Cinci update!

Today we worked from 9 to about 1 PM at Our Daily Bread, a soup kitchen. Every day, they serve around 400 meals! We helped set up, serve and clean up. There were so many people coming through the line that it was hard to keep up! After lunch we headed back to our apartment for a short break before moving on to service project 2 at Over-The-Rhine Community Housing. OTR Community Housing maintains & rents out over 200 affordable housing units, and relies heavily on volunteers to help prepare units for folks to move in. There is a lot of need for affordable housing (which means rent should be no more than 30% of your monthly income) in the area-and as we've learned, a lack of affordable housing is a major cause of homelessness. We cleaned an apartment someone had just moved out of, preparing it to be painted and have a few other small repairs done so someone else can move in.
After dinner, we went back to the offices of the Coalition for a presentation from their speakers bureau; we heard from two formerly homeless individuals. I was reminded of a quotation I came across the other day from Rebecca Falls: "one of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is to listen to each other's stories." I know listening helped both sides tonight (they told me so), but the experience raised some troubling questions. (don't you just love those? They're what inspire us to take our best actions and really think!)
Having done lots of service work and now coordinating service programs, I'm pretty familiar with the questions coming up again: what is the nature of helping? How does my racial and ethnic heritage, and my relative privilege, affect that relationship between me and the person I'm trying to help? Can outsiders really help a community or does change have to come from within? Who really knows what decisions and choices regarding development will truly serve a community's needs? What is true poverty, and what is true wealth? What does my service really MEAN in light of the answers I just gave?

These are big questions, and they're still troubling to me as I start to answer them. I don't know that we'll have all the answers by the end of this trip, but hopefully we'll be a little closer.

As far as some stats and following up on my last post: Over-The-Rhine is a neighborhood of .64 square miles. At one time, 45,000 people lived here. Now, only about 5,000 do. There are 400 abandoned buildings in the neighborhood, and every night in Cincinnati over 1300 people experience homelessness. I'm glad to be sleeping in a nice warm bed tonight.

Tomorrow, we are off to work at another soup kitchen, then get a tour of another shelter. Until then!

Walking to our service site

This morning as we were walking to our first service site, a man called out to us from the other side of the street: "how do you like Over-The-Rhine?"
Hesitantly, we replied that we liked it.
He called back, "well, I don't, because all the buildings are abandoned and I'm homeless."

Cincinnati Break Away Trip: checking in

Well, after a very early morning gathering at the airport (4:30 AM if you're curious) and a flight, we are safely here in Cincinnati.
We came in to town after picking up our shiny new rental car (2800 miles on it, newest I've ever driven). It's been pretty easy to find our way around the city so far - so nice when they're laid out in a grid! We met Andy, our host site contact, at our lovely apartment for the week this morning.
We settled in a little, then went in search of breakfast. Being a Sunday morning we didn't find too much open other than BBQ, so we headed to a dunkin' donuts before going to the Cincinnati zoo. It was a lot of fun and a good way to ease our way into Break Away this week.
We're relaxing a bit before our orientation with Andy at our host site, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. We'll be sure to post more later!
A special thanks to Colin, who brought some group members to the airport this morning!

New Student Leadership Opportunities with Break Away!

I'm pleased to announce a new student leadership opportunity with Break Away here at JSC! We've created a new position, called the Co-Chair. The Break Away Co-Chairs are responsible for the overall program--for recruiting and selecting trip leaders, trip leader training, researching and choosing trip issues and sites, and managing the overall program. (all with the support of the Center for Service Learning staff, of course!)This is a great opportunity for a full-time undergraduate student looking for a rich leadership experience. No prior Break Away experience is required (either participation or leadership), although knowledge of the program is certainly desirable. The time commitment is about 10 hours per week each semester starting now and continuing through Spring 2009.

Applications are available now in the Center for Service Learning, and due back Friday, March 10, 2008. More information about the position is on the application. If you have questions, please stop by the office or email laura.megivern@jsc.edu or colin.penney@jsc.edu.

Co-chairing not for you? We'll be seeking trip leaders later this semester.

Please also feel free to pass this along to folks you know who may be interested in this opportunity.

