Everything they have they give away for free.
The only time I really was frustrated today was when me and a couple girls were dividing up the clothes and we had a nice neat system working. We knew what to keep and what tot get rid of. There was only so many people that could fit in the area and work together productively. Well a few of the other girls were finished with what they were doing so they came over and started picking clothes up and throwing them around, going through things we had already been through, and not knowing what to get rid of or what to keep. I was just really frustrated because it was hard to work with so many people.
While I was moving things into the church one of the other girls and I noticed a child in the back seat of a black ford explorer crying. Her mother was inside with a puppy and had been there for a while. I finished taking stuff downstairs and checking on the child each time I went by. When I was finished I walked back in and told the preacher of the church about it. He talked to the secretary and the lady left. I’m not sure if anything was said to her, but she did leave. It wasn’t super hot outside, but it the temperature was close to 80 today. I was not impressed with that woman’s parenting skills.
I felt really good when we left today because I knew as a whole accomplished a lot of things! I could tell that brother Bob and his dad were really happy with us and what we did for them. Tomorrow is another day at the Nashville Rescue Mission.
PradipAdhikari
Journal
4th day
Pradip Adhikari
10/03/09
Sally Campbell
Campus for Human Development
Today was fourth day of our trip. We had to work for the Campus for Human Development for today. Campus for Human Development is the privately organized organization which has been helping homeless people with different kinds of services. We reached over there at 9 AM. We met windy over there who was a very good person. She was the director of the Campus for the Human Development.
We had a trip around the Campus for the Human Development first. Wendy told us about different kinds of the services that were provided to the homeless people over there. She talked about the beds, classes, food and other different facilities that were provided to the homeless people over there. As she talked about Campus for the Human Development we got to know that it was an organization that helped the homeless people not only by providing them food and shelter but also they were educating those people so that they could stand in the society and live a normal life as other people. They were also helping homeless people to find a matching job so that they could earn their own living and go back to their community. We got to know that every people there were taught to be a good human being. Windy also showed the new project they were having according to which they were building some more buildings so that they could help more people and provide some more facility. After the trip we started our work. We had to paint the bathroom over there for today, it was fun. We painted four bathrooms, as we painted bathrooms we met some homeless people who had been using the facilities over there. All those people were very good people, they welcomed us and even thanked for the effort made by us.
After we were done with work Windy game us a paper which was talking about the Campus for Human Development “Through the power of spirituality and the practice of love, the Campus for Human Development provides hospitality with a respect that offers hope in a community of non-violence.” That was exactly what we got to see at the Campus for the Human Development. Spirituality, Love, Hospitality, Respect, Hope, Community, and Non-violence were the human behaviors that were taught to the people over there. We could see spirituality, love, hospitality, respect, hope, community and non-violence as the pillars of the life aspect of the people over there. They were trying learning those aspects and using them in their day to day to life so that they could be independent and live their own life. Overall we had a very good time over there and got to learn something more about the homeless people today.
4th day
Pradip Adhikari
10/03/09
Sally Campbell
Campus for Human Development
Today was fourth day of our trip. We had to work for the Campus for Human Development for today. Campus for Human Development is the privately organized organization which has been helping homeless people with different kinds of services. We reached over there at 9 AM. We met windy over there who was a very good person. She was the director of the Campus for the Human Development.
We had a trip around the Campus for the Human Development first. Wendy told us about different kinds of the services that were provided to the homeless people over there. She talked about the beds, classes, food and other different facilities that were provided to the homeless people over there. As she talked about Campus for the Human Development we got to know that it was an organization that helped the homeless people not only by providing them food and shelter but also they were educating those people so that they could stand in the society and live a normal life as other people. They were also helping homeless people to find a matching job so that they could earn their own living and go back to their community. We got to know that every people there were taught to be a good human being. Windy also showed the new project they were having according to which they were building some more buildings so that they could help more people and provide some more facility. After the trip we started our work. We had to paint the bathroom over there for today, it was fun. We painted four bathrooms, as we painted bathrooms we met some homeless people who had been using the facilities over there. All those people were very good people, they welcomed us and even thanked for the effort made by us.
After we were done with work Windy game us a paper which was talking about the Campus for Human Development “Through the power of spirituality and the practice of love, the Campus for Human Development provides hospitality with a respect that offers hope in a community of non-violence.” That was exactly what we got to see at the Campus for the Human Development. Spirituality, Love, Hospitality, Respect, Hope, Community, and Non-violence were the human behaviors that were taught to the people over there. We could see spirituality, love, hospitality, respect, hope, community and non-violence as the pillars of the life aspect of the people over there. They were trying learning those aspects and using them in their day to day to life so that they could be independent and live their own life. Overall we had a very good time over there and got to learn something more about the homeless people today.
SezinCeliktas
Today we went to Nashville Rescue Mission. Today was our last day. We pretty much did the same thing that we did on Monday. We worked in the kitchen, and basement. We knew what we need to do so people didn’t have to show us what to do.
We went to eat lunch with them. And went back to work again. They had a nice dinner for us since it was our last day today. It was really delicious. We all thanked them and left after dinner. Today was a good day too.
Today was the last day. I had fun during this trip. It made me think and it made me realize bunch of things. I am glad I came to Nashville with this trip. It was a good experience.
We went to eat lunch with them. And went back to work again. They had a nice dinner for us since it was our last day today. It was really delicious. We all thanked them and left after dinner. Today was a good day too.
Today was the last day. I had fun during this trip. It made me think and it made me realize bunch of things. I am glad I came to Nashville with this trip. It was a good experience.
MaiLy
Mai Ly
03/11/2009
Social Work
Entry for 03/11/ 2009
Today is the last day we worked in the Nashville Rescue Mission. Everybody started to go to Nashville Rescue Mission at 7:30 am, but my roommate and I woke up late, perhaps at 7:10 a.m. We prepared everything quickly. We didn’t have a breakfast. I felt so hungry and thirsty. We came to Nashville Rescue Mission at 8o’clock because the traffic was so crowded at the morning. We have a lot of duties today: some people taught math or something, some people worked at the kitchen, I worked in the basement. We worked in the basement but another place. It’s different from the pervious days. We had a duty: separate the cans: each box had each kind of can. It had a lot of cans, example: green beans , green peas, fish, spaghetti, noodle , rice…. Everyone worked hard, so the work ended quickly. We had lunch at 11:30 am. In the afternoon, everyone looked tired, I think nobody wanted to do anything. Because the weather was so cold and everybody felt sleepy . But everyone must do, we separate the blankets, pillow cases and the sheets. It had a lot of dust and the smelt was bad. In the afternoon, everyone looked tired. It was the last day we worked in here so when we finished the work, we didn’t eat in the dinning room like the pervious days. We went upstairs and went to the small room. The food was much better than in the dining room and some guys in here was so nice. Every one always smile and they’re friendly. We had a buffet and everyone ate a lot of food because we had a hard- working day. The guy in the Nashville Rescue Mission talked thank to everybody. Everybody felt happy because we helped for this center. When I sat on the chair, a black guy came and asked us: Do you work well? Do you come back tomorrow? We said: “No. It is our last day, we ‘ll leave on Friday, tomorrow, we’ll be free” The guy looked so sad and he wanted us come back later. He was so funny. After eating, we go back to the motel. We’ll be free tomorrow.
