Last Day of Service!

       So today was our last day in wonderful Indy. Reflecting on this past week, we're all really happy with how the trip went! Particularly because it was a new trip and none of us knew exactly what to expect, we're really pleased with how perfectly everything ended up working out.
      At this point, we've worked with multiple different community partners. It was very interesting to see how each organization has a different approach and to think about what those differences mean. We certainly gained a lot of perspective through our work with the different community partners.
     We spent our day today at Outside the Box, hanging out with the program participants at their field day! We all loved spending the day at Outside the Box. Their individualized approach was evident, and everyone was so positive and happy. So many smiles :) What I really liked about our day at OTB was that our team split up so one or two AB team members got to spend lunch with a different small group of OTB participants, allowing time to get to know the people in the group, but then after lunch, each AB team member was assigned to a different station of the field day, and because the OTB participants cycled through all of the stations, we all got to interact with all of the OTB participants. It was really great to get to spend time with a lot of different people!

otb.org

    After a long, hot day (that actually felt short!) at OTB, we had some time to relax/nap before our celebratory dinner. We had a wonderful meal at Legends and then spent some time walking around Irvington, which was a really cute neighborhood. After dinner and showers, we had our final reflection, which included--along with the standard method of reflection--paper plate awards (super creative and funny) and reading anonymous notes from our team members which had been written throughout the week. It was a great end to a great week :) There was certainly consensus that this was an amazing trip where we learned a lot, served a lot, and had a lot of fun. We can't wait to engage in post-trip service with the community of people with disabilities around College Park and to educate our peers about the issues surrounding disabilities!

--Jessi

Best Birthday Ever!

Yesterday we visited Handi-Capable Hands and met with the lovely Elizabeth Farley who told us about the organization’s history and mission. (And got us a phenomenal free lunch! Thanks, Elizabeth!)  We talked about what a “sheltered workshop” is and how Handi-Capable Hands is working to provide jobs and empower individuals with disabilities.  We helped out with a recycling project that the associates were working on and packaged some of Linda Proffitt’s product from The Global Peace Project, ‘Magic Sprouts.’  We had a lot of fun getting to know the associates and disassembling overstock DVDs and VHS tapes for recycling. 

(insert pictures of unwanted One Direction concert DVDs here.)

After service, we took a nap.  It was wonderful.  We awoke to a scrumptious brinner (aka breakfast for dinner) prepared by Meilin, Tarik, and Rushil: chocolate chip pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon, and eggs. (Yum).  After dinner we headed out to the good ol’ YMCA for showers and reconvened in the parlor for reflection around nine.

In reflection we talked about the ‘starfish model’ and some critiques of this simplified ideal of community service.  We also compared and contrasted the ways that our different community partners work to serve the community of individuals with disabilities and shared ‘highs and lows’ for the day.  We discussed some of the many obstacles individuals with disabilities face when trying to find employment and maintain independence, and the constant conflict families and organizations face between protecting these vulnerable individuals from the world and allowing them to become more fully integrated with society.

It was a truly amazing day and a great way to celebrate my 20^th birthday!

-Elizabeth (birthday girls #20)

The Culture, the Wonder, the City: Exploring Indianapolis

To start off, Today was Amazing!!! We started our day back at the Indianapolis Art Museum. The building was closed but the 100 acre gardens were open. They were beautiful, interesting, quirky and fun all at the same time. My favorite piece was this area just filled with signs with different sayings. Some said things like "a nice bunch of weeds" or "sometimes a chipmunk" while others were more informative and would point to a plant with the scientific and common name. We ate lunch in the park along the side of a lake and it was quite wonderful.
After the Art Museum we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (thanks to my Aunt Kim who donated the funds). The instant I saw the water-clock I was a 7 year-old kid again. When I was little I used to go with my family in Indianapolis and I got so excited when I saw the exhibits I loved as a child. The best part was going up to the forth floor and seeing how almost everything there was just as I remember, from the climbing wall to the Rube Goldberg machine with pool balls. I was so happy everyone wanted to go and we all had a pretty good time.

To close off our day, after dinner, we decided to walk part of the Indianapolis cultural trial. We mainly looked at several of the war monuments and one or two churches. It was quite fitting since it was memorial day and we even had a moment of silence a top the World War 1 monument to honor the veterans and those that gave their lives for our country. The city is actually quite beautiful and since it was evening the weather was wonderful. At the end of our walk we stop for ice-cream, thanks to our wonderful staff advisor Dr. C (aka Dr. Seuss). Thinks are really going well for us here in Indy, especially since this is a new trip. I hope the trend continues as we finish off the week with 2 more days of service.

