United Way for Southeastern Michigan

There are som many people who are affected by the war, the economy, the changes, and even the weather. They need our help. So many people are in a position to help their fellow neighbors and being apart of the solution and not the problem is a way to make change. So be apart of helping and give to those who need your help.

I graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and am ready to take on the world. Bring it!

I am going to volunteer on Martin Luther King Day, you should too! This is how I live united.

We walked as a group to the Henry Ford Estate on March 6 2009 and we all gathered around the waterfall. The nature awakened me as I took a nap on those rocks with all of you. All of the memories I collected became alive in the back of my mind. Something inside of me unleashed and I felt the connection to all of you. This past week changed my life again as it did to all of you. It gave me hope, love, and family. I felt like I was born again to another year of my life. The energy I felt within nature, within all of us wrote a new start.
Every one of you…every memory…every smile and every tear is forever embedded in my life and in my future to guide me with my journey. I will carry all of you with me because you became the current that my stream follows. I want to thank all of you for being so great and giving the experience of my life.

With all my gratitude, love, and smiles
This is Amal- hand motion ( aka. Buck)

The mist of a falling
Spring
Tinkle my skin
As the breeze hugs
My limps on the forgotten
Rocks. Memories
Fly with each
Sound. Strangers
Conquer my existence
Standing around me
Stitching the same love
Love for all
To give
To serve
To live
Exhaling moments
Of forever
The sun stares at us
Reflecting rays of hope
From the eyes of tomorrow
A bond
Persists in its
Cycle
No stop
Keep breathing
Keep loving
Keep giving
Keep living

Breath.

Almost a Month after ASB and I feel empty as ASB's flashes keep reminding me of what I was during that week. I want to do more everytime. ASB taught me how to push myself to the max and how to face my fears along the way. I never expected my self to get so strong and hopeful.

Life is wonderful. After ASB-Detroit 2008, I felt anger toward people. I used to ask my self: why people don't care? Slowly, I realized that they simply don't know how.

To create change, I learned to see the light in everything dark. you have to have faith in this change for it to occur.

I love the energy I see now.I pray that my energy never weakens and I have the time to always serve my community and give my hand.

Service and ASB taught me how to love with no boundries and how love exists everywhere.

Magic unleached!
Amal: Team Magic, ASB Detroit 09'

Last Friday United Way for Southeastern Michigan (UWSEM) hosted yet another successful Alternative Spring Break. Here, college students came from all over to participate in a week of service projects in Detroit in lieu of other Spring Break plans. Nick, our program leader, and I had the pleasure of presenting 2-1-1 On the Go! to the students on their last day. It was a groggy bunch, them having been up slumber partying well into the morning, but they managed to respond to our mission with excitement (thanks to a little inspiration from UWSEM's Volunteer Coordinator, Kira Putt's cheerleading demonstration, and Nick's and my impeccable sense of humor).

Nick and I, as well as few other UWSEM staff members, led the students in going out into different communities in the Greater Detroit area, to find employers interested in hiring our clients. We sent teams to Dearborn, Midtown, Ferndale, and Hamtramck to scour the local businesses (avoiding national chains, with the exception of fast food restaurants) talking to employers about the needs of our clients. The teams went out equipped with an understanding of 2-1-1 and 2-1-1 On the Go!, and how to pitch the ask to employers for full-time jobs.

They must've done something right because we ended the day with 51 employers interested in varying degrees in helping out in some way with our mission. Not all of those employers will have jobs to offer, but at least they are willing to learn about our program and keep us in their back pocket if jobs do open up. Hopefully some will take to the mission and spread the word to other employers in their networks.

Nick has organized all the contacts into one spreadsheet (a task I avoid at all costs), and we will begin following up with the employers on Monday. We hope to get some jobs out of this, but more important is the experience that the ASBers were able to gain in being a unique voice for our clients. Hopefully they learned that you don't have to be on staff with 2-1-1 On the Go! to be a vital part of our ongoing mission, and they will continue to work on reeling in employers for us as they go about their lives.