After the entire trip, I had some experiences. We must have responsibility when we worked in the team. We need to help the homeless if we can. We spent the time for the useful work. If it had another trip, I’m sure I’ll attend.
03/11/2009
Social Work
Entry for 03/11/ 2009
Today is the last day we worked in the Nashville Rescue Mission. Everybody started to go to Nashville Rescue Mission at 7:30 am, but my roommate and I woke up late, perhaps at 7:10 a.m. We prepared everything quickly. We didn’t have a breakfast. I felt so hungry and thirsty. We came to Nashville Rescue Mission at 8o’clock because the traffic was so crowded at the morning. We have a lot of duties today: some people taught math or something, some people worked at the kitchen, I worked in the basement. We worked in the basement but another place. It’s different from the pervious days. We had a duty: separate the cans: each box had each kind of can. It had a lot of cans, example: green beans , green peas, fish, spaghetti, noodle , rice…. Everyone worked hard, so the work ended quickly. We had lunch at 11:30 am. In the afternoon, everyone looked tired, I think nobody wanted to do anything. Because the weather was so cold and everybody felt sleepy . But everyone must do, we separate the blankets, pillow cases and the sheets. It had a lot of dust and the smelt was bad. In the afternoon, everyone looked tired. It was the last day we worked in here so when we finished the work, we didn’t eat in the dinning room like the pervious days. We went upstairs and went to the small room. The food was much better than in the dining room and some guys in here was so nice. Every one always smile and they’re friendly. We had a buffet and everyone ate a lot of food because we had a hard- working day. The guy in the Nashville Rescue Mission talked thank to everybody. Everybody felt happy because we helped for this center. When I sat on the chair, a black guy came and asked us: Do you work well? Do you come back tomorrow? We said: “No. It is our last day, we ‘ll leave on Friday, tomorrow, we’ll be free” The guy looked so sad and he wanted us come back later. He was so funny. After eating, we go back to the motel. We’ll be free tomorrow.
After the entire trip, I had some experiences. We must have responsibility when we worked in the team. We need to help the homeless if we can. We spent the time for the useful work. If it had another trip, I’m sure I’ll attend.
SamanthaThomas
Samantha Thomas
2-11-09
Reflection 5
Today was a more mundane day because all of us had worked extremely hard all week to help these shelters. Today, my group helped one of the education administration tutor the GED students and make packets and copies for all of those students who needed their math homework in order to study for the final exam. First thing this morning, we were assigned to a particular classroom to help out with. Akia and I were assigned to the math 2/3 class where we helped the men with fractions, geometry, and general math skills. However, teaching the specific skills was not the most rewarding part of it all. During the time when we were there, we met some very interesting individuals. One of those individuals was Ron Taylor who said he was 43 and wants to become an electrician. He had struggles as a young man with addiction to alcohol and drugs and he said, “The Lord set him free when he sent me(Ron) to this program.” After seeing the work he could do and how bright he was after I finally managed to convince him to finish his work, I knew this could become a definite reality for him.
I also met a young man named Michael who was only 18 and wanted to attend UNC when he graduated the program at the rescue mission. He and I had a heated debate about UNC basketball versus Duke basketball and finally came to the agreed consensus that we were both pulling for the same team. He is definitely a person I would love to get to know better and maybe watch a few games with. J
During the second part of the afternoon we sorted through the piles of portfolios filled with work from the various classes the men are taking so that we might be able to make copies of some of their work in order to provide them with a study guide for the final GED exam. While looking through some of their work, you would never know or expect to see how much they know and can teach us. One man wrote about freedom as if it was not a goal but a promise that everyone should have fulfilled. Another wrote about his family and how much he missed them, I could honestly say that I did tear up while reading this one. It goes to show you how these men are human and not just homeless.
2-11-09
Reflection 5
Today was a more mundane day because all of us had worked extremely hard all week to help these shelters. Today, my group helped one of the education administration tutor the GED students and make packets and copies for all of those students who needed their math homework in order to study for the final exam. First thing this morning, we were assigned to a particular classroom to help out with. Akia and I were assigned to the math 2/3 class where we helped the men with fractions, geometry, and general math skills. However, teaching the specific skills was not the most rewarding part of it all. During the time when we were there, we met some very interesting individuals. One of those individuals was Ron Taylor who said he was 43 and wants to become an electrician. He had struggles as a young man with addiction to alcohol and drugs and he said, “The Lord set him free when he sent me(Ron) to this program.” After seeing the work he could do and how bright he was after I finally managed to convince him to finish his work, I knew this could become a definite reality for him.
I also met a young man named Michael who was only 18 and wanted to attend UNC when he graduated the program at the rescue mission. He and I had a heated debate about UNC basketball versus Duke basketball and finally came to the agreed consensus that we were both pulling for the same team. He is definitely a person I would love to get to know better and maybe watch a few games with. J
During the second part of the afternoon we sorted through the piles of portfolios filled with work from the various classes the men are taking so that we might be able to make copies of some of their work in order to provide them with a study guide for the final GED exam. While looking through some of their work, you would never know or expect to see how much they know and can teach us. One man wrote about freedom as if it was not a goal but a promise that everyone should have fulfilled. Another wrote about his family and how much he missed them, I could honestly say that I did tear up while reading this one. It goes to show you how these men are human and not just homeless.
MeganWebber
Megan Webber
ASB Reflections
March 11, 2009
We wrapped up our days in Nashville back at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Today I got the opportunity to work with some men from the Alcohol & Drug program who were taking GED classes offered at the Mission. I was worried at first because I was placed as a tutor in a basic high school level math class, but once in the class I realized that the problems they were working on were things I did in middle school. There were three men in there, one of which was Donnie, the man I had met on the first day. Donnie was excited to see me sitting in the room when he walked in, and gave me his address so I could write him letters. I told him not to get his heart broken if he didn’t get really frequent letters, but he said once a month was okay. He was talking about how I should post his address on an information board at school so everyone would write him letters because he only gets them from his family. It makes me sad that he’s that lonely in the program.
One man asked me for help rounding numbers then multiplying them. Another girl from my group, Kayla, and I explained how we learned to round and he seemed to understand it much better than whatever way he was originally taught. By the time their class was over, he could remember how to round and understood it better than before. It was rewarding for me to realize that we made a difference and helped this man learn something in a different way.
It really amazed me at how much he was willing to learn. Apparently as they enter Math classes they have to take a placement to see how much they know, which then says what level of GED Math they’ll be placed in. They have to get an 80 or above to pass the test. When I graded two of his tests, both grades were above 80, but he wanted to look at the problems he got wrong and correct them. I know, personally, I would have taken the passing grade and moved on, never looking at what questions I got wrong and trying to learn why.