-- Nick

Global Peace in Dirt/Mulch/Earth/Worms/Soil

On Sunday we did our service at the Global Peace Initiative outside Indianapolis. We woke up at 6AM for the second day in a row but everyone was super enthusiastic and were in good spirits. Since there is absolutely no traffic in and around Indianapolis our drive was relatively short considering we were working on a farm and our housing is almost in the center of downtown.
The Global Peace Initiative was started by an incredible woman named Linda Proffitt. She's a very lively and energetic speaker and overwhelms you with her personality and story. She described to us the story of how her meditative programs for her community evolved into an organization which creates urban agriculture for vulnerable populations, including individuals with disabilities. She said that she survives on volunteers, so we were especially glad to be a small part of her success.

After receiving a rapid-fire and highly technical explanation of the types of dirt/mulch/soil/earth that we were helping with (Elizabeth, the plant sciences major, was probably the only one who grasped it) we got to work. Six of us worked pitchforking and wheelbarrowing the mulch/dirt/soil into workable piles while the other four helped Linda do heavy lifting in preparation for the worm day (?) (she loves earth worms since they play a big part in the optimal soil creation. We worked for about 3 1/2 hours straight and it was really physically taxing in the hot Indy sun but it felt good to know that our efforts were supporting an awesome initiative. After our work was complete, we, as a team, carried solar panel bases across the farm to an area where solar panels could be installed. They were quite heavy but our coordination and team efforts finished the job. We ate lunch, said goodbye to Linda and headed back into town.
We went straight to the YMCA for showers and our "thank you service" for the Y. We sprayed, wiped down and dusted their exercise equipment rooms for the large facility. It was nice to be able to do a favor in return for their generosity. We then drove back home for dinner, reflection and a movie. We ate mac and cheese (comfort food after a calorie burning, labor intensive morning whatup!) had a superb reflection and watched My Left Foot (A film about an artist/writer with cerebral palsy). Once the movie ended we collapsed into bed.
The first half of our AB experience has been so great! We've met some amazing community partners and have really bonded as a group. Looking forward to see what else we can accomplish during the rest of the week!!
Ariel

Horse is An Amazing Creature!

11:42PM
I am writing this blog as everyone is getting ready to go to bed. We have a service trip tomorrow at 7am.
Looking back at today trip, I have come to know so many amazing things that I will appreciate everyday in life. First, we went to Agape, a horse farm where horses are trained to provide therapy service to children and adults with either physical and emotional disabilities. The founder of Agape gave us a tour on the history of the farm and their goals in serving the community. She told us stories about how her family started the farm, difficulties, and tragedy they have faced in more than a decade. The most most passionate thing that I recognized was about how her family overcame those hardships to achieve a better goal and also excel the community. I have always hold my positive attitude in any situation and believe that it would help me go through my difficulties and also inspire other people to overcome theirs.
As mentioned, people with disabilities receive therapy from interaction with horses at the farm. When I heard the founder told us stories about a boy who did not talk at all to his parents and friends, started giving orders to his horse to start walking or to stop.
http://agaperiding.org/

 I watched a video of a senior with Alzheimer, who stopped talking for awhile, had actually started talking to a dog who be closed to him. I was amazed of how animals can do significant things to human that humans cannot do to others. I was happy to hear that horses at Agape have helped so many kids with disabilities developed their physical and mental strength.
We went to Indianapolis Museum of Art, had supper, went to YMCA for shower but ended up saving water because it closed early on Saturdays. I feel a little bit itchy now. It's okay. Tomorrow is a better day :)
Good night!
Sophia

