DAY 1: John Michael, My Oldest | Stephanie

Dear John, 

Here is a letter to you, my oldest son. I woke up this morning in this beautiful city that I have visited a handful of times now. The first time I came to DC you were with me. It was a family vacation: you, me, your little brother, and your dad. That was 15 years ago. Then we were tourists, now I feel I am to immerse myself in this city as a member of our nation. I want to share with you how different this city looks to me now.

I took the city bus in Washington DC this morning. You know that mode of transportation that you have rarely been on!?! As I rode along and watched the world around me I thought of you. The woman sitting next to me had a 19-month old little boy, his name was Michael. Michael is your middle name, which made me see you there with me. I thought of Michael on this city bus with all of his little toddler energy and I noticed that mommy was tired already. The day was just beginning. I thought of the difference in your trip around town and Michael’s trip.

You had a car seat that restrained you from being so active. Michael did not. He was up and down and down and up. It’s been a long time since you were 19 months old, but Michael seemed much like you, just a normal little active boy. Michael threw a grape across the isle. Mommy apologized and tried to pick it up but needless to say it rolled around the bus. I am sure that if you had thrown a grape in the backseat of our car I would have gotten around to picking it up at some point.

I feel that I must apologize to you for not teaching you the sociology of the city bus. You grew up in a city where public transportation is not readily accessible, although it is needed by many of our community members. We were privileged enough to have a car. Well, honestly we had two cars. Eventually you were of driving age and you were privileged to purchase a car. Don’t get me wrong…you worked very hard for that car. Naturally, not long after you got it the transmission went out and you had to have it repaired. I don’t remember the exact amount now but it was expensive, something to the tune of $1400. You worked hard to pay to have it fixed.  Having said that, I am not so sure that car was in fact a privilege for you.

As the bus traveled along I noticed the older children on the bus. Did you know that the school-aged children in DC get to ride the bus and metro system for free? As well they should. These children knew each other. Some gave a high five as they got on, others a casual handshake. These children had some of the same worries and concerns that you did and you each had different apprehensions. I rode along and wondered how different your life would have been if you were to have ridden the city bus?

So here is what I have decided…although you are 29 it is never too late to offer an apology for my failures in your upbringing. I apologize that I did not show you a more diverse world. You have a wonderful, caring heart. You have ALWAYS been wise beyond your years. Although your trials and tribulations are yours, some of those challenges you have overcome do not know race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Use that knowledge to not only grow you but to clear a path for others that come on the trail behind you.

Today I gave a man a pair of shoes. Just as Michael and the older children on the city bus reminded me of you, so did the pair of shoes. The shoes were well worn. I wondered where they had been, but more importantly I wondered where they would go? Please, if I have not told you before…don’t hide from the world…it needs you…get out in it and make a difference.  Your past is yours and who you are…share it!

I Love you,

Mom

Day one at A Wider Circle | Li Wang

The first day of service, YSOP provided a short presentation about poverty and homelessness in Washington DC for us. We also got to meet other students from Wisconsin. Wichita State students were separated into two groups. I was in the Yellow team. We named ourselves “The Serving Stallions”. The first site we visited this week was a non-profit organization in Washington D.C. called “A Wider Circle”. On the way to “A Wider Circle, we found out that the students from Wisconsin would join us for the service. At the Wider Circle”, the volunteer coordinator told us about what he does and why he wanted to work at this non-profit organization. What I remember the most was that one of his jobs used to be to convince people to go to the hospital. He told us that most people he serves live under the poverty line. He often gets “no” for an answer when he tries to convince people who are very sick to go to the hospital. The reason he is rejected so often is because they don’t have a ride back home. I was shocked and sad that in Washington D.C. there are so many people who are facing this type of situation. It makes me realize how privileged we are even as college students. He also gave us a short tour of the facility. During the service, I got to know more about the organization, got to know the students from Wisconsin, and met some volunteers that live at D.C. area.

 

On Our Way to “A Wider Circle”

Worked on Sorting Baby Clothing

Her name is Annable. She is one of the volunteers for “A Wider Circle”. She told me that she is a high school Sophomore, and she is learning ballet. 