Later in the day four other girls and I were helping Mike, one of the organizers for GED classes, and a man came in asking when our last day in Nashville and at the Mission was. We explained that today was our last day at the Mission and he asked if he could pray with us. It was really heart-warming to hear his prayer because, never once, did he mention himself. He prayed for everything for us! He prayed for our safety back to the hotel and home and prayed for us once we get back to school. It was just so nice that he was so impacted by us doing simple things for the Mission that he basically prayed for us and everyone else in our lives. I was amazed by this man and his kindness, more than anything.
Finally, I want to talk about the things I’ve learned while being in Nashville. I have a definite respect for the homeless population now more than I ever did. I’ve learned that it’s not so much that all the homelessness is caused by lazy people, but could be the result of hard times and bad life decisions. The woman I spoke to at the Campus for Human Development showed me this when she told me her story of being a victim of domestic violence. She chose to be homeless instead of staying with her abusive spouse. I’m taking a lot with me when I return back to Athens from Nashville. The idea of a whole new, optimistic, perspective on life is one of the main things I’ll remember from our trip. Just because a person is having a hard time doesn’t mean they can’t change their lives for the better. Also, you can move past bad situations and change the rest of your life forever. Each man I met who was working at the Nashville Rescue Mission that had once come through the Drug and Alcohol program proved this to me. They overcame the drug and alcohol addiction and now have great jobs helping others who are in the position they once were. I just have a new outlook on so many different things. I think truth will tell once I return to Concord and put these new ideas in place in my own life.
ASB Reflections
March 11, 2009
We wrapped up our days in Nashville back at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Today I got the opportunity to work with some men from the Alcohol & Drug program who were taking GED classes offered at the Mission. I was worried at first because I was placed as a tutor in a basic high school level math class, but once in the class I realized that the problems they were working on were things I did in middle school. There were three men in there, one of which was Donnie, the man I had met on the first day. Donnie was excited to see me sitting in the room when he walked in, and gave me his address so I could write him letters. I told him not to get his heart broken if he didn’t get really frequent letters, but he said once a month was okay. He was talking about how I should post his address on an information board at school so everyone would write him letters because he only gets them from his family. It makes me sad that he’s that lonely in the program.
One man asked me for help rounding numbers then multiplying them. Another girl from my group, Kayla, and I explained how we learned to round and he seemed to understand it much better than whatever way he was originally taught. By the time their class was over, he could remember how to round and understood it better than before. It was rewarding for me to realize that we made a difference and helped this man learn something in a different way.
It really amazed me at how much he was willing to learn. Apparently as they enter Math classes they have to take a placement to see how much they know, which then says what level of GED Math they’ll be placed in. They have to get an 80 or above to pass the test. When I graded two of his tests, both grades were above 80, but he wanted to look at the problems he got wrong and correct them. I know, personally, I would have taken the passing grade and moved on, never looking at what questions I got wrong and trying to learn why.
Later in the day four other girls and I were helping Mike, one of the organizers for GED classes, and a man came in asking when our last day in Nashville and at the Mission was. We explained that today was our last day at the Mission and he asked if he could pray with us. It was really heart-warming to hear his prayer because, never once, did he mention himself. He prayed for everything for us! He prayed for our safety back to the hotel and home and prayed for us once we get back to school. It was just so nice that he was so impacted by us doing simple things for the Mission that he basically prayed for us and everyone else in our lives. I was amazed by this man and his kindness, more than anything.
Finally, I want to talk about the things I’ve learned while being in Nashville. I have a definite respect for the homeless population now more than I ever did. I’ve learned that it’s not so much that all the homelessness is caused by lazy people, but could be the result of hard times and bad life decisions. The woman I spoke to at the Campus for Human Development showed me this when she told me her story of being a victim of domestic violence. She chose to be homeless instead of staying with her abusive spouse. I’m taking a lot with me when I return back to Athens from Nashville. The idea of a whole new, optimistic, perspective on life is one of the main things I’ll remember from our trip. Just because a person is having a hard time doesn’t mean they can’t change their lives for the better. Also, you can move past bad situations and change the rest of your life forever. Each man I met who was working at the Nashville Rescue Mission that had once come through the Drug and Alcohol program proved this to me. They overcame the drug and alcohol addiction and now have great jobs helping others who are in the position they once were. I just have a new outlook on so many different things. I think truth will tell once I return to Concord and put these new ideas in place in my own life.
JenniferBowman
Jennifer Bowman
3-11-09
Nashville Day 5
Today we all went back to the rescue mission and it was pretty sad to me that it was our last day. Once we all got there we knew what the different tasks were that needed done so we split up and went to work. I was super excited to be able to go back to the classroom to help tutor and teach math. This is truly something that I have enjoyed so much. The students in the class are so appreciative that we want to spend our time helping them when we could be out doing so many other things with our time. They were struggling with some of the problems today and I was glad that I was able to explain things in a way that was easy for them to understand. The math that they are doing is some of the stuff that I learned in junior high, but some of them haven’t even seen math problems in so many years that the simple things are very difficult. Everyone seemed to find a place to fit in today with the jobs that they were doing and everyone seemed to really be a help where they were. It has shown me that no matter what skills we have each of us can be used in some way to help out.
After our lunch those of us that were helping in the classrooms went back up with Mike to help out with paperwork and other small projects in the computer lab. This was a good time because we were able to help him get caught up on a lot of things that he never would have been able to finish alone. The best thing however during this time would be when a man named Frank came in to talk to us. He walked in singing which helped brighten our day because his voice was so beautiful. He was one of the kindest people that I have ever met. He talked to us for a while and told us some about his life and we told him about our time here in Nashville. When he decided that he needed to leave he stood up and prayed for us. This was one of the greatest things ever. He must have prayed for a good twenty minutes. He prayed for our safety, our time in school, he asked God’s blessing on us, and prayed that we would not get into the kinds of things that he did. It just really showed his compassion for us and made me feel like we should be praying for him instead of us praying for him. But all in all it was a great experience even though we were doing monotonous tasks it was good to know that we were helping.
At the end of our day at the mission they told us that they had a meal for us. So I was thinking that we were just going to eat with the men at the facility like we have been all week. Little did I know that a group of men had been working this afternoon to make us a very nice meal to thank us for our service. They had put up tables in their conference room and set the tables very nicely for our group. The food that they had prepared was so great. They had things like parmesan chicken, gumbo, fried shrimp, mozzarella sticks, and nice cakes. The food was really great but I felt terrible eating it while there were people eating food downstairs that were eating food that did not look good at all. It was their way of saying thank you to us for our work but we really just wanted to say thanks to them for all of their hospitality.
This whole experience has been so great and I am truly thankful that I had the opportunity to come. I have learned so much about homelessness and I feel like I have gained a sense of what their life is like. I have been blessed so much by the people that I have talked to and been around. It has been something that I will remember for quite a while. I am definitely excited to go back home and tell my friends about my experiences so that I can try to erase their stereotypes about the homeless.
3-11-09
Nashville Day 5
Today we all went back to the rescue mission and it was pretty sad to me that it was our last day. Once we all got there we knew what the different tasks were that needed done so we split up and went to work. I was super excited to be able to go back to the classroom to help tutor and teach math. This is truly something that I have enjoyed so much. The students in the class are so appreciative that we want to spend our time helping them when we could be out doing so many other things with our time. They were struggling with some of the problems today and I was glad that I was able to explain things in a way that was easy for them to understand. The math that they are doing is some of the stuff that I learned in junior high, but some of them haven’t even seen math problems in so many years that the simple things are very difficult. Everyone seemed to find a place to fit in today with the jobs that they were doing and everyone seemed to really be a help where they were. It has shown me that no matter what skills we have each of us can be used in some way to help out.
After our lunch those of us that were helping in the classrooms went back up with Mike to help out with paperwork and other small projects in the computer lab. This was a good time because we were able to help him get caught up on a lot of things that he never would have been able to finish alone. The best thing however during this time would be when a man named Frank came in to talk to us. He walked in singing which helped brighten our day because his voice was so beautiful. He was one of the kindest people that I have ever met. He talked to us for a while and told us some about his life and we told him about our time here in Nashville. When he decided that he needed to leave he stood up and prayed for us. This was one of the greatest things ever. He must have prayed for a good twenty minutes. He prayed for our safety, our time in school, he asked God’s blessing on us, and prayed that we would not get into the kinds of things that he did. It just really showed his compassion for us and made me feel like we should be praying for him instead of us praying for him. But all in all it was a great experience even though we were doing monotonous tasks it was good to know that we were helping.
At the end of our day at the mission they told us that they had a meal for us. So I was thinking that we were just going to eat with the men at the facility like we have been all week. Little did I know that a group of men had been working this afternoon to make us a very nice meal to thank us for our service. They had put up tables in their conference room and set the tables very nicely for our group. The food that they had prepared was so great. They had things like parmesan chicken, gumbo, fried shrimp, mozzarella sticks, and nice cakes. The food was really great but I felt terrible eating it while there were people eating food downstairs that were eating food that did not look good at all. It was their way of saying thank you to us for our work but we really just wanted to say thanks to them for all of their hospitality.
This whole experience has been so great and I am truly thankful that I had the opportunity to come. I have learned so much about homelessness and I feel like I have gained a sense of what their life is like. I have been blessed so much by the people that I have talked to and been around. It has been something that I will remember for quite a while. I am definitely excited to go back home and tell my friends about my experiences so that I can try to erase their stereotypes about the homeless.
PradipAdhikari
Journal
4th day
11/03/09
Pradip Adhikari
Sally Campbell
Nashville Rescue Mission
Today was the last day for our service to the homeless people. We worked for the Nashville Rescue Mission today. We started to work from 8:00 AM. We worked on the basement donation storage area. We met Brother Thomas over there who was very good person, he supervised us today. We were asked to sort different kinds of canned foods that had been stored in that place. We worked over that place till our lunch and we ate our lunch over there.
After the lunch we were asked to sort different clothing that was donated for the homeless people. We sorted out the bed sheets and other different clothing. While we were working over there I got to meet one person over there. He told me how he had become homeless because he used different kinds of drugs. He went on to say that after being homeless he came to the Nashville Rescue Mission where he learnt to leave drugs and become good person. He also told how he has changed his life and he has been working on the Nashville Rescue Mission hoping to change the life of other more homeless people. I was so happy to listen his story, as he never lost hope in his life and how he even though going through many difficulties in his life had changed himself to a good and independent person.
We got our work done at 3:00 PM. Nashville Rescue Mission had planned a special Dinner for us. Every one of us felt so much honored that we were given such a special dinner. The food over there was very good. Everyone enjoyed the food and thanked them for giving us such a special treat. All of us were really happy. Since we had been there for such a long time we had developed some kind of connection with the peoples over there. Since today was the last day of our day there we were feeling bad that we would have to be away from them. Overall it was a very good day and I think it was a very successful trip. Everyone in the trip had learned something coming over in this trip.
4th day
11/03/09
Pradip Adhikari
Sally Campbell
Nashville Rescue Mission
Today was the last day for our service to the homeless people. We worked for the Nashville Rescue Mission today. We started to work from 8:00 AM. We worked on the basement donation storage area. We met Brother Thomas over there who was very good person, he supervised us today. We were asked to sort different kinds of canned foods that had been stored in that place. We worked over that place till our lunch and we ate our lunch over there.
After the lunch we were asked to sort different clothing that was donated for the homeless people. We sorted out the bed sheets and other different clothing. While we were working over there I got to meet one person over there. He told me how he had become homeless because he used different kinds of drugs. He went on to say that after being homeless he came to the Nashville Rescue Mission where he learnt to leave drugs and become good person. He also told how he has changed his life and he has been working on the Nashville Rescue Mission hoping to change the life of other more homeless people. I was so happy to listen his story, as he never lost hope in his life and how he even though going through many difficulties in his life had changed himself to a good and independent person.
We got our work done at 3:00 PM. Nashville Rescue Mission had planned a special Dinner for us. Every one of us felt so much honored that we were given such a special dinner. The food over there was very good. Everyone enjoyed the food and thanked them for giving us such a special treat. All of us were really happy. Since we had been there for such a long time we had developed some kind of connection with the peoples over there. Since today was the last day of our day there we were feeling bad that we would have to be away from them. Overall it was a very good day and I think it was a very successful trip. Everyone in the trip had learned something coming over in this trip.
BrittanyRothausen
Brittany Rothausen
Homeless Service Reflection 5
March 11, 2009 – Day 5
Today was our final day of volunteering. This time the entire group worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission again. Overall today’s experience was much more positive than Monday’s. We broke off into several smaller groups with some people teaching, some working in the kitchen, and the rest doing various jobs in the basement. I was one of many who worked in the basement, which I dreaded. The last time I worked in the basement, all we did was sort toiletries. There wasn’t much of a system or any organization so it felt like we weren’t accomplishing anything. Today we sorted through a lot of canned foods and got to see their pantry, which I was surprised to see was very organized. Since providing food is one of the primary functions of the mission, it was nice to be able to do something related to that. We sorted and folded bed linens the rest of the day, which wasn’t the most interesting task, but important none the less. As always, there was a particular group who tried to avoid work at all costs and seem to be on the trip for the wrong reasons, but the majority of the people here have worked hard and really do want to make a difference.
After we were all done working, the staff of the rescue mission had a special dinner for us to thank us for volunteering. I almost cried when we walked into the room and saw all the food they had made and all the effort they had put into doing something special for us.
There have been a lot of frustrations over the course of this trip, but as I reflect on the last few days, I realize that the experience was entirely worth it. I’ve met a lot of new people that I probably never would have in my normal life at Concord and I’ve gained a new appreciation for how fortunate I am. I was initially somewhat nervous about coming on this trip because I’ve never volunteered in this capacity before, but I’m so glad I did.
