Jeremiah's Inn - Even more pictures!

Friday, March 9 is our last day in Jeremiah's Inn. This time we were assigned to sort and organize food into storage boxes. No one could do it faster than us girls!

Jeremiah's Inn received a mountain's worth of non-perishable food.
But they have no one to sort the food out yet--and that's our job!
Shelby, Sandra, and Sheridan are looking through all the stuff.

"Do you think, um, if I take one of these, anyone
would notice? Just kidding!"

Taylor and Shelby are placing stuff into boxes.
Just look at how many boxes they have filled behind them!

Now the food is stored in boxes and in order - yay!

Snapshots from GWLT

Check out the pictures from GWLT: 

Jordan working like a pro

These are the kind of signs we were making!

We stenciled and carved out this sign

It takes two to saw this stubborn piece of wood.
Heave-ho, heave-ho!

When our arms are tired by all the wood-carving,
we turn to painting

Grins from GWLT! Left to right: Gaia, Sarah, Selena, Jordan and Sara
By the way, the woods we worked on will be made into one of these cool signs. Look out for them when you hike in this gorgeous park

The Sun, the Land, and the Woods

One of the long-term projects we did in IASB is in Greater Worcester Land Trust (GWLT), an organization which works in preserving open, green spaces in the Greater Worcester area. The headquarter lies in Cascade Park, not too far away from Clark, and it is a great place to go hiking. The work is mainly manual and outdoors; whereas the organization itself is incredibly people-friendly. Over the course of 3 days, we had plenty of sunshine as we worked outside on the open land by the woods. Sarah shares her story in GWLT:

The Tree Farm

            From 7-9 March, a few fellow Clarkies went to the GWLT in Worcester, MA with the goal of trail clearing, wood working, and much, much more. Colin, the head of the GWLT, was extremely patient with all of us and really made us feel right at home working with tools that we had never seen before in our lives.

            On day 1, we began by creating trail/hike signs from scratch. This included stenciling letters onto the front and back of large pieces of wood, cutting out those letters with a router, and finally painting the letters so that they would be visible to the public. Although the majority of us had never done any of those tasks before, we were up for the challenge and were eager to get straight to work. Colin was able to place us in areas where we worked best and after that we were ready to go! In the beginning, it was tough getting started, but as the hours passed we began to get comfortable with our jobs as well with one another. We started to look like a team and in the end we created some beautiful looking signs.

Colin and Jordan moves the log as Mary watches.
Colin and Mary kindly taught us how to do woodwork.

            Day 2 was absolutely gorgeous! It was 60 degrees and sunny; the perfect weather for some outdoor work! After getting to the GWLT around 10, we went straight into sawing and chiseling away large blocks of wood in hopes that in the end they would look like sign posts. This was an all-day event that was not as fast paced as we had hoped. However, every Clarkie there worked their hardest and we ended up finishing a few projects by 2 o’clock. After that, it was time to clear out the debris that had fallen onto the trails over the past few months. Each Clark student did a fantastic job of picking up trees, large sticks, and working with one another in order to get yet another job done. Needless to say, at the end of the day we were worn out!

Gaia chiseling away

           

 Day 3 was much colder than day 2, but we dealt with it and got right back in the swing of things. For the first few hours we worked on clearing larger trees and brush from the other side of the hike, while a few other Clarkies finished up some wood work and chiseling. The day went by much faster than before, particularly because we were getting the hang of working with our hands as well as having a great time in the process. The wood-chipper came out and chipped away all the debris we cleared in order to make some mulch to spread over the parking lot. During the second half of the day, we painted more signs, carved more wood, and all worked together on spreading the mulch across the front parking lot. It was an ending to remember, one of great accomplishment and hard work which would not have been made possible without the help of a few great students. Although the GWLT project was only a few days, I have no doubt that Clark students will want to go back and help throughout the year.

-Sarah-

Gaia, Sarah, and Jordan posing proudly on the wood they worked on

Jeremiah's Inn - More Pictures

Pictures from Day 2 (March 8) at Jeremiah's Inn. Pictures are taken by our pro photographer Unurbat, who happens to be the only male in that one picture way down there.

Welcome to Jeremiah's Inn!

Applying the second coat of paint

 Chocolate-mint-ice-cream covered hands!

Meet the man behind the lens

"What? We painted it the WRONG COLOR?!'

The Room

The Team: Unurbat, Melat, Michino, and Divya!