This was a fun bunch to work with, and I am privileged to have met some pretty rad folks willing to give their time and energy for the betterment of people's lives.

Well I'm back in Oregon now...and all day I've been in a weird fog. I have never had such a hard time coming back from an ASB experience. I truly feel as though I formed a new family with 50+ people from around the country, and I'm sad to have to leave all of you! For most of you, I will most likely never see you again. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

For one week we came together in service and lived united. I feel so blessed to have served with all of you, to have learned from each and every one of you, and been filled with a piece of each of your passions for bettering our communities.

I return to work tomorrow to put my replenished passion to good use, mobilizing volunteers in my own community.

There is no doubt in my mind that we changed the world in a week. Not only did we touch the lives of individuals and agencies in Detroit, but we fueled the passions of 50+ young leaders from across our country. Young leaders that will return to their homes, and will inspire and mobilize others to Live United.

Five years ago I participated in my first ASB experience, and it literally changed my life. While a career in the non-profit world might not be for all of you, I know that you will all return to be a more active citizen because of the week you just experienced.

The only way the week you just experienced could fail is if you don't allow the energy of ASB 313 to ripple forward. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell complete strangers about how you Live United, let the amazingness that just occurred in Detroit echo through out our country.

Thank you for letting me Live United with all of you! You have truly touched my life.

Dear United Way, ASB Detroit 2009, Team Magic, and all of the participants:

You have changed me.

I said this two years ago when I returned from a dismal flight back into Pittsburgh from ASB 07, and I will say it again: You have showed me once more what a small group of people can do, what beauty there lies in the ruin.

And you have left me forever changed.

But something this time feels different. Maybe I was too young then. Maybe the reality of graduating in less that two semesters, job hunting, and choosing the right graduate school was not as near as it is for me now; but regardless of what it is, it is with me full throttle tonight.

You have, United Way, made me question how I want to spend my life for the second time. You have me now looking into Americorps, internships in nonprofit, and volunteer opportunities in the Detroit area for this upcoming summer. I have always wanted to write. I wrote books when I was eight, poems when I was twelve. "Deciding" on a major was never an issue for me; I wanted to write, and that's what I would do. And then I embarked on my journey to Lake Charles, Louisiana in March of 2007 and it changed my outlook on life. I returned back to my university and became a social work major for about thirty six hours. But it didn't take me long to decide against it; I was too soft to perform in a field like that; volunteering was something I could do on the side like I always had.

And then I came to Detroit.

On my index card that first night I wrote my three impressions of Metro Detroit: cars, poverty, and wasteland. I was uneducated about the city and a first timer in the entire Michigan area, and though I was embarrassed of my three words on the card, they were the three honest impressions that I had. I knew for the purpose of the exercise my views would change somewhat by the end of day seven, but I had no idea I would be where I am tonight. To tell my story of my week in Detroit now is a feat I don't think I can climb. As I sat in my seat in the airplane departing from Michigan and as I sit here in my dorm room in Pennsylvania tonight, I feel a strange and surreal vertigo that makes me question if this is an ending or a beginning for me, or if that sense of time in our lives matters either way.

What is hitting me now is how crucial the Alternative Spring Break program is for the metro Detroit area. Although the ASB programs are lumped collectively together as a month long endeavor that brings college-aged students from across the country to create real change in a community, Detroit, I realized midweek, was very, very different.

This city has been struck by no hurricane, damaged by no winds or inundated by no flood waters in a humid season that threatens yearly. The city of Detroit is plagued every single day by the winds of unemployment, wounded by the effects of urban sprawl and illiteracy, soaked through to the bone with a cold feeling of tiredness and poverty. There are no seasons for this kind of disaster. There are no government-induced groups of volunteers flooding the city limits to provide shelter and food and clean clothes to those in need. The people of Detroit carry on quietly, tirelessly, working twelve hour days at jobs they may not have tomorrow. They hold some of the highest unemployment rates in the country and are plagued most with child illiteracy and appalling high school drop-out numbers, and they need our help.