Homeless Service Reflection 5
March 11, 2009 – Day 5
Today was our final day of volunteering. This time the entire group worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission again. Overall today’s experience was much more positive than Monday’s. We broke off into several smaller groups with some people teaching, some working in the kitchen, and the rest doing various jobs in the basement. I was one of many who worked in the basement, which I dreaded. The last time I worked in the basement, all we did was sort toiletries. There wasn’t much of a system or any organization so it felt like we weren’t accomplishing anything. Today we sorted through a lot of canned foods and got to see their pantry, which I was surprised to see was very organized. Since providing food is one of the primary functions of the mission, it was nice to be able to do something related to that. We sorted and folded bed linens the rest of the day, which wasn’t the most interesting task, but important none the less. As always, there was a particular group who tried to avoid work at all costs and seem to be on the trip for the wrong reasons, but the majority of the people here have worked hard and really do want to make a difference.
After we were all done working, the staff of the rescue mission had a special dinner for us to thank us for volunteering. I almost cried when we walked into the room and saw all the food they had made and all the effort they had put into doing something special for us.
There have been a lot of frustrations over the course of this trip, but as I reflect on the last few days, I realize that the experience was entirely worth it. I’ve met a lot of new people that I probably never would have in my normal life at Concord and I’ve gained a new appreciation for how fortunate I am. I was initially somewhat nervous about coming on this trip because I’ve never volunteered in this capacity before, but I’m so glad I did.
JenniferBowman
Jennifer Bowman
3-10-09
Nashville Day 4
I was really excited about today because I knew that my group would be working at a new location, the Campus for Human Development. I was looking forward to seeing a new facility and meeting new people. The Campus is a lot different than the Nashville Rescue Mission, but both are good and help people in need. The Campus is a whole lot smaller which is a good thing because it makes it feel more like a home. At the Campus they also focus more on the emotional needs of the individual and they focus a lot of their outreach on art. They have a whole room for art projects and some of the participants are really talented and it helps them deal with stress and get their feelings out.
After we got familiar with the place and the tour by the leader, Wendy, we split up into different tasks. I was really happy when I found out that they had a women’s time that was about to happen and they allowed four of us to help some students from Creighton University do a project with them. There was a very big group of women and we started a huge mural made with pieces of torn construction paper. I really enjoyed this time because it was the first time at any of the places that we were able to be with women. Talking to those women was a really good time and some of them have had the hardest times but yet they are still thankful for what they have at the Campus. For example, one of the women had walked four miles just to get there that day and she was on the run from domestic violence. I felt terrible for her but she seemed to be doing alright considering her circumstances. The Campus seems to really help lift the spirits of the people that they come into contact with.
The Campus to me is such a great place because it gives the residents a feeling of independence and worth. For example, when we were in the art room one of the men told us that he was happier now at the Campus than he ever was before. They do what they can to help everybody. The store that they run is based on points so the participants have to earn points by going to different classes in order to purchase whatever they would like at the store. They also offer things at the store like McDonald’s gift cards and storage areas for possessions for a month. Another thing that they offer that I really liked is a mail room. Homeless people need to get mail like everyone else but they have no permanent address. The Campus allows them to have things sent there for pick up so that they can receive and send mail. This service is also helpful to them when they are looking for a job.
The thing today that was probably the greatest though involves a man named Francisco. We saw him in on our way out for lunch and Wendy pointed him out to us and told him that he was previously beat up pretty bad and that is why he is in a wheelchair. We stopped to talk to him when we saw that he was trying to pick up some beads that he lost from his plastic bag. We helped him pick up the beads and taped his bag and he told us that he was going to make a cross necklace and needed some string for it. We all were touched by him so on our way back to our van to leave we brought him some string from Campus. He was so incredibly happy that we actually thought of him and remembered his string that he called us angels. It was a great experience and Francisco is someone who I will not soon forget.
Another thing that I worked on today was painting the cubbies that the participants use to store their belongings. This experience was very aggravating in the beginning because the group that went on Saturday had started them and they did it very half way. It was very frustrating because not only did we have to paint some cubbies but we had to go back and fix their mistakes and fill in white space that they left. It was fun once we got stared and it felt good to get them finished and looking well. Wendy was so very appreciative of our work and it was so good to feel like we accomplished something good.
3-10-09
Nashville Day 4
I was really excited about today because I knew that my group would be working at a new location, the Campus for Human Development. I was looking forward to seeing a new facility and meeting new people. The Campus is a lot different than the Nashville Rescue Mission, but both are good and help people in need. The Campus is a whole lot smaller which is a good thing because it makes it feel more like a home. At the Campus they also focus more on the emotional needs of the individual and they focus a lot of their outreach on art. They have a whole room for art projects and some of the participants are really talented and it helps them deal with stress and get their feelings out.
After we got familiar with the place and the tour by the leader, Wendy, we split up into different tasks. I was really happy when I found out that they had a women’s time that was about to happen and they allowed four of us to help some students from Creighton University do a project with them. There was a very big group of women and we started a huge mural made with pieces of torn construction paper. I really enjoyed this time because it was the first time at any of the places that we were able to be with women. Talking to those women was a really good time and some of them have had the hardest times but yet they are still thankful for what they have at the Campus. For example, one of the women had walked four miles just to get there that day and she was on the run from domestic violence. I felt terrible for her but she seemed to be doing alright considering her circumstances. The Campus seems to really help lift the spirits of the people that they come into contact with.
The Campus to me is such a great place because it gives the residents a feeling of independence and worth. For example, when we were in the art room one of the men told us that he was happier now at the Campus than he ever was before. They do what they can to help everybody. The store that they run is based on points so the participants have to earn points by going to different classes in order to purchase whatever they would like at the store. They also offer things at the store like McDonald’s gift cards and storage areas for possessions for a month. Another thing that they offer that I really liked is a mail room. Homeless people need to get mail like everyone else but they have no permanent address. The Campus allows them to have things sent there for pick up so that they can receive and send mail. This service is also helpful to them when they are looking for a job.
The thing today that was probably the greatest though involves a man named Francisco. We saw him in on our way out for lunch and Wendy pointed him out to us and told him that he was previously beat up pretty bad and that is why he is in a wheelchair. We stopped to talk to him when we saw that he was trying to pick up some beads that he lost from his plastic bag. We helped him pick up the beads and taped his bag and he told us that he was going to make a cross necklace and needed some string for it. We all were touched by him so on our way back to our van to leave we brought him some string from Campus. He was so incredibly happy that we actually thought of him and remembered his string that he called us angels. It was a great experience and Francisco is someone who I will not soon forget.
Another thing that I worked on today was painting the cubbies that the participants use to store their belongings. This experience was very aggravating in the beginning because the group that went on Saturday had started them and they did it very half way. It was very frustrating because not only did we have to paint some cubbies but we had to go back and fix their mistakes and fill in white space that they left. It was fun once we got stared and it felt good to get them finished and looking well. Wendy was so very appreciative of our work and it was so good to feel like we accomplished something good.