Collaborative Blog Post- NOT

Today we went to Easter Seals Crossroads.
Working with adults with disabilities, we had to remember to not just talk to them like we would talk to kids.
During our time there we got to experience the daily routine of the some of the people with disabilities such as cooking and cleaning. Afterward we socialized with them, playing games and talking with them about their lives. It was so much fun. We didn't want to leave but we had to.
After interacting with them, the volunteer coordinator took us to different rooms and let us know what needed to be cleaned.
We had a lot of fun helping out; wiping down toys, mopping, and cleaning therapy equipment and ball pits.
Afterwards we went grocery shopping, where we bought a ton of ingredients for meals for the next few days.
When we got back to the church, the majority of us slept, slumbered, snored, and I can't think of any more s words but there were lots of z's! (That was a joke… maybe.)
Then we ate dinner (made by Nick, Sophia, Liz, and Maria) and we had more s words: Sophia's Secret Sauce. That's no joke, it's legitimately secret as she refuses to disclose the ingredients that went into it and let's be real, it's a little cruel to tantalize the rest of us like that.
Ignoring the last two sentences, we had super delicious stir fry and rice, and gathered at the dinner table like the Last Supper. Except it was our first. (At a table.) I don't know if that comparison made sense, but I hope it did.
I talked to Cherise and asked her how old she was, she said she was 20 and i said the same thing. I tried to give her a high 5, but she slapped my hand real hard that it turned red and i couldn't feel my hand for 5 minutes. I would be so afraid giving anyone a high 5 in the future now. And the secret sauce, yeah..I will tell you all at the end of our trip.
Hearing Latoya's laugh when she won alphabet go fish was incredible. Brooke's face while we sang happy birthday was something that will stay with me for a long time.
The cereals at aldi's are complete dopplegangers.
So today was pretty amazing. Everything went better than my greatest expectations. We had some great conversations with the clients and staff at Easter Seals Crossroads during our lunch with them. Our hosing is so wonderful, we have full reign of this super cool room with tons of games, couches, and space. Our first reflection went so well that we are still taking as I write this sentence. Indy AB is off to an Amazing start!

Little to no collaboration happened.  We talked and wrote in a circle to unusual results!

first day of a great adventure

Today the 22 of May began the long awaited day of the beginning of our summer. To most, summer begins like many others with a relaxing day and then off to work but for us summer started off with a an adventure. For many this alternative break trip is the first, for others its another life changing experience to put under their belt.

The day started off like any other trip would with an early rise and a rush to finish last minute packing. Everyone arrived and the trip started off with out a hitch. For the beginning of the trip it was all sunshine and berries with most falling asleep to pass the time. For the drivers it was an experience to stay focused and a sort of bond-forming with a few of the other participants. It wasn't until lunch time where all the participants were able to fully bond as a group and what better way to bond than to eat at Taco Bell, where all great things happen.

After lunch time (we ate to our hearts content) we all crawled back into the vans and watched the roads whizz by and most of us continued to sleep.
It wasn't until we hit near Columbus, Ohio that we hit the dreaded traffic. We did lose valuable time and had to take a detour but all was well afterwards. During the roads, those who weren't sleeping saw some pretty interesting things such as dead carcasses. To pass the time by we played card games and caught up on some reading.

Once we got back on track, we followed the roads through till we hit Indiana (12 hours later) and as we passed the sign we all shouted with glee. Partly because we had almost reached our destination and also because our butts were tired of getting a butt massage.

An hour later we arrived to the church where we are staying (Tabernacle Pres) and stared in awe at its beauty and vastness. The church has Gothic architecture built in the late 1920's (church established in 1851).

When we arrived to our assigned rooms, we felt relieved and astounded. The church really hooked us up and we were lucky to have our room. The room was a youth center that had various games and plenty of couches to lay on. It was really great and more than we could have hoped for. We are really grateful.

We played with the games and had lots of fun and we also ate pizza, which was really delicious. While eating we heard race cars running at a Fairground close by the church and we jokingly imagined us being at the Indy 500 having a blast.

Afterwards we got serious and had a debriefing of the plans and the schedule for tomorrow. With most things set, we settled off to blissful sleep, excited for the things to come.

Maria

"Lives Worth Living", disability simulations and Best Buddies!

Good pre-trip meetings for this experience.

First we watched "Lives Worth Living" about the beginning of the disabilities rights movement that led to passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

In the next meeting we presented the mission of our community partners (Agape Therapeutic Riding, Handicapable Hands, March of Dimes) with various limitations simulating what it might be like to have behavior problems, attention issues, limited cognitive or speech (lollypops).

Our pre-trip service was helping Best Buddies with the Friendship Walk and Games at Richie.  A good time was had by all.

Not everyone has come to every meeting, but everyone who came gained an appreciation for the upcoming work we will be doing.