Lunch Break

Going back to YSOP

YSOP invited The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development director Marvin Turner to talk to us about poverty and homeless issues in Washington D.C. He has served under 4 different presidents. In his 18 year journey of serving as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development director, one of his most memorable cases was about how his neighbor needed to move out due to foreclosure. That influenced him to continue to work on the housing issues in D.C. In D.C., the homeless population amounts to about 13,000 and the average age of the homeless population was 8 years old. Its heart breaking that the homeless population age is getting younger and younger over time.

After Service/ Tour Night

District Taco (Dinner)

Washington Monument

 

Lincoln Memorial

WW II Memorial

Baked & Wired

Literally too Excited to be here | Yasas Vithanage

Today I just could not focus. This city is beautiful and i decided to enjoy as much of it as i could before i dug deeper into the underbelly. For full resolution images visit my website : http://yasasdahotsauce.weebly.com/photography/asb-dc-day-1

Day 1 | Hayden Schrag

After finally arriving to DC late last night, our group made it to our new home for the next couple of days, the Church of the Epiphany. My reaction was that it smelled just like an old church does, but resembles the Municipal Building quite well (readers back in Pratt know exactly what I’m talking about). On Monday, we all woke up in the early morning for our service projects. My group of seven went to A Wider Circle.  They are an organization that takes in donated household goods, mainly furniture, and in return clean it up and gives the supplies to families in need. While I was there I carried items such as couches, desks, chairs, and lamps from their warehouse to the display room. The display room is set up just like a furniture store, so people can walk through and pick out their furniture as if they’re shopping rather than picking an item out of a pile, making it much more dignified. Attached to the Wider circle building is another part called their Business Professional Development center. Someone in need can walk into their facility and be paired with an employee to find a minimum of 5 business attires, and learn skills of the business world. They staff around 60 people, and many volunteers each day.

After our amazing day of service, we listened to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Marvin Turner. Dr. Turner has worked for several presidential administrations, doing his best to find the source of the problem of homelessness. After this presentation, we went to District taco, and later wandered around the city of D.C. I haven’t been to Washington in a few years, so my group and I also visited many monuments. So far this has been an unbelievable start to my Spring Break!

 

 

Day One | Kellie Deutsch

Our Monday started off bright and early, waking up at 6:30am and having an activity and eating breakfast at 7:30am. Our activity included a discussion over food insecurity and homelessness led by the YSOP leaders/staff. I was blown away when the YSOP leaders stated that the average age of homeless people in Washington D.C. is 8 years old. Yes, you read that correctly–8. This fact hit home and allowed me to understand that family homelessness is an unfortunate reality here. It also reminded me that a large majority of people in poverty are born with circumstances they cannot control.

After the thought-provoking discussion and introduction led by the YSOP staff, our team split up into two groups and traveled to our different service sites. My group and I took the metro to get to A Wider Circle, which is a nonprofit organization that provides furniture and home items for people who are transitioning out of homelessness. In addition, they provide professional work force training and professional attire. Two major things stuck out to me while working with this organization. First, they do not have a maximum number of professional clothing attire items that people can take. Rather, they have a required minimum of 5 items because they want them to have several clean outfits to wear for interviews/work. I believe this goes along with the second thing that stood out to me–the organization’s focus on dignity. A Wider Circle will not give out items that are not in good condition. While I was sorting through donations in their warehouse, the volunteer coordinator told me, “If you wouldn’t give an item to a friend or family member due to its bad condition, then we won’t give it away here.” I thought this spoke a lot of the organization. They care for the people who come to them and emphasize maintaining dignity in everything they provide. I really enjoyed learning about this organization and helping them sort through and relocate their donations.

Following serving at A Wider Circle, we met back up with the rest of the group at YSOP’s building, and our home for the week, and we got the chance to listen to our speaker, Marvin Turner, who is the Director of the Department for Housing and Urban Development. It was an honor to hear and learn from him!

For the last portion of the day, we ate supper at District Taco and then went sight seeing! We went to a coffee shop and saw the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, World War II Memorial, and the Washington Monument.

I’ve had an awesome first day, and I can’t wait for the adventures to come tomorrow!

P.S. For those Fitbit geeks out there, I (and probably everyone else) walked a little over 28,000 steps today. That is over 12.5 miles! We might be waking up a little sore and tired tomorrow!