VanessaAustin
Today we worked at the mission. First we went down to the basement and went through the food and organized it. While we were down there, some of the guys were talking to us about where they are from and how they got here. One of the guys told us that he wasn’t even homeless. He has a house and a family, but he had a drug problem. He went through rehab at another program but he came to the mission because he wanted to go through a Christian program for his rehab. I thought it was really good that he would leave his family just because he wanted to go to this religious program. He was a really nice guy, and he has a job and house; however, he still chooses to be there. That was really great to me.
Today was the last day of our service work. All of us were really tired and exhausted but most of us still worked and tried our best to help out. It was still frustrating to not get very much face time with the people who stay there and the homeless people. I would have liked to be able to hear the stories of the men who are homeless and how they got to be that way. I like to hear how people’s lives have changed and their stories. However, I really didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone. Most of the people that I have talked to have just been in the rehab program and haven’t necessarily been homeless.
All in all I really enjoyed the trip. It was fun to see the city. It was really nice to help all of the people. I feel like I made a difference. Even if I never saw someone face to face, I still helped behind the scenes and that was good enough for me. I’m just happy to have helped in any way at all. The guys that did see our work and did thank us was enough for me to feel good about everything.
Today was the last day of our service work. All of us were really tired and exhausted but most of us still worked and tried our best to help out. It was still frustrating to not get very much face time with the people who stay there and the homeless people. I would have liked to be able to hear the stories of the men who are homeless and how they got to be that way. I like to hear how people’s lives have changed and their stories. However, I really didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone. Most of the people that I have talked to have just been in the rehab program and haven’t necessarily been homeless.
All in all I really enjoyed the trip. It was fun to see the city. It was really nice to help all of the people. I feel like I made a difference. Even if I never saw someone face to face, I still helped behind the scenes and that was good enough for me. I’m just happy to have helped in any way at all. The guys that did see our work and did thank us was enough for me to feel good about everything.
VanVu
Van Vu
Sally H. Campbell
SOWK 350
Spring 2009
Entry for March 11th, 2009
We still have an extra roommate. Tung always stays in our room. His room is only used for storing suitcase and taking shower. Today we intended to start at 7:15. However, all five people in our room haven’t woken up until 7:08. We might be so tired that we couldn’t hear any alarm at all. I didn’t sleep until 4:00 am because of waiting for my day’s video to be converted so that I could use it for my reflection. The wireless internet in this motel is so bad that it toke me plentiful of time to search for converter software and download it into my laptop.
We were too late that all the other people have climbed up into the van. I really felt guilty when the other teammates might wait for us. I continued to sleep in the van. It took us 45 minutes to get to the Nashville Rescue Mission due to the crazy traffic jam. This was the last day we worked here. It made me feel like I was going to leave a place where already became so familiar and close to me. The officers here are so enthusiastic and friendly. They considered us as their real colleagues. I was definitely moved by the solicitude of them. The way they treated us and the way they talked about the homeless people let me understand much more about their kind personalities. This center is absolutely full of humanity. That is the main reason that make me longingly remember the days I worked here and actually don’t want to leave.
Today, we continued separating into 3 groups like the previous day: education group, kitchen group and basement group. I still wanted to work in the basement. Our today’s work was organizing the foods, putting them in the boxes according to their types and setting those boxes on the pallets. Teamwork always showed up its maximum work productivity. More than 30 boxes of all kinds were organized only in more than one hour. After that, we separated again into two groups. One group stayed in the food store to help the officers clean up the floor. Another group went to another store and organized the shoes.
11:00 am, we went to the dinning room to have lunch. The foods today were much better than the previous day. However, I still only could eat the pepperoni pizza. I didn’t like the beans at all. After lunch, we came back to our works. In the basement, I had to separate and fold the blankets, the sheets and pillowcases. We were really tired today, maybe just because of the changing weather. I only wanted to sleep and actually slept for half of an hour.
3:30 pm, we went to the dinning room as usual. However, the officers offered us to follow them to another room. It was a really nice one with some big round tables and many trays of foods that we could enjoy them like in a buffet restaurant. I definitely enjoyed this meal and ate a lot. The moment that we left the center, all the officers said thank you with us, blessing us have a nice and safe trip, and hoping that we would come back to the center someday. It was too hard to say goodbye to these people and to this place.
We came back to our motel. Mai and I decided to go to the mall at 7:00 pm. Jesse said that the weather was going to be very bad tomorrow with freezing rain and ice. I hope it’s not too dangerous to drive on the road because we will have a total day off tomorrow to go out and discover about Nashville.
Sally H. Campbell
SOWK 350
Spring 2009
Entry for March 11th, 2009
We still have an extra roommate. Tung always stays in our room. His room is only used for storing suitcase and taking shower. Today we intended to start at 7:15. However, all five people in our room haven’t woken up until 7:08. We might be so tired that we couldn’t hear any alarm at all. I didn’t sleep until 4:00 am because of waiting for my day’s video to be converted so that I could use it for my reflection. The wireless internet in this motel is so bad that it toke me plentiful of time to search for converter software and download it into my laptop.
We were too late that all the other people have climbed up into the van. I really felt guilty when the other teammates might wait for us. I continued to sleep in the van. It took us 45 minutes to get to the Nashville Rescue Mission due to the crazy traffic jam. This was the last day we worked here. It made me feel like I was going to leave a place where already became so familiar and close to me. The officers here are so enthusiastic and friendly. They considered us as their real colleagues. I was definitely moved by the solicitude of them. The way they treated us and the way they talked about the homeless people let me understand much more about their kind personalities. This center is absolutely full of humanity. That is the main reason that make me longingly remember the days I worked here and actually don’t want to leave.
Today, we continued separating into 3 groups like the previous day: education group, kitchen group and basement group. I still wanted to work in the basement. Our today’s work was organizing the foods, putting them in the boxes according to their types and setting those boxes on the pallets. Teamwork always showed up its maximum work productivity. More than 30 boxes of all kinds were organized only in more than one hour. After that, we separated again into two groups. One group stayed in the food store to help the officers clean up the floor. Another group went to another store and organized the shoes.
11:00 am, we went to the dinning room to have lunch. The foods today were much better than the previous day. However, I still only could eat the pepperoni pizza. I didn’t like the beans at all. After lunch, we came back to our works. In the basement, I had to separate and fold the blankets, the sheets and pillowcases. We were really tired today, maybe just because of the changing weather. I only wanted to sleep and actually slept for half of an hour.
3:30 pm, we went to the dinning room as usual. However, the officers offered us to follow them to another room. It was a really nice one with some big round tables and many trays of foods that we could enjoy them like in a buffet restaurant. I definitely enjoyed this meal and ate a lot. The moment that we left the center, all the officers said thank you with us, blessing us have a nice and safe trip, and hoping that we would come back to the center someday. It was too hard to say goodbye to these people and to this place.
We came back to our motel. Mai and I decided to go to the mall at 7:00 pm. Jesse said that the weather was going to be very bad tomorrow with freezing rain and ice. I hope it’s not too dangerous to drive on the road because we will have a total day off tomorrow to go out and discover about Nashville.