The kind of disaster that is happening to them is the disaster of humankind, of the failing economy, of the automobile industry's closing doors. It collects and it pools, it lingers, lies stagnant in the streets and blows rancid through the neighborhoods. And while those groups in the Gulf Coast and Indiana are needed dearly, the city and the people of Detroit cannot be forgotten.

Together, ASB Detroit unveiled visible changes to a community. Because of us, Franklin and Wright Settlements now has an up-and-running computer lab and library for the neighborhood kids and for adults who need to create resumes and look for jobs. Lighthouse Path now has painted apartments ready for new women to move in and start new lives. Because of us, two men, Chris and Jason, will now be able to leave their homes on wooden ramps and smell spring. We worked tirelessly and enthusiastically and changed people's lives, and together, we can bring that city back.

And how scary it is to think that I almost didn't come.

All of my friends were embarking on a spring training trip to Oak Ridge, Tennessee to row and practice for upcoming regattas. I had the option to go and spend the week with my closest friends, boyfriend, and teammates. I was tempted and playfully teased every day by them, and I almost stayed. But there was something that nudged me to embark on another adventure of the unknown. And just as Lauren Hooghuis chose to stay with sixty strangers when a friend of hers passed away that first night in Detroit, I chose blindly, too, to spend the week with you.

It has been an experience like no other. I asked this in my last blog after ASB 07 and I will ask it again: How do you sum up the greatest experience of your life? How do I respond when professors, friends, and relatives ask how my trip to Detroit went? Sure, I can tell them I stayed at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, toured the city, visited museums, met new people, and created a library and literacy lab for the community. But how can I ever explain the middle school dance party we had, the late nights in the UC, the cartwheels and laps around the track I did with friends? How can I give Jeannette's love and passion for the city of Detroit justice, describe the beautiful buildings, the time I almost got trapped on the People Mover?

How can I explain that I didn't just meet new friends, I bonded with people from places I have never visited with different backgrounds and lifestyles that yet all seemed so similar to me? Someone tell me how I will ever explain Katherine Haddad? How can I do that? I am overwhelmed when asked that question: How was your time in Detroit, because they will never understand Katherine's humor or Ashim's dance moves or Amal's kindness. They will never understand Muhi and Jason, or Dave and Sineal, or those kids' faces at Franklin and Wright when we unveiled their new computer lab. And I have to ask myself this: How could I have felt so home with these people even though I was five hundred miles away from it?

And that is what amazes me the most about these trips - you guys - the people I met, the team I was blessed with. Seven days ago I thought I was coming down to southeastern Michigan because I didn't think there were enough people who cared about volunteering in the area, and as I leave seven days later I have to thank every one of you for disproving that completely distorted image I carried with me. It is a beautiful thing to have been changed like I have, to now see the city of Detroit in a completely new light, and I have you all to thank for that. Now, when I think of the city, when I think of Michigan, I'll see Jeanette pointing and explaining buildings or theaters along the city streets after they have already passed, speaking a mile a minute enthusiastically and passionately about the city she taught me to love. I'll see Dave and Sineal working with their whole hearts at Franklin and Wright to give the people of that poor community a place to come together. I'll see Jon and Ursuala and Kira, and I'll see you kids, united in a way I did not think was possible.

And as I sit here on my dorm room bed on a rainy Pennsylvania night, I cannot help but to be both grateful and utterly and terribly sad. When the plane lifted into the skies of Michigan yesterday afternoon, I realized how scared I was to go back to the life I lived just one week before. I didn't know how I was going to return to my best friends, my own family after a week like the one we just had. It is times like those when the quickness of flying is unfair. In only one hour, I had gone from a cold and rainy Michigan as an Alternative Spring Breaker with a Katherine Haddad always at my side, to a seventy-five degree Washington D.C., alone. I was dressed in pants, warm shoes, hoodie, carrying in my hand a winter coat. The transition was visible, short, and cruel, and I was vaulted all-too quickly into a world where I didn't have to wear a lanyard and a nametag, where I was not surrounded by sixty incredible, motivating young people I had grown to love.

