JMU Alternative Spring Break 2013
- 10
students from James Madison
University in Harrisonburg,
Virginia.
- The
Journey here:
- 16.5 hours and 6 states in our
twelve passenger van!
- We
are currently on our Alternative Spring Break trip, a program designed
for college students to utilize time off of school to pursue their
passion for community service. Sheffield Place
has been a part of the Alternative Break Program for over a decade.
- The
Students:
- Janie
Darone: Vocal Music Education (Trip Leader)
- Jackie
Sams: Health Science Pre OT (Trip Leader)
- Nina
Critz: Mental Health Counselor (Learning Partner)
- Rachael
Donnelly: Health Science Pre Med
- Vanessa
Burshnic: Communication Sciences and Disorders; Minor in Exceptional
Education
- Mary
Blake Hinshaw: Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Rylie
Hurt: Public Health Education
- Kaitlyn
Schwartz: Health Science Pre PT
- Heather
Stempien: Psychology and Biology
- Katherine
Dooley: Hospitality Management
- Our
Accommodations:
- We
are incredibly grateful to Woods Chapel
Church, United Methodist, for allowing
us to stay in their youth building and shower in their gym. The church
members provided us not only with the accommodations, but a warm welcome
and friendly support!
- In
addition to sleeping on the floor, we are living on a poverty budget,
this means less than $6/day/person. We eat breakfast (and make coffee!)
before going to Sheffield
Place, we pack our lunches each day and we
take turns cooking dinner in the evening. We are reusing our dishes,
lunch bags and each person has been refilling their water bottle
throughout the day.
- “Service”
versus “volunteering”:
- Each
evening after dinner we hold our “reflection
time.” We spend at least an hour talking together as we share our
thoughts, emotions and reactions from our experiences during the day.
- What? So what? Now what? This
implies that our involvement is more than one time volunteering. Instead,
we want to return home and continue to make changes, educate others and
maintain our involvement.
On Monday, we split our group into smaller groups. Several of us
cleaned out and organized the storage closet in the basement, another part of
the group organized the clothes donations, and the last part of our group deep
cleaned the upstairs kitchens. Later in the afternoon, we all cleaned and organized
Project Hope, an after school program for the children living in Sheffield Place,
and some who have moved out. After the cleaning, the children started to
trickle in to Project Hope’s play area. The older kids were to either start on
their homework or worksheets provided by the teacher, while the preschoolers
and toddlers had a snack and played.
- Rachael:
I decided to start the week off in the nursery with the infants and
toddlers. I made sure to spread my time out and get to know all of the
babies, and I started to understand each of them a little bit differently.
I started with Reniah, the youngest infant, who I was with most the time
holding and playing with. I also spent some time with her older brother
Royce, who is a little over a year old. All the toddlers seemed so
comfortable around each other, and they interacted very well together, a
few of them even acting like they were the best of friends at such a young
age. I really enjoyed working with the infants and toddlers, but I also
couldn’t wait to work with all the older kids the next day.
- Vanessa:
Before our time with the kids of Sheffield Place we had a brief run
through with Stephanie, the child and family therapist. She told us about
each age group and asked who would like to spend time with the 10-12 year
old boys (a sometimes difficult group to entertain). I felt comfortable
volunteering for the task and was excited to meet them. The time began
helping Manuel with his homework, I enjoyed helping him complete his
worksheets while praising and encouraging him when he answered the
problems correctly. Afterwards, Heather, Nina, and I joined the older
group of boys for a little outdoor fun. We started with playing 3-on-3
basketball. After a few obstacles (i.e. losing the ball over the fence and
breaking the hoop) we decided to switch to playing four-square and
throwing the football. Overall, Heather, Nina, and I all enjoyed laughing,
poking fun at our amateur basketball skills, and, most of all, getting to
know Andrew, Anthony, and Antoine. I look forward to spending time and
getting to know more about each one of them this week.
On Tuesday, we began preparations for
“Sheffield Idol,” a talent show for the families at Sheffield Place. We made bracelets,
crowns, and certificates for every child as well as enough bracelets to give to
the mothers. Decorations such as a banner and paper chains were also part of
the preparation. We pondered on what type of talent we would perform at the
show and decided to do the Texas Roadhouse version of the Cottoneye Joe dance.
We were anxious to see what the children and their mothers would bring to the
performance. Our group was nervous that the kids may not be as interested in
performing as we hoped for, but during our usual time at Project Hope we heard
talk of the talents that would be showcased and the excitement of the would-be
participants. We were excited at Idol’s growing popularity and looked forward
to seeing everyone’s talents put into action.
- Janie:
On Tuesday, we got to engage in a variety of activities here at Sheffield Place.
A few of the other girls and I reassembled a greenhouse structure in the
backyard. I love that there are garden plots for the women to work in and
grow vegetables; this creates such a feeling of investment and ownership
that is critical to independence. I also worked with some other trip
participants in the clothing and storage closets, organizing donations. We
packed up the unused winter jackets to donate to the Salvation Army - I
think it is great that the homeless agencies/organizations in Kansas City work
with each other so well. In the afternoon, we spent most of our time
preparing for Sheffield Idol, which was a lot of fun. We tried to make it
as exciting as possible for the children and mothers, since we had heard a
lot about how successful and anticipated this event is each year. When the
children arrived, I spent my time between the preschool age children and
the infants. I noticed a lot of differences in the behaviors of the
children from day to day; it seems as if some either have very good, or
very bad days. I loved working with Elijah and Ben, who were so into everything,
as typical pre-school age children are. Many of the children have brothers
or sisters in Project Hope, and I found it interesting to observe the many
different forms of relationships. Overall, I enjoyed spending one-on-one
time with the children, because I know that they don’t often get this form
of attention. As an aspiring educator, I have a passion for working with
students, and I can’t wait to transfer ideas I have obtained from working
with Sheffield Place
to the classroom!