 

Food for the Hungry, Food for Thought

On Friday, March 9, four of us volunteered at the Worcester County Food Bank (WCFB) in Shrewsbury.  WCFB is part of the nationwide charity Feeding America; it acts as the “middle man” between markets who give away their leftover food products and soup kitchens, food pantries, and homeless shelters.  When we first arrived at the food bank, the volunteer coordinator Luke Moore greeted us with enthusiasm.  It was surprising to find out that Luke himself was a Clarkie; he told us that since his education does not define a certain career, non-profit would be a great place to start – I felt this very much reflected the Clarkie spirit of wanting to give back to the community and helping others, a mentality which very much encouraged me to come to Clark 3 years ago.  This mentality has been at the forefront of my focus more than ever over the course of this week, because I have been privileged to be surrounded by people who naturally love to give back and find great joy in it.

Our task at the WCFB was to sort food products: we had to remove items that were either past their expiration date or not in good condition.  I really had fun doing this with my ASB group. At the same time, we realized just how much food gets wasted worldwide.  A great amount of the food we inspected had to get thrown away, and this caused me to see firsthand the importance of the work that food banks do.  I actually imagined if food banks did not sort the food out, people at the pantries would receive the food in unsanitary conditions and they would feel terrible– this shows how essential food banks are for providing the hungry with quality products and, in turn, happiness. 

At the end of the day, Luke gave us a tour of the food bank – it was so much larger than it looked from the outside.  There are 2 super-sized rooms for food storage as well as large freezers for meat and vegetables.  In addition, there is a huge sign thanking volunteers for the work they do – seeing this truly made me feel special about what we were doing and motivated me to want to come back soon.  Also, volunteers are asked to sign in and sign out so they can be kept in contact with.  This desire to keep an ongoing relationship thriving between volunteers and organizations is something we really want to emerge as a result of this alternative spring break, and it is great to work with people we share the same values with. 

In the end, Luke help put into perspective the impact our work has in the long run by explaining how WCFB is part of the larger process of feeding the hungry. The end results of what we did were, of course, not evident when we were working; but by getting a sense of our contribution to the larger scale, it made our work so much more rewarding.


-Mitch-

Building Homes in the Heart

In the course of two days, our Habitat for Humanity team worked long and hard to help build houses. And we have learned that a house is a home at heart when you remember how much goes into building one. We hope that these gorgeous pictures will help us keep that in mind!
Pictures by Unurbat

The view from the second floor of the house

Sweta's excited about reaching new heights...literally.

Lunch break makes everyone smile!

Look closer, he's eating a bananapple! No, dude, it is a real fruit! You just haven't heard it yet!

Smiles

Divya and Melat showing off a new manicure treatment

Heading back to our own homes in the Clark campus

Everybody, show off your aching muscles! No, I mean smiles!!

Building Homes, Not Houses

For the first two days of IASB, 7 and 8 March, about half of all IASB participants worked in Habitat For Humanity projects in Worcester and Sturbridge. Habitat for Humanity, an US organization long associated with former President Jimmy Carter, builds and renovates affordable housing for families in need, relying much on faith-inspired volunteers.Thus, it is only fitting that we have a great coverage of the project! Here's the story:

“You know, I really feel bad about all those holes I have put in my wall over the years,” I said to my friend as we drove back from our work site with Habitat for Humanity (HFH). To me, house walls have always seemed like one of life’s boring constants: I accidently punch a hole in my wall over Christmas break and when I come back for Spring break, it has magically replaced itself. Today, working for Habitat for Humanity, I have learned that this is not the case. In fact, walls are actually fascinating structures that require a great deal of time and recourses to construct.  In a perfect world, I would be able to give a full account of every step that goes into creating a wall, from laying the foundations of a house to hanging up your Rebecca Black poster. Unfortunately, I am familiar with only those steps that I have personally participated in with HFH, so I will stick to that.

Yesterday, the first day of Clark Alternative Spring Break, a group of around 12 college kids, including myself, took a van from Clark Campus to an undisclosed location in Worcester for our first project for HFH. When we arrived my first thought was that the beams that made the foundations of the house that we were to construct looked intimidating. My instincts proved correct. For six hours I found myself climbing up and down 13-foot ladders trying to operate a staple gun and a hammer and nails. This task was not made any easier by the strong winds that day or the muddy ground; both of which made the ladders prone to sliding. Fortunately, what our group lacked in talent we made up for in enthusiasm. Between cheering each other on and laughing at each other’s jokes, the day flew by and neither the wind nor the mud dampened our spirits. I cannot say how exactly it came about but by the time we were done, where before naked foundations had stood, there were now the beginnings of a wall.