BrittanyRothausen
Brittany Rothausen
Homeless Service Reflection 4
March 10, 2009 – Day 4
Today my group went to a new work site called the music city mission. It was a very different experience from the other missions we visited; I didn’t get to interact with the participants, which is something I’ve really enjoyed about volunteering. In all honestly, I didn’t enjoy today’s work very much. I think the mission is doing very good work. They seem incredibly organized and provide a lot for people in need. However, I felt like the pastor who was directing us on what to do wasn’t as friendly as he could have been. He talked to us like he was constantly annoyed, which is understandable given how several members of our group weren’t working nearly as hard as they should have been. However, there were some of us that were working hard and it’s not enjoyable to have someone treat you like an incompetent employee when you’re volunteering your time. On the bright side, some people did get to see some families with children who came in to get clothes. It was nice to see people actually using the mission because it helped us feel like the work we were doing was actually important. Looking back, we really got a lot accomplished. We completed several projects and made a huge dent in the clothing that needed to be sorted. It was hard to feel good about the experience though, because I honestly can’t remember hearing a single “thank you” the whole day. I know that’s not what volunteering is about and I’m trying to not let it color my view of the day. On the whole, volunteering has been a very positive experience thus far; I think we’ve been able to make an impact with the work we’ve been doing and our efforts have been appreciated for the most part.
Homeless Service Reflection 4
March 10, 2009 – Day 4
Today my group went to a new work site called the music city mission. It was a very different experience from the other missions we visited; I didn’t get to interact with the participants, which is something I’ve really enjoyed about volunteering. In all honestly, I didn’t enjoy today’s work very much. I think the mission is doing very good work. They seem incredibly organized and provide a lot for people in need. However, I felt like the pastor who was directing us on what to do wasn’t as friendly as he could have been. He talked to us like he was constantly annoyed, which is understandable given how several members of our group weren’t working nearly as hard as they should have been. However, there were some of us that were working hard and it’s not enjoyable to have someone treat you like an incompetent employee when you’re volunteering your time. On the bright side, some people did get to see some families with children who came in to get clothes. It was nice to see people actually using the mission because it helped us feel like the work we were doing was actually important. Looking back, we really got a lot accomplished. We completed several projects and made a huge dent in the clothing that needed to be sorted. It was hard to feel good about the experience though, because I honestly can’t remember hearing a single “thank you” the whole day. I know that’s not what volunteering is about and I’m trying to not let it color my view of the day. On the whole, volunteering has been a very positive experience thus far; I think we’ve been able to make an impact with the work we’ve been doing and our efforts have been appreciated for the most part.
ChristineFernandes
3/10/09
Reflection
Our project today was to help out at the Music City Charity run by the Church of Nazarene. This church has a adjoining storage house where they collect clothes given to them from all the churches, they then separate them and put them out n a central hall where they invite the less fortunate to come in and select the clothing they need. The supervisor there Bob said that they kept a lot of baby clothing as that seemed to be some of the most expensive clothing items. I also took notice that he sort of crowd that seemed to come appeared to be middle class families mostly lingering around the baby clothing area. Apart from clothing they also sort out toys shoes and cooking items, some which are in good condition get sent to places that can sell these items and proceeds in to helping other charity drives. The thing that has become evident to me in this week is that almost all charity drives are running short of help to do the menial chores such as sorting and organizing the sort of thing that most of us over look. Having the donations sent in and stored is just one step, be able to sort and organize the items facilitates their daily function and helps them to do more since they can concentrate their efforts on other tasks. For the most part we sort out over 20 large Bags of items and helped clean out their storage place. Bob had to make two trips to drop of all that was sorted to various agencies. All in all it was quite a productive day!
Reflection
Our project today was to help out at the Music City Charity run by the Church of Nazarene. This church has a adjoining storage house where they collect clothes given to them from all the churches, they then separate them and put them out n a central hall where they invite the less fortunate to come in and select the clothing they need. The supervisor there Bob said that they kept a lot of baby clothing as that seemed to be some of the most expensive clothing items. I also took notice that he sort of crowd that seemed to come appeared to be middle class families mostly lingering around the baby clothing area. Apart from clothing they also sort out toys shoes and cooking items, some which are in good condition get sent to places that can sell these items and proceeds in to helping other charity drives. The thing that has become evident to me in this week is that almost all charity drives are running short of help to do the menial chores such as sorting and organizing the sort of thing that most of us over look. Having the donations sent in and stored is just one step, be able to sort and organize the items facilitates their daily function and helps them to do more since they can concentrate their efforts on other tasks. For the most part we sort out over 20 large Bags of items and helped clean out their storage place. Bob had to make two trips to drop of all that was sorted to various agencies. All in all it was quite a productive day!
MaiLy
Mai Ly
Social work
March 3th 2009
Entry for March 3th 2009
Today is Tuesday. We have only 1 day left to work in Nashville Rescue Mission. But today, I was not working like the previous days. We didn’t work in the basement in Nashville Rescue Mission. We worked in a campus in the Center for the Human development. That’s awesome. The work was so different from the work in the basement. We stayed in the campus at 9 o’clock. I stayed here so later one hour than yesterday. The way to go to the campus is so dirty and nasty. Perhaps, some guys took a pee in here. I saw a lot of black guys, I think they‘re homeless or unemployment. However, they’re so nice. They always say: Hi, Hello, where’re you from? How’re you doing? At the first time, I saw them, I felt so scared, but after they talked to us. I felt so excited to work today. The first woman we have seen is Wendy ( I guess her name ) She took us to go around campus. She was so nice. She introduced some of the rooms in the campus, example: the library, the gallery, the room where the artist can draw. She introduced about the history, the responsibility, and the number rooms of the center. After listening her introduction, we started to work. We must paint in the bathroom, another team cleaned the books. It was the first time; I tried to paint the wall. Before, I think it was so difficult. But when I started the work, it was not difficult like I thought. I paint the orange wall, the smell in the restroom was so bad, but I and my friends still work hard. Because we want to have a nice and clear restroom. After painting, my clothes was so dirty, my clothes had some of stains, but it’s okay. After 2 hours, we’ve done the wall and we had lunch. Luckily, we didn’t eat in Nashville Rescue Mission, we found another place to eat. Finally, we decided to eat at McDonald, it’s much better than the food in the Nashville Rescue Mission. After eating lunch, we went back to the campus and continued to work. We must to paint the floor with the other color. It’s yellow. When we finished the work, we clean the restroom again, it’s so clean. Some guys in here said thank you to us. I and my teammate was so happy. After that, we went out, and help my friends, we collected to the death trees. We must to put all of them into the trash bag, the weather today was so nice, it had wind and sunshine. My friends always use to the death tree to fight together. It was so funny, everybody looked so happy and excited to work, we took some pictures with the guys in the campus. That’s a great day
I had a experiment after working today. You can know about the people through the outside. Today I met some guys, they looked so violent and I felt so scared, I think they’re a bag guys. But it was not true, they’ re so nice and helpful. They wanted us to come back here . That’s great.
