Reunion Video

Music by Sufjan Stevens, "Chicago"

Justin's Summation

Now that this alternative spring break is coming to a close, I am extremely sad. I have grown to love and appreciate everyone in my group for their own fun and quirky individual personalities. Kelsey for her outrageous laugh and her personality that is just as loud. Caroline for her passion and hilarious language. Lauren for her coinage of fresh dope jive terms. Chul for his randomness and mysteriousness. Brian for his chivalry and humor. Helen for her asian games and her funny-as-shit laugh slash mannerisms. Natalia for her big heart. Britt for her secret Uno skills and shopping addiction. Dana for her meekness and seemingly out of nowhere sass. Fitz for our inside laughing moments like when she almost sneezed but then didn't and I laughed haha. Sarah Middleton for her naps and kindness. Whitney for her taboo skills. Ayushi for her nonstop smiling and awesome choice of majors, duh. Shannon for her lack of card swipe and incredibly nice nature. And obviously Dian for his competitive nature and hilar-cats (rawr) comments. But even more than getting to know everyone on the trip, I learned an immense amount about the issue of homelessness. I found my stereotypical idea of what a homeless person is to be be completely false. And I hope to go back to College Park with an educational approach on what to do to help the larger situation. This is my last and final post. So goodnight and good luck, adios.

Last Day- In Pictures

By Dian Squire

Friday March 26th, Justin G

Today was quite the blast if I do say so myself. It began with a delightful breakfast shared with my good friend Chul. I had swiss cheese on a bagel, an idea swiped from Dian. And then we left and took the bus to Deborah's Place, a shelter for women who are no longer homeless. We learned a lot about the different types of programs that the ladies have the opportunities to partake in. Then we got to interact and meet some of them. The first woman Jackie was really funny and like a typical woman, bragging about her kids and grandkids. It was so cute how she was telling us about how her grandkids are all A students. But she took one look at my guages in my ears and was like, "Those are so ugly, why did you do that!?" I came back with no response and just laughed it off. Then we met Paula and her friend. When we were playing bingo we had so much fun. Despite my never winning until the four corners game it was really nice to see the women and pick our prizes. Another group was there and one member of their group was sleeping almost the entire day there. I was really disappointed to see how much passion they lacked. Overall it was a great day. I also got the chance to see my grandparents and my great grandma. We went out to eat at this place and the food was delish-cats (rawr). I also got the opportunity to walk around the city alone listening to awesome city-walking music. Then we played some fun games like Taboo and Scategories. I am so much better at the former. Okay blogging complete for today, time to shower. Adios mi amigos!

You are walking down the street to meet your friends for lunch at a local city restaurant. The streets are bustling and you are hustling to make your lunch date. You hear some change clanging in a cup and look to your right, the source of the sounds. There stands a homeless man. FREEZE: What was the image that just popped into your head? Be honest me with, with yourself. An African-American male? Is he an alcoholic? A drug addict? Is he uneducated? Do you think that he has made poor decisions in his life that have warranted his situation? If you did, I'm going to be honest too; a week ago, I would have been right there with you thinking of the most stereotypical descriptions of the homeless man. But the most amazing gift has been presented to me during this trip. It has awarded me with an unclouded view of the homeless and hungry in America. Every interaction I have had thus far in this trip at varying organizations such as Marillac and CCO have contributed to breaking down my uneducated preconceived notions.

Sometimes, due to budget cuts and job layoffs at companies across America and lack of affordable housing, families are thrown to the streets. Sometimes, an injury will prevent someone from finding any jobs that pay enough to support livings costs. Sometimes, life will throw curve balls that no one will be able to bounce back from.

From now on, whenever I pass that homeless person, I will no longer avert my eyes and walk a little faster, but just talk to them, learn their name, and treat them like the deserving human being that they are, just like me, just like you.

-Helen

Day 5- In Pictures

By Dian Squire

Day 4- The Source

We went to the Greater Chicago Food Depository yesterday. We aptly named it, "The Source." This is where millions upon millions of pounds of food ship from every year to the many food pantries, shelters and other organizations in Cook County, IL. The volunteer coordinator said that over 1 million pounds of food goes out a month and that it takes over 90,000 volunteer hours and over 150 full-time employees to coordinate efforts to get that done. Without volunteers they would have to hire over 40 more full-time employees and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salaries and benefits. Instead, that money can go to the hungry.

Today we repackaged 10 lb bags of oranges from large 1000 lb slats into 60 lb boxes to be shipped to organizations across the county. Luckily, a group of high school baseball players was next to us and we took it upon ourselves to use them as a little friendly competition to see who could pack the most oranges in the allotted time. As expected, we packed more than double their total. In total, both groups and a smaller church organization packed over 24,000 lbs of oranges to be distributed across the county. It was a great feeling, fun and everybody bonded over it.

There was a downside in that we had to identify oranges that were moldy or rotten because the Greater Chicago Food Depository takes great care in ensuring that all food that leaves the depository is high quality. In total, we had to set aside approx. 1500 lbs of oranges. They have to be weighed and separated and hopefully GCFD will get a refund. We were also thinking about how Marillac had very little fruit and how the clients there put on their surveys that they wished they had fruit. We wish we had more time to talk to the volunteer coordinators about how they distribute the fruit across the city. Cook County is huge, so it's natural that not everybody is going to get everything, but it'd be nice to know. We had a lot of time packing and bonding and competing, but also forgot to ask the important questions.

Lastly, it seems that everybody's mindset has changed rather dramatically. During each reflection, somebody comes in and says that today they looked at a homeless person differently, that they talked to them a bit more, offered them food or money, or just a handshake and smile. We talked about guilt and if we should be able to spend our own money on ourselves without feeling guilty about not giving it to a charity or person. We decided that it was okay as long as you give something of yourself. It could be time or money. It doesn't have to be your own possessions to make a difference. As long as intention is good, than you are good.