The second day proved to be an even more sinister challenge: math. In the past I scoffed at my freshman year geometry teacher when she would tell me that I would need geometry in every day life. But today I ate my words when we were tasked with installing dry wall. This entailed taking huge 8-foot by 4-foot slabs of drywall and drilling them into the beams of a house so they covered the insulator. Unfortunately, not every section of wall is the same size as the sheet of drywall we started out with: things such as pipes, windows, and doorframes could not be covered by the wall.  So, armed with measuring tape, t -squares and exacto knives, we cut the sheets so that they were shaped so they fit with the section of wall. This process was painstaking and time consuming: the wall had to be cut just right. If your calculations were incorrect and the cuts were off by just an inch, the pipe or outlet you needed a hole for was covered and you would have to throw that sheet away and start over. 

The moral of this story is that a wall, or any part of a house isn’t just something you get for free. As I have learned, houses are hard to build and because of that they are too expensive for many to afford. So next time you feel the urge to kick the drywall, play baseball in front of the delicate window, or bang on the door when your brother is taking too long in the bathroom, remember that someone worked hard to make your house and that someone less fortunate would love to have it. Appreciate what you have.

-Joe-

Pictures by our awesome photographer Unurbat

And then there is a house, where there wasn't! 

First Day in Jeremiah's Inn

Wednesday, March 7 is the first day of ASB! After a momentary chaos in the lovely Maywood kitchen as 30(!) of us scrambled for bagels and sandwiches, having a hasty but happy breakfast, we headed out to our destinations. It was a warm and sunny day--perfect for working outside, which most of us did. Stories will be coming up soon, but here's one for a start:

Wednesday, I served at Jeremiah’s Inn. Jeremiah's Inn has been serving the Worcester community for thirty years by providing transitional services for homeless men who are recovering from substance abuse issues. The shelter has thirty beds for residents to stay in. Most rooms have two men staying in it at a time. During their stay at Jeremiah’s they are given support from on site case managers to come up with an individualized plan to remain sober, get a job, and get a place to live. In addition to the services that Jeremiah’s provides the men, they also run a food pantry for the Main South area of Worcester. Six days a week people from the community can come and get food for the week from the pantry. It is estimated that annually the food pantry serves 16,600 residents of Worcester.

            To help at Jeremiah’s we painted one of the rooms that was in need of some TLC. The room was a dark brown color that was not welcoming to the men. We panted the room a light green to brighten it up. We were responsible for the first coat. The team of students that are going to serve tomorrow will be doing the second coat and the trim. In addition to painting, we also helped unload a truck of food from the Greater Worcester Food Bank. We unloaded lots of food in assembly line fashion with the men who are staying at Jeremiah’s. It was wonderful to meet who we were helping. I am also looking forward to Friday to gain a further understanding of how the food bank system works in Worcester. It was a wonderful way to start out ASB!

-Elizabeth-

Here's Taylor painting the dark brown wall.

And VOILA! You got green! Liz and Taylor agreed it's a better color.

Clark IASB - What It's All About

Spring time has finally arrived in Worcester, Mass. (with a sprinkle of snow, nonetheless!) And in the aftermath of a tornado of midterms and papers, spring break is finally on the doorstep!


For many that means a wonderful week of traveling away from school. But for some of us, it's time to get involved in the community around the school! Clark's Interfaith Alternative Spring Break is a program run by students of Clark University where we do Service Learning, which is coupling community services with informal learning. 


What that means is that during the day, we do all sorts of community services around the Main South neighborhood and beyond. At night we get together to learn and discuss our faiths, inspirations behind our motivation to help others, and social and political issues surrounding the community. All this is done while we are staying on campus--yes, a "stay-cation!"


We have a diverse group of around 30 students on this program. Like the title of the program, we belong to many faiths--Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhism, Bahai, even those who do not associate with  a certain religion. We have international students hailing from Asia, Africa, South America, and other places. And though we're mainly Clarkies, some of us come from other colleges in Worcester (namely WPI and Assumption College). Indeed, we are all unified by our drive to help the community. 


This program embodies Clark University's strong tradition of community volunteering, of challenging convention and changing our world. For more information on Clark University, go to www.clarku.edu. This program is initiated by the Clark University Hillel and has been the hard work of Hillel Director David, Clark alum Paige, the students in the organizing committee, and the wonderfully supportive Clark community. This program has been generously funded by the Clark University Student Council and Clark's Office of Community Engagement and Volunteering.