When we came back to the motel, we went to the Mall and the hotel near the Mall. The hotel looked so beautiful and huge, it’s look like a forest with have a lot of tree, a center with have a lot of restaurants. We went around the hotel, took pictures and went to the Mall, we finished at 10o’clock. That’s a great day. I like this day and I’ll remember all of these memories
Social work
March 3th 2009
Entry for March 3th 2009
Today is Tuesday. We have only 1 day left to work in Nashville Rescue Mission. But today, I was not working like the previous days. We didn’t work in the basement in Nashville Rescue Mission. We worked in a campus in the Center for the Human development. That’s awesome. The work was so different from the work in the basement. We stayed in the campus at 9 o’clock. I stayed here so later one hour than yesterday. The way to go to the campus is so dirty and nasty. Perhaps, some guys took a pee in here. I saw a lot of black guys, I think they‘re homeless or unemployment. However, they’re so nice. They always say: Hi, Hello, where’re you from? How’re you doing? At the first time, I saw them, I felt so scared, but after they talked to us. I felt so excited to work today. The first woman we have seen is Wendy ( I guess her name ) She took us to go around campus. She was so nice. She introduced some of the rooms in the campus, example: the library, the gallery, the room where the artist can draw. She introduced about the history, the responsibility, and the number rooms of the center. After listening her introduction, we started to work. We must paint in the bathroom, another team cleaned the books. It was the first time; I tried to paint the wall. Before, I think it was so difficult. But when I started the work, it was not difficult like I thought. I paint the orange wall, the smell in the restroom was so bad, but I and my friends still work hard. Because we want to have a nice and clear restroom. After painting, my clothes was so dirty, my clothes had some of stains, but it’s okay. After 2 hours, we’ve done the wall and we had lunch. Luckily, we didn’t eat in Nashville Rescue Mission, we found another place to eat. Finally, we decided to eat at McDonald, it’s much better than the food in the Nashville Rescue Mission. After eating lunch, we went back to the campus and continued to work. We must to paint the floor with the other color. It’s yellow. When we finished the work, we clean the restroom again, it’s so clean. Some guys in here said thank you to us. I and my teammate was so happy. After that, we went out, and help my friends, we collected to the death trees. We must to put all of them into the trash bag, the weather today was so nice, it had wind and sunshine. My friends always use to the death tree to fight together. It was so funny, everybody looked so happy and excited to work, we took some pictures with the guys in the campus. That’s a great day
I had a experiment after working today. You can know about the people through the outside. Today I met some guys, they looked so violent and I felt so scared, I think they’re a bag guys. But it was not true, they’ re so nice and helpful. They wanted us to come back here . That’s great.
When we came back to the motel, we went to the Mall and the hotel near the Mall. The hotel looked so beautiful and huge, it’s look like a forest with have a lot of tree, a center with have a lot of restaurants. We went around the hotel, took pictures and went to the Mall, we finished at 10o’clock. That’s a great day. I like this day and I’ll remember all of these memories
GraceHurney
Grace Hurney
Civic Engagment
10 March 2009
Reflections: Day Four
Today, we worked at the Music City Rescue Mission (thus to be referred to as MCRM), a faith based organization operating in the suburbs of Nashville. The fascinating thing about the MCRM is that they mainly serve refugees and immigrants. The countries their participants hail from countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Iran, and Sudan.
I felt that the work I did today was far more rewarding than anything I have done thus far. I started out the day packing food kits to distribute to families in need. Each kit contained 8 cans of food, a few boxes of non-perishable goods, juice cans, chips, chicken patties, and bagels. The work was fun trying to construct the perfectly organized box. However, the true meaning of this whole trip came through at about 10:30 in the morning when we were called upon to take the kits to distribute. Just being able to see the tangible effects of my volunteer service made me be thankful that I decided to attend this trip. The families were so grateful for whatever food we could offer them, and I just wished I could give them more. My other “favorite/random moment” of the day was when I got to witness another one of my tripmates, my roommate and sorority sister, translate for a mother looking for shoes for her two year old daughter. I stood and watched as Anne put her Spanish language skills to use, helping a little girl procure an adorable pair of ladybug rainboots. The little girl was shy, but when she left the back room, she couldn’t take her eyes off her translator. I just thought it was such a wonderful moment because Anne enjoyed talking and helping the family so much that it reminded me why we do community service. It is easy to lose sight of your good motives and intentions to volunteer when the work is stressful, tiring, or not seemingly helpful.
However, the euphoria of helping at the MCRM died rayher quickly. While we were at the Rivergate Mall, one of my roommates reported seeing one of the families that had come to the MCRM walking around with new clothes, shopping bags, and Starbucks coffee. This is obviously upsetting to anyone- they are cheating the system and taking away clothing and food from truly needy individuals and families. I would assume the MCRM would have some way to monitor who takes donations and how often. It is because a few individuals abuse the system that gives social programs a bad reputation. I can only hope that if we alert the MCRM they would hopefully figure out a way to create a new way to log-in visitors to the MCRM.
Civic Engagment
10 March 2009
Reflections: Day Four
Today, we worked at the Music City Rescue Mission (thus to be referred to as MCRM), a faith based organization operating in the suburbs of Nashville. The fascinating thing about the MCRM is that they mainly serve refugees and immigrants. The countries their participants hail from countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Iran, and Sudan.
I felt that the work I did today was far more rewarding than anything I have done thus far. I started out the day packing food kits to distribute to families in need. Each kit contained 8 cans of food, a few boxes of non-perishable goods, juice cans, chips, chicken patties, and bagels. The work was fun trying to construct the perfectly organized box. However, the true meaning of this whole trip came through at about 10:30 in the morning when we were called upon to take the kits to distribute. Just being able to see the tangible effects of my volunteer service made me be thankful that I decided to attend this trip. The families were so grateful for whatever food we could offer them, and I just wished I could give them more. My other “favorite/random moment” of the day was when I got to witness another one of my tripmates, my roommate and sorority sister, translate for a mother looking for shoes for her two year old daughter. I stood and watched as Anne put her Spanish language skills to use, helping a little girl procure an adorable pair of ladybug rainboots. The little girl was shy, but when she left the back room, she couldn’t take her eyes off her translator. I just thought it was such a wonderful moment because Anne enjoyed talking and helping the family so much that it reminded me why we do community service. It is easy to lose sight of your good motives and intentions to volunteer when the work is stressful, tiring, or not seemingly helpful.
However, the euphoria of helping at the MCRM died rayher quickly. While we were at the Rivergate Mall, one of my roommates reported seeing one of the families that had come to the MCRM walking around with new clothes, shopping bags, and Starbucks coffee. This is obviously upsetting to anyone- they are cheating the system and taking away clothing and food from truly needy individuals and families. I would assume the MCRM would have some way to monitor who takes donations and how often. It is because a few individuals abuse the system that gives social programs a bad reputation. I can only hope that if we alert the MCRM they would hopefully figure out a way to create a new way to log-in visitors to the MCRM.
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