"I wish we could go to the movies," Katherine had said Thursday night. "I wish you could stay. We could do normal stuff together." I thought of us then on my ride back to my car in a silent taxi, what additional jokes we would share, what we would do when we were bored on Saturday nights. It is both a beautiful and unsympathetic glimpse ASB gives its participants: a look into a life and friendships in another place they had before been unaware of.

And when the taxi dropped me off and I had paid my fare, I climbed into my car and spent my trip north mulling over the week, reflecting on all I had learned, missing all that I had left behind. And out there, right now, I knew that there were college students flying into airports or driving into cities that would carry them into another ASB. Maybe they are scared, maybe they are nervous. It is bittersweet to think to know that while our experience has ended, another is just beginning. In another state, in another world from Detroit, there are rows of Nalgene bottles aligned on tables, fresh sweatshirts in boxes that - in one week - will, too, be painted and dirty and loved. So here's to them, here's to us, for living united, for changing the world.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When we reached the falls behind U of M Dearborn, we took our share of pictures and each claimed a spot on the rocks. The balmy sixty-five degree Michigan air was a pleasant gift after a week of bitter cold, and the chance to rest during that late afternoon on Friday was an incredible feeling. I settled on a spot near the water and soon drifted into sleep. During the greatest and most satisfying nap I think I have ever taken, I dreamt of a group of nameless, faceless people that somehow fulfilled me, made me happy, made me smile and feel like home. And when I awoke on the warm rocks beside the rushing creek, they were there, all of you, gathered on the rocks alone or in groups, dozing or sitting in a comfortable silence with one another. And it may have been the greatest feeling of the week - at least for me - to just see everyone together nearing the end of a phenomenal experience, united in more ways that we could even begin to understand.

And I will hold that moment always, just as I will hold you all and that week we shared in southeastern Michigan. But for right now, I have to let you go, Detroit. I have a life to get back into, friends and family that need me to be the person that they hugged goodbye eight days ago. I have Anthropology to read and a Climate midterm to study for and an internship to find for this summer, and so I will place you carefully aside and strive to avert my eyes from the Motor City. It is unfair and it will be difficult, but I know all too well there is nothing I can do. And let me remind you again that you have changed me. You have reminded me that lasting friendships can come from the most serendipitous occasions, that young people can evoke long-term change. You have shown me a clearer view of what I want this life of mine to be. I have primer on my arm and black paint in my hair, fruit leather wrappings scattered all over my bed and a black hoodie on I do not have the heart yet to remove. I am tired and feeling like I am missing something, homesick for a place I didn't know could feel like home, but it is time now to move on.

And so I will ask again what I asked two years ago: How do you sum up the greatest experience of your life? I don't think you can. How do you return to reality after a week like the one we just had? You just do. You take the free t-shirts and the fruit leathers, the stubborn paint stains and the sore limbs with you. You take the memories and the laughs, the inside jokes and the pinky promises to send packages and to call and to visit and you take them with you. It's all you can do. You continue to do the work we all came together to do in the first place last Saturday: live united. Thank you United Way, ASB Detroit 2009, Team Magic, and all the participants. You have changed me.

Well friends, we did it!

Another successful year of ASB at Detroit. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this event comes back to Detroit. If there is anything I can do to help United Way of SEM, let me know!

I titled this piece ASB Coma because, for a whole week, each and every volunteer, was in a trance. We all wanted to help, we all wanted to connect with others, we all wanted to reach out. We accomplished all of that and more.

Muhi
Team 2: Boom Roasted.

I will admit to being a delinquent team leader by not posting on this before just now, but will try to make up for it with this note.

First of all, just want to say thanks to all (United Way, U of M Dearborn) for putting all this together! You have created a wonderful opportunity for all involved.