- Nina: As
we continue to become familiar with the staff, mothers and children of Sheffield Place,
I am continuously amazed to see the strength and courage of each of these individuals.
It is often a quiet, but constantly present, strength that shines through
each of the people with whom we interact. We continue to learn about the
challenges of homelessness; the years of trauma, untreated mental illness,
substance abuse, abusive relationships, limited financial support, and
lack of emotional support that support generations of instability often
leading to homelessness. Despite these challenges, the women of Sheffield Place
continue to push forward to better their lives for their children and
themselves. Despite the terrifying and tragic incidents of their young
childhood, the children of Sheffield
Place continue to smile and enjoy childhood
activities. Despite the challenges of limited resources and overwhelming
demand, the staff of Sheffield
Place continue to move forward with their
efforts to provide for the great need of the homeless women and children. While
the problem over homelessness feels overwhelming, I feel inspired to
continue raising awareness regarding this issue. We all have a
responsibility to ensure that all can live lives that are stable, safe and
free of abuse, violence and substances.
On Wednesday we spent the earlier portion of the day completing our
preparation for “Sheffield Idol.” It was
exciting to hear the women talking about their plans for the show! We also
noticed that the residents all seemed to enjoy our “Sheffield Idol” banner as
well as the personalized stars we created for each child. The evening of the
show proved to be a huge success! We had over 10 acts, including singing and
dancing numbers. One of the biggest hits was Rayonna’s stunning rendition of
“Love on Top.” We would not be surprised to see her on X-Factor in the near
future! The older boys were also a hit with their dance moves! Several of the
mothers even performed; they are incredibly talented! All of the children
seemed to love their golden crowns as well as the personalized signs we used to
cheer for each act.
- Katherine:
On Wednesday, we briefly visited a men’s shelter in Kansas City called Benilde Hall. After our
visit, we prepared more for Sheffield Idol. We decided on a dance that we
would be performing for everyone—“Cotton-Eyed Joe”. Practicing the dance
and preparing for Idol took up most of our afternoon until the kids got
there. Once the kids got there, some of the group hung out with the babies
in the basement while the other half was upstairs hanging out with the
moms and the older kids. As Idol came closer, the excitement of the moms
and children was building. Sheffield Idol was a success, having almost
every family participate, even some of the younger kids. It was a really
great confidence boost for some of the kids, since they received so much
individual time to shine up on the stage in front of everyone. This was
the first time we saw just about every kid break out of their shell and be
themselves.
Our day on Thursday focused on competing some yard work outdoors, thankfully
the
weather was warmer, which allowed us the opportunity to
cover some of the plants in the garden, organize the shed and clean out the
window wells. We also worked inside sorting through donations and preparing
materials for the children’s lesson plans. We have seen several different groups
as well as individuals come by Sheffield
Place this week, it is heart warming to see how
many donations are brought to the shelter and how many community members seem
to care about Sheffield Place.
One of the volunteers, Rhonda, made a particular impact on us; she seems so
dedicated to the work that she is doing, her heart for the women and children
is evident! We treasured our evening in
Project Hope; we knew that it would be the last time we would spend with the
children before our departure. Each of us made sure that we were able to
interact with each child. That meant different activities depending upon the
child; reading a book, building “lego land”, working on a lesson plan about the
letter B, putting together a puzzle, playing with cars or simply rocking a
baby. We truly care for each of these precious children and wish them a future
of hope. It is so powerful to recognize that each human enters the world as
small and precious as these babies, but has no say over the environment into
which they are born.
One of the
most powerful parts of our experience was hearing some of the personal stories
of the women at Sheffield Place.
We were honored that these women shared some of their life experiences with us.
It was incredibly difficult to hear about
some of the horrors that these women have experienced. Addiction, abuse, and mental
illness know no boundaries. Tragically, however, these women had
limited, or no, emotional/logistical support from family which led to
homelessness when they left their abuser or addiction. Sheffield Place was a support during a
difficult time and allowed the women stability of safe housing while providing
support, training and guidance to begin to think and act differently in order
to become independent and move to provide a life for their children and to live
a life without abuse and a life that is substance free.
Our final day on Friday was bittersweet. Coincidentally,
it was “International Women’s Day,” which feels symbolic as our week has
focused on women’s issues. It feels exciting that our group of female students
was able to learn from, and provide support to, the women of Sheffield!
We enjoyed meeting with the kind ladies of Zonta, an international group of
professional women focused on service, who shared cookies and support with our
group. After completing some final projects at Sheffield, we enjoyed a send off
lunch with some of the staff. It was difficult to leave, even though we were
only here for a week, we have come to care so much for the women and children at
Sheffield. This was an incredible experience
and while we leave tomorrow morning to return home, the journey has really just
begun!
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