Yours in Service, Laura

NOLA

IT'S THURSDAY ALREADY!!!
We have been with out internet since night #1 so there is tons to report. AMAZING service work has been happening -- just to recap some of the work we have been doing.... painting, priming, scraping, local schools, landscaping, digging, planting, in parks and schools, replacing light bulbs for eco-friendly ones/ making community connections, insulating, painting, rebuilding private homes/ making community connections, setting up mail boxes (yay, now people can get their bills!) working with animals in the rescue shelter (Jenni-Marie is taking them all home)... And the thank you's! People on the street who see us working, shouts from bus windows and passing cars, the kids who put up with us in their school all day, -- most memorable for me came from a teacher of 18 years at the elementary school we have been at ..."your being here reminds the children they are not forgotten by the rest of the world."
We have met some AMAZING people here - so giving, so selfless.. our first night - during the late night hotel confusion (see blog one) a man we met on the street at 3 am -- offered us his tent in the "village" under the freeway compiled of people with no homes... another example is the people who work here at Hands On New Orleans who do this work day in and day out! simply incredible.
The culture here is so rich and full of life, it is truly living history.
On the off hours we have seen the french quarters, amazing live music (EVERYWHERE), had our fortunes told, eaten incredible cuisine (even here at Hands on Kitchen -- aka Emma's dance party) and seen the NBA in action. Too much to do, too little time. The energy and atmosphere is contagious. Most of us are not ready to leave tomorrow. unfinished projects and relationships newly formed will keep a piece of our selves here in NOLA. we bid it a sad farewell in the morning. most of us have already planned a trip to return... we heart NOLA.

NOLA

We are NOLA! Jenni-Marie, Johnny T., Kyla, Heather, Charlotte, Justin, Courtney and Courtney

So it has been an interesting trip so far - canceled flights, wrong addresses, awesome cab drivers, great and creepy hotel lobbyists... already filled hotel rooms! no rest till 4:00am!! But we're here and exhausted! Meeting new people every second. We have plans to head to the French Quarter 2 nite - then tomorrow the real work begins! Plans to paint local elementary schools! Can't wait more to report tomorrow!

Service Learning, 24/7 online!

Welcome back to campus! Things have been pretty busy around here these days--we held a training for our Bonner Leaders before classes started, and in just three short weeks our first Break Away trip of 2008 will be headed off to New Orleans!

We've been watching the construction going on here in Dewey Campus Center. You'll see three photos here of the future bookstore! This is right where Courtney, our graduate assistant, used to have an office! Things have been a little dusty and noisy but we're excited for the changes here on campus.

We're also adding more ways for you to interact with JSC's community service and leadership programs online! Visit us on Facebook, and become a fan! Join us in the discussion boards, and watch out for events where you can join in the fun in person.


In the meantime, here's a quick overview of our programs:

• America Reads: This is a reading partner program in which students, after going through a training, are paired with local kids in elementary schools, pre-schools and after school programs. It's a work-study eligible position or you can just volunteer to share the love of reading!
• Bonner Leader Program: Our newest program (but well-established across the US) gives dedicated first- and second-year students the opportunity to engage in intensive, long-term service at local nonprofits. This service (of 6-8 hours per week on site) is paired with ongoing leadership and civic engagement training and education opportunities. We give financial support to students in the program through work-studyand the AmeriCorps Education Award, where eligible.
• You'll be hearing more about Talko Tuesday, which is a dialogue project started in Fall 2007 by our Bonner Senior Intern, Kaila. Talko Tuesday meets monthly for open discussion of "hot topics" on campus, in the region and around the world!
  
• Break Away: Our popular alternative break program has been sending JSC students, faculty and staff on service trips around the USA and the world since 1990! This year, we have four student-led trips going out during the February and April breaks. In February, a group will be going to New Orleans to work with Hands On New Orleans. In April, we have a trip going to Oregon to work at Jackson Bottom Wetland Preserve; a group going to Washington, DC to work at Friendship house; and a group traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio to volunteer with the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.
• CSLocal is our "low-commitment" service option. If you're looking for something to do on a weekday afternoon or weekend here in the local community, this is your place! We offer 3-4 one-time or service opportunities per month. Past projects have included river clean-up canoe trips on the Lamoille, animal care at North Country Animal League, painting the Johnson Food Shelf, Red Cross Blood Drives and more. We are always willing to organize projects around a particular issue you're passionate about, too.
  
• And as always, if you're looking for an ongoing volunteer opportunity, we're happy to help you make connections!

Finally, one more image of the construction: