Day Four At Noyes Elementary School | Li Wang

Last day of service we are going to the Noyes Elementary School. YSOP partner up with an organization call Reading Partner. What we do is teach kids in elementary school to read. I’ve never done it before so I was little nervous. English is not my first language, and I know how hard is it to open your mouth and actually read out loud. Today I get to teach two of the students. I am so glad that we have lesson plan to follow. That make me feel way more confident on what I said to the students. I also learned that they are very easily too distracted. I tried different ways to engage with my students. We play games when we learn. I also know how to make deal with them when they don’t want to read. Like the volunteer coordinators told us it’s important for them to have somebody to looking forward as a role model when they grow up. So it’s important that we read to them so they know that they can do it too.

One of the volunteer Coordinator

ASB Crew at Noyes Elementary School

National Museum of African American

Dinner at Clyde’s

China Town

ASB Day 4 | Nibras Karim

On the fourth day of service, my group went to the Central Union Mission. The Central Union Mission is a faith-based nonprofit organization. In addition to its family ministries, the Mission operates an emergency shelter program, a rehabilitation program for men with life-controlling issues, a food, clothing and furniture distribution center, a retreat and recreation center with a camp for underprivileged children, programs for isolated seniors, computer and job training and transitional and low-cost housing. The facility we went to had a cafeteria where we were able to serve lunch, almost 200 beds for men struggling with homelessness, and classrooms, where they teach about the bible amongst other things. First, we helped out with putting fresh sheets on the beds. We were also able to get a tour from one of the staff members. He told us how once was struggling with homelessness and was one of the men living in this very shelter. He was able to go through one of their programs for men and it turned his life around. He talked about how it was a struggle but now he is on the other side and now teaches some classes himself. Many of the staff members were once homeless and going through one of their programs. I think that it is important for the men living in the shelter to see these successful examples because it can give them hope if they are really struggling. Also, I think it is important that the staff can truly understand what the men are going through. When going through struggles, it is nice to have people who can truly empathize with you so you don’t have to feel alone in your struggle. This can evoke a stronger sense of hope. The atmosphere of the whole building was very positive. Almost everyone expressed gratitude for us being there. Most of the people there not only welcomed us, they also tried to accommodate for us as much as possible and they engaged in conversations as well. When serving the lunch to the men, everyone was very thankful. I really enjoyed this site.

It’s not what it seems – Bri Williams

Day 4 and it just got better. We made beds amd served lunch at the Central Union Mission, which only serve men. Yes its a mission, but it is also faith based. Me, being a person of faith thoroughly enjoyed this visit. They have different steps to their mission. Theu have people who just stay the night, they have people in a faith based support group/class that they can graduate from. They also hire the gentlemen that go through their program as workers and youd never guess that they came through the program.

Homelessness is not what we may stereotype it as. There are wonderful people who happen to get into a situation they may not have been able to prevent. And one thing I learned is that in our society one thing can always lead to another thing, it is a domino effect that no one is excluded from.

Day Four | Kellie Deutsch

Yesterday, our group went to Noyes Elementary School. We tutored kindergarteners through fifth graders through a reading program called Reading Partners. The volunteer coordinator, an Americorp student, talked about some of the literacy statistics in D.C. and communicated why it is so important that students learn to read and comprehend well at an early age. If the students don’t master reading skills early, then that will negatively affect many other aspects of their education in later stages. I tutored two students during our time there. The first girl I tutored was a fifth grader who was calm, well-behaved, and smart. The second girl I tutored was a kindergartener named Genesis. Genesis entered the room with extreme reluctance to sit down and read with me. I could tell she was going to be a little more difficult than the first girl. I ended up making a compromise with her and sat on the floor to read. Although she had a low attention span and a lot of energy throughout the entire time, I grew to love her. However, working with a kindergartener also made me realize how hard it is to be a teacher without help in the classroom. Teachers in low socioeconomic schools have little access to help in their classrooms, which in turn makes it hard for them to individually cater to students. This hurts students’ chances to succeed and thrive in their education. After working with the Reading Partners program, I learned how vital it is that kids receive an education that offers opportunities to read, learn, and be motivated. I was happy I could learn more about these education issues and help as a tutor with the Reading Partners program.

Currently, though, I am sitting in the St. Louis airport waiting to board the plane for Wichita. This has had an awesome trip, and I am sad to leave. I have loved not only serving but also learning about homelessness and food insecurity. I didn’t realize how little I knew until we started discussing the causes of both on this trip with the people we met and the YSOP staff. I feel as though I still need to learn a lot more about homelessness and food insecurity though. That is something I hope to do when I get back. In addition to serving and learning, I have also loved getting to know my ASB team members more. I knew them before, but I feel that I know them a lot better now. I enjoyed all the different personalities, interests, and insights that each person contributed.

Day 4: Dear Chase Nicole, My Daughter I Didn’t Know I Wanted | Stephanie

Dear Chase,

So let me just start off by saying “girl you look good”! That’s an inside joke that only you and your daddy will understand!

Here are a few things that I want to share with you about becoming a woman:

• Be you! Don’t look to the world of advertisements, movies, and the Disney princess films that create in you an image that is unattainable. A real woman has curves, flaws, and eventually wrinkles.
• You are going to make mistakes (more than the ones that you already have)! 😉 If you don’t already know this, I will always love you no matter what. If you can’t come to me with those mistakes well then I have not done what the Lord has asked me to do and that is Love You Unconditionally! I got you!
• Go out in the world. Make a difference. You already have the desire to develop equality for ALL people. Use that passion for others that are less fortunate or discriminated against. Stand up for those that cannot stand up for themselves.
• Do what makes you happy! Not what society believes you should become.

Let me tell you about my day today. Today I served in a local men’s shelter in Washington DC. Central Union Mission is a place of hope. Hope for those that need it most. When we arrived Mitchell greeted us. He gave us a tour of the four-story building and also the basement. We went to the 4^th floor first; office space. We then moved on to the 3^rd floor; dorms where those men that had truly found transformation through the Lord were able to move up in the program. Mitchell was a friendly guy! “Amen” he said often. “Amen” to the fact that he had graduated on that floor to the Suite. The Suite was a room for those that were promising leaders. Here Mitchell shared a room with 3 other leaders and they had their own bathroom. Back on the elevator and down to the 2^nd floor we went; the dorms. We had already been on this floor as our group had remade the beds with the clean linens that had been washed from the night before. It was here that men were able to get off the street for the night. On the 1^st floor were the kitchen, the front desk, and a Quiet Room. Then Mitchell took us down to the basement. Another Quiet Room, yet this one had a TV.   A man sat near the washer and dryer, Mitchell joked with the man and said “that is where I started, sitting there just like that”. They both chuckled and cracked up and we moved on, back to the first floor where we returned to the front desk where Mitchell now works as an assistant!

I know sometimes your daddy and I argue over what we think is best for you. I feel it is my job to prepare you for the world. He wants to protect you from it. So in that preparation…I challenge you to make a difference! Make a difference in Mitchell’s life or Patty’s life. Patty, who passed the Street Sense paper to me every morning while I was in DC. Patty, who called me “smiley face” each time see saw me. Make a difference by receiving a hug from Patty and a kiss on the check as you leave the city where she lives!

Chasie…I love you bunches but you already know that. I never gave a second thought to having another child just to have a daughter. Thankfully when I found your daddy he already had you. Thankfully your momma was confident enough to share you with me.

I Love You,

Your Stephmommy

Reflection

Day 4: Which was yesterday, but yesterday was a full day so it’s happening today. Yesterday we went to Reading Partners at Nosy Elementary school. One cool thing about this non-profit is that they have locations all around the country. Their mission is to help students improve their reading skills. Most of the students they woRk with have fallen below there grade reading level. They use volunteer tutors to provide individualized tutoring for the students. This was my favorite place to volunteer with this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I love working with children. The first student I worked with was a little mischievous. He tested my patience a little more than I expected. But eventually I broke through after much negotiating. I have found that the kids and people who push you away the most are the ones who truly need your presence. The second kid I had was spunky and sassy. She was in kindergarten and definitely love to learn. We had a blast reading a book and learning new words. This place was a great opportunity for volunteers to make deep connections with the students they are helping. And a program like this relies heavily on volunteers. So I think it is important to remember that giving of your time really does leave an impact. Even though we can’t change the world all at once we can sure make a difference in one person’s life. And often times that is all that matters💕

Thanks for following my journey!!

Day #4 | Hayden Schrag

Today our group traveled to a local elementary school to be a reading partner for a day with kids ranging from Kindergarten to the 5^th grade. Earlier in the year my Youth and Education Cause Committee group watched a movie, Waiting for Superman, which explains the educational field in Washington D.C. Only 15 percent of kids in the district of Columbia can reading at the reading level for their age. While we were there we participated with kids in different reading activities and pronunciation with words. The first student I had, Micah, was very well mannered and enjoyed doing his activities. Nearing the end, he was growing restless and wanted to play Tic-Tac-Toe, but I know I would’ve done the same exact thing at his age. Our second student, DeCarlo was bouncing off the walls. After the teachers and myself tried to calm him down a bit we finally found a happy medium, which ended up being him dancing while putting together a word puzzle. Many kids learn in many different ways, and DeCarlo was an excellent example of that.

We then had a group reflection with YSOP, reflecting on our experiences from this past week. After our short meeting, we all ate a group dinner in the heart of Chinatown. After some exploring of the district, our group went back to the church to rest up for our final day in D.C.

Home Stretch | Ari Kopycinski

 

Our last day of service began, once again, bright and early and cold on Thursday. I was chosen as our navigator, and eventually we managed to make it to our site. We served at Central Union Mission, a faith-based organization that offers temporary living dormitories; free clothing; programs for men that allow them to explore job opportunities, religious identity, and permanent living dormitories; and free meals. Our task was to perform some housekeeping duties for the morning, which included folding linens and making beds. We then received a tour of the facility from our charismatic supervisor, and then we helped serve lunch to over 150 people.

The experience was another encouraging one: those that we served expressed their thanks, as did those that we served with and the staff of Central Union Mission. Truly, it was a terrific way to end our week of service.

After our last service project, we took a little time to ourselves. A few of us, including me, hit up a few of the food trucks parked around the corner from YSOP, and I treated myself to some schwarma. I also managed to catch a quick nap before our final reflection with YSOP. The reflection showed how much our group has grown over the week, both as individuals and as a team. The activities done during the reflection will stay with me, as they’re designed to do. In addition, I believe that I have grown as a person through this experience, and I greatly desire to continue serving anyway that I can in both the Wichita community and anywhere I might be.

To complete our night, we explored in another part of D.C.: Chinatown. We did some shopping, and we got to see all of the Washington Capitals fans preparing for the game that night.

We ate dinner as a team at Clyde’s, a local restaurant next to the hockey rink. It was a memorable last night together, and I am so happy that our team has become so close. We ended the night with gelato and another walk back to our YSOP living quarters.

Next blog will be coming at you from our layover in St. Louis!

Day 4

I read to some children today at an elementary school. It was very pleasing to watch them be so happy about learning. I believe that the reason they are in the program for slower reading isn’t because they aren’t smart or don’t know it. I think it’s because of a lack of focus or they don’t have the help they need to achieve success. I’m happy that the two students I helped were very eager to learn new things. It really made me happier knowing that we as a community are getting smarter each day. In my spare time, I got to see the rest of DC and I’m definitely going to miss it here. It’s been a blast helping and getting to know this community better.

Day 3/4 | Baylee Brown

This post is going to be a little bit about day three and day four of our service trip! Yesterday, we went to Food and Friends. This is an organization that supplies meals for people who are have chronic illnesses, the organization delivers hot meals, grocieries, and other food items people may need. This organization allows people who can’t get up and make dinner or lunch themselves, to really have a home cookies quality meal. The coolest thing was that Food and Friends packaged their meals to a variety of nutritional need that vary from heart healthy, allergy friendly, diabetic, and puréed food options. When we arrived they instantly put us to work packaging the food that was being delivered that day. We loaded them onto carts and they were rolled out to the cars for delivery. This organization was very dependent of volunteers, even the drivers were doing this on a volunteer base and were not paid employees. They staff was so friendly and thankful for our service it was pretty cool!

We got done at Food and Friends at about 12, and lucky for us we got to explore the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. I have to mention that the wait list for groups to go is two years long, there are only a handful of tickets they hand out online, and at the door.  We got up extra early to snag online tickets, and our whole group was able to attend! If you are ever in DC that Museum is amazing, and I highly suggest it! There were even a few things about Kansas in there!

Day four is our last day of service and I must say it is hard to think about going back home! Today we attended Central Union Mission, which is a faith based emergency shelter. Awesome fact is this is the longest running organization in Washington D.C. It is been around since he late 1800s, because when soldiers can back from the war, injured, sick, and tired they would offer them a place to sleep and a hot meal! It is mainly for men but they do accept families, it supplies temporary shelter and more long term shelter. In order for the men to get the more long term shelter they have to take classes on various subjects including; job training, spiritual transformation program, alcohol and drug counseling, and various other programs. We first started off in the temporary shelter making beds, folding sheets, towels, and sorting bed linens. Throughout the time some men would walk in and out of the room, and they were so thankful for everything we were doing. After that we moved in to serving lunch, and that was an awesome experience! We served soup, bread, and salad, I got to scoop the soup! I thought it was really awesome how thankful they were for our service. At all the sites I have been at they expressed their gratitude often. Most of our sites have been centered around direct service, this site made me feel like something I was doing really could change someone’s day. It made my day to see how thankful people were, when I thought it was something small.