ASB Day 1 | Nibras Karin

Today was an amazing start to what I am assuming will be a memorable week. We started of the morning early with a discussion about service in D.C. with another group from Wisconsin. I realized that in a room of over 30 volunteers, only 3 were male. It made me think about how service is gendered. Although there may be theories for why most non-profits are run by women, the question and answer keep going in a circle. Kind of like the chicken and the egg theory. It also made me think about what service might look like if the roles were switched or at least even.

The first site that we went to was Martha’s Table. Martha’s Table is an amazing, multifaceted non-profit organization. They provide pop-up grocery markets, where people in food deserts can get fresh produce for FREE. They also provide early childhood education and after school programs. There emergency support services include a mobile food truck, a 4pm daily meal service, and clothing services through Martha’s Outfitters and Martha’s Outlet, which is where we volunteered. The clothing services only provided high quality or dignity quality clothing as well as some home goods to anyone who needed it.

Ari, Sandra, and I had a special task of sort metro cards that were donated after the Women’s March in D.C. There were 10s of 1,000s of cards that were donated and many of them were loaded with quite a bit of money. This card would go out to community members who might not be able to afford to pay for the metro as apposed to the bus which is cheaper but slower. They had already donated about 300 cards and many are going to young interns.

During the discussion after volunteering, we talked about why homeless populations exist, especially in such affluent cities and areas. We also had a very good discussion about dignity and how when we serve the community, yes it’s good to be kind but in order to truly see everyone as equals we need to make sure that the service we provide allows them to maintain their dignity.

And to top it all off, we were able to have a discussion with the field office director of Housing and Urban Development in D.C., Marvin Turner. We discussed more of the policy side of things. A lot of his work has to do with differ parts of the community in order to get things done.

Today was a great day 🙂

Day One Overview| Mariah Reimer

     Today was our first day of service work and I think it’s safe to say that it was a complete success. The first thing my group did was take the bus to Martha’s Table which was a store that contained cheap clothing for people of all socioeconomic classes. The bus ride was very enjoyable because this city is so different from any other city that I’ve been to. But even as we were on our bus ride to our site, I felt as though I was being more of a tourist that someone going to immerse myself in service work.
When we did get to our site, I was able to help customers pack their items, give them hygiene products, and have conversations with them. I loved being able to interact with the customers because many of them were extremely happy and thankful people. Even though most of the probably had less resources that I did, they were thankful for the things they were receiving and the help they were getting from us volunteers. One thing that I did try and do was make sure to ask people their names and call them by their names when I spoke to them. Stephanie said that was something she used to make connections with others and I think it worked well for me.
One thing that Bri and I talked about as we worked is how the African American community isn’t usually the first group of people to do service work but the majority (well over 50%) of the people we served were black/African American. This was hard for me to see because as a black woman because I find it hard to know that I have so many privileges that my black brothers and sisters dearly wished they could experience. Overall, I enjoyed our experience today and I believe I already learned a lot about myself. But now I want to focus on how to bring he black community toward service working while also working to lower the amount of black people who need to be given some sort of assistance.
During the remainder of the week, my goal is to be more comfortable around people who are homeless or food insecure because this morning we had to write ourselves a letter. In the letter, we had to recall the last time we were in contact with a homeless person and write how we responded to that. I realized that I reacted very poorly and I would like to change that aspect of myself.

Martha’s Table: Day One| Baylee Brown

Today was the first day of service is Washington, DC! From start to finish this day we an amazing learning experience that consisted of me stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, and just a remind that humilty is still out there! We started out the day with an orientation by YSOP, they introduced into what the city was like with homelessness and hunger. A lot of it we already learned in our classes, but we did learn some new interesting facts geared more towards the city itself. The most alarming fact I learned was the average age of homelessness in Washington, DC is 8 years old. This revealed how the city has a if homelessness problem with families, that is beyond crazy to me. If the average age is 8, imagine how many kids even younger than that face hunger and homelessness everyday. This really makes me thankful for I blessed I am for how I have grown up, and the thing I received from my families hard work. It is very heartbreaking that these families have to face these challenges everyday, it is so hard for them to come out of it.

