James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) Spent their 2016 Spring Break at Sheffield Place
For the 17th year, students from JMU made the 21
hour trek to Kansas City to work at Sheffield Place. These engaged, hard-working students could
have been in warm, sunny places like many other students on spring break, but
they chose to come to Kansas City and learn about the crisis of family
homelessness.
Here are comments on the week provided by students about what they learned:
Our group traveled a long way, yet we felt at home at
Sheffield Place. The families welcomed
us into their lives. They were eager to
share their stories. One mother even
made fruit salad for our whole group of nine!
And the staff have been nothing but kind and generous toward us. Every question we have, they take the time to
answer and they’ve gone out of their way to include us in the mission and work
being done here at Sheffield Place. We
could not be more grateful to have been given the opportunity meet so many
loving and optimistic individuals. The
people who make up the community of Sheffield Place have defied every
expectation we had in the best possible way.
When you walk in the door of Sheffield Place, you sense the
atmosphere that motivates people to succeed.
You feel as though you will have all the help you need right here. Every staff member is so devoted to
individuals and expresses how much they care.
It surprises us how much they accomplish and how much they give when the
staff is so small. We are amazed at the
way they utilize every resource they can appropriately. Even with us only being here for a short
time, we’ve felt as though everything we’ve been asked to do has been
purposeful. Sheffield Place never has
any “busy work” and maximizes the time and talents of their staff and
volunteers to their full potential.
We were amazed by the impact that Sheffield Place has on the
community. This team of people is
working hard to better the lives of many families by fixing up neglected houses
and transforming them into safe, permanent homes. It takes lots of heart to undertake such a
task, but it is such a wonderful way to ensure the families that leave
Sheffield Place have an environment where they can succeed. This agency values community and relationship
building and expresses it in all they do.
They also keep families connected with the agency and its resources
long-term and have created a longstanding friendship with the JMU.
We cannot describe how inspiring it has been
to be surrounded by the caring nature and positive environment at Sheffield
Place.