Second, thanks also to Team Condiments for great work this week. I hope you all remember how good we felt on Thursday after what I think was our best day of work. Don't forget how it must feel for someone who is going through a tough spot to walk into an apartment that was painted just for them and is theirs worry free for the next two years. While you may never get a chance to meet the families that move into these apartments, you have made a difference in their lives. I hope our experience at Lighthouse Path encourages all of you to continue to volunteer in the future! Thanks also for the (delirious?) laughs with no sugar kool aid, paint rollers and jenga. I can't think of anyone I'd have rather shared this week with.

On a more personal note, I have been to ASB through United Way three times and it just keeps getting better. ASB in Detroit teaches all involved that community service is a way of life. It is not only a response to a natural disaster or tragedy, but can happen any day of the week through actions large or small. I learned this lesson nearly a decade ago in my teens and am always absolutely energized to come together with others who feel the same. Some of my friends thought it was crazy to call going to Detroit a vacation, but it has been much more refreshing and inspiring than any stereotypical spring break trip to Cancun or Daytona Beach. I will cherish the memories and friendships that I made on this trip and hope to see you all again soon!

Keep up the good work.

Melissa

So I left my last post half-finished, but the train of thought that I was on that day left this station and refuses to come back. Today was a completely different experience. We didn't do any projects like the ones we've been doing all week (primarily because we were all done with them) and instead participated in 2-1-1 On the Go, looking for businesses that were willing to hire homeless people looking for jobs so they can get back on the path to being independent and stable.

Everything in these last two days has been extremely emotional for me. I don't know how many moments I had that I could literally feel the swelling of emotion inside of me and felt the tears coming on. It happened Thursday morning when Kira gave our team a pep talk about the importance of the work we'd been doing..it happened again when Elizabeth, a resident of Lighthouse Path shared her story with us. It hit home in a very sensitive spot, and that was when I understood the significance of what I'd done, because I know what it's like to be in a position where you feel so incredibly helpless and alone, and when you're fortunate enough to receive a personal, sensitive response... it makes all the difference in the world.

Speaking of making a difference, now that ASB is coming to a close (as the old saying goes...all good things must come to an end), I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity and resources to be able to have participated in something like this. Coming into this event, I had that inkling of a feeling that you get when you know that what you're doing is not only going to change someone else's life, it's going to impact yours even more. I can honestly say that it has. Although I signed up with oodles of enthusiasm back in December, the week before ASB was exceptionally discouraging and killed much of the motivation I had for coming...at one point, I even contemplated not coming and just staying at home for a week. I am SO glad that I didn't do that! I've met so many amazing, inspiring, and genuine people here this week that I hope I will be able to keep in touch with (and by keeping in touch I mean more than adding them as a friend on facebook).

We can never be reminded too many times of the importance of helping others and all the lessons that entail. To help those who cannot help themselves and to give a voice to those who have lost their own can never be emphasized enough, because things can change in the blink of an eye. It could just as easily be you or me on the other side of that soup kitchen line or sleeping on that park bench, and I know I wouldn't want to be forgotten in that situation. It comes down the golden rule that we all learned in elementary school: treat others the way that you want to be treated. Having been engaged in volunteer projects and team-building activities all week leads to my conclusion that alone we can accomplish a good amount, but together we can accomplish even more. There will always be hungry mouths to feed, sick people to heal, and broken souls to mend. There is always, ALWAYS more that needs to be done...never stop giving.

I've been dying to write blogs but for some reason, it wouldn't let me. :( Today is the second to last day and I'm really sad. I wish this week was longer. I feel like I just came here yesterday. Today was AWESOME. I loved dancing the Cupid Shuffle in Downtown, Detroit. After returning to campus, a bunch of us went to the Henry Ford Estate and just sat around the River Rouge. It was very peaceful and lots of people fell asleep on the rocks. I wish I can do that but I can't. I can't wait to do this again next year. I wish I can explain this week in more detail but I'm not used to blogging. I will put up a bunch of pictures and videos on facebook. It's almost time for dinner....