After orientation we went to our first service site, my group went to an organization call Martha’s table. Which supplies people with child care, food, and clothes. We got to work in the part that was called Martha’s Outfitters, it supplies people with cheap clothing options that are very high end! Let’s just say a Burberry suit and pants was sold for only 10 dollars. Three of us ended up helping out with this program called Martha’s outlet, it’s a program where people can come and get free clothes, all they need is some form of ID. It just so happens that it’s happens once every three months, and we were there the day it was open.  The costumer could get 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, a pair of shoes, a jacket, and multiple toiletries. The customer could get some for their entire family, for example if the said they were shopping for a 3 year old, 5 year old, and themselves; they would have to have 9 shirts, 9 pairs of pants, 3 shoes, and so on…. we would have to check to make sure they were shopping for that age group. I thought the coolest thing out of this was that the organization did not turn anyone down and trusted their customers. In turn they respect the organizations, no one took advantage of the system. Everyone got what they really needed, and you could see how much it brightened and affected people’s days. I had one man thank me so much for what I had done for him, and he told me he had a job interview that day. He really wanted to change is life and I could see that in his character. Overall it was and awesome first day of service!

We got back to YSOP head quarters at about 3 and had a guest speaker, Marvin Turner. He was the director Housing an Urban Development in Washington, D.C. Area all the way to some counties in Virginia. We got to learn about housing programs for the city, and how the political atmosphere is affecting it. It was amazing to see someone who truly loves what they do, and really wants to make a change in their community.

After that we ate dinner District Taco, and explored the city from Georgetown all the way to the National Mall (all of the monuments.) After a long day it is time for bed, tomorrow we will be at a school reading to kids. I can’t wait to see what I learn tomorrow! 

Lessons on Dignity | Sandra Carlo

Today was our first day of service learning. The group I got assigned to was located at Martha’s table. Martha’s table is a multi-faceted organization located within different wards in the DC metro area. They have different services that encompass everything from Early Childhood care and nutrition to free farmers markets in food deserts to low price high quality thrift stores. We were asked to help out at one of the thrift store locations. It was super neat to see a staff that was so passionate about the work they do and the impact they have on the community. I found myself thinking that I could work for an organization like that one day. I would wake up ready to face the challenges of the world with a smile on my face. After a little while of sorting through clothing and stocking the racks three of us went to help out with another initiative. After the women’s March on Washington Martha’s table put out an ad saying that they would collect Metro cards that would not be used again from that weekend. After I attended I remember seeing that I’d come through our buses Facebook page but I did not donate mine because I knew I’d be coming on this trip soon after. I’ve got to help sort through the cards by the amount of money that was known or unknown so it could be redistributed to someone in need. Even if the car did not have an amount still on it it could still be given away because just to buy a card is a $2 fee before you can even load it. There honestly should be systems like this in every city. Not only to help those in poverty good also just to produce less waste. it was so rewarding going through the mailed and cards because many people wrote notes along with them. One of my favorites that I came across was an original piece of artwork of the March turned into a postcard (pictured above). After today I find myself eternally gracious for the Privileges I have in my life but also for those who are always fighting the long fight for those who don’t. Being in a city like DC where there such a large disparity and the distribution of wealth really displays the class issue we have in this country. It also highlights the effects of policy has on poverty. What is political is personal and bad policy affects people every day. Homelessness is much more visible here in DC than it is in Wichita. It surprises me that politicians who are seeing these living conditions every day are not more moved to change. This is reality for so many people across the country yet we treat it like it’s an unsolvable issue. I have faith that with proper legislation and removing the stigma around being poor that as a country we will be able to solve or at least drastically help food insecurity and poverty. It has to be a priority. People, all people, need to be treated with dignity.

Day 1 in the books!!

Today we went to an organization called Wider Circle. This organization works to help families furnish their homes, get clothing for their kids, and offers a professional development program. This development program offers professional clothes, a one week class, and a leadership coach. My job today was helping with sorting and folding of donated items. This organization really make sure that their clients’ dignity is maintained through the items they are given and throughout the entire process. That was a really cool thing to see the care and respect they have for the people that walk in their doors. So even though we were doing indirect service it was cool to see the impact it has.
This evening after we debriefed we went and ate at district taco which was super good. Then we got to go to and see the sights. Which was incredible since I am a total history buff. My favorite thing to see so far has been the Lincoln Memorial!!!
Thanks for reading!!