I cannot believe this is our last day here. I feel like I've spent a lifetime with these people. It, all in all, has been an amazingly rewarding experience, and I have met so many amazing people. It is so great to go somewhere and be surrounded by like-minded people in terms of wanting to give back to the community.

While I'm exhausted and falling asleep at random times, I am so not ready to leave. This is definitely something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. Not building ramps (because I would go through all too many drill bits) but definitely being involved with non-profits and being out in the community, grassroots level.

There is nothing better than to say that I have helped someone gain his independence by building a ramp allowing him to get out and do some things on his own. I remember when I was a senior in high school, 4 years ago, getting foot surgery and not being able to do anything on my own. Being constantly dependent on other people to do everything for me was the worst feeling I have ever felt. Being able to do things for myself and be independent once I healed was amazing. I cannot imagine how it felt for Jason, being in a wheelchair for a much longer period of time than my healing when I had my foot surgery. To be able to get out and do things for himself will be great for him. For myself to be able to be a part of this has been a fantastic experience.

Recreating the image of Detroit has also been very important to me. Like Jeanette pointed out behind the Spirit of Detroit, the emblem inspired by the Detroit fire which says that once again Detroit will rise from it's ashes. I feel like this story of rebirth and recreation is a parallel with my life. I have a tattoo of a Phoenix, referring to my own rebirth from it's ashes, bursting into flames. This is why this has touched me, because I have been able to be a part of dismantling the current image of Detroit. We all have done very positive things in Detroit this week with ASB. We have all contributed to the rebirth of the city. And, we should all be very proud of that.

Today is the LAST full day of ASB 313. It's extremely sad, and I really don't want it to end. This past week was so much fun, and it made me realize a lot of things about myself as well. Starting from day one all I've been doing is laughing, WORKING, just hanging out with my team, and the other gorgeous ASBers.

I primarily wanted to do ASB because of how much fun it was supposed to be. I didn't know exactly what to expect, and I didn't know what I would be doing. It's hard for me to put myself out there but ASB allowed me to do so.

Now that we're wrapping up it's time for me to really think hard about this experience and take from this experience all that I can.

It's been surreal almost, and I can't wait to do this again next year.

For the past week building this ramp has been so bittersweet. It was cold, the work at times was so frustrating. However, our team really worked well together and got it done. We ended up staying late yesterday to finish the ramp and sort of missed the evening activities. It was totally worth it.

I feel like everything this week happened so fast, and the exact details are blurry but I can't remember any of the bad moments cause the good have overshadowed everything else.

It was a blast working with TEAM BOOM ROASTED... and I will really miss working with them. Hopefully we'll remain friends afterward. Even if we don't remain friends, a part of them will always remain with me.

It's been great. MUCH LOVE

-- MARZIA

Today was our last day at our site, Lighthouse Path. All we had to do today was organize the day care's storage room. I must say we preformed a miracle in that room.

At lunch time we listened to a presentation by Liz the Community Events Director; she told us more about Lighthouse and how us painting actually meant a lot to the organization. We also heard the story of a client of Lighthouse that really touched us all. Hearing her story helped us connect to our project assignments.

During lunch we read some poems from Shel Silverstein. This one touched the whole group:


Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're all worth the same
When we turn off the light.

Red, black or orange,
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

Today was our last day working at Lighthouse Path. We got to meet a woman who uses the services at Lighthouse Path, and it kinda hit home. After our conversation, we finished our last day by rearranging the daycare's storage room (which looked HORRIBLE). In the process, we found Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Jessica, one of the team leaders, read aloud a poem that basically sums up why we're all here...

Small as a peanut
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're all worth the same
when we turn off the light.

Red black or orange,
Yellow or white
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light.

I think my team had some built up tension over the past two days but I'm proud to say we have called a truce and back to our Monday group and we are SO in LOVE. haha. We celebrated over ice cream.

We met our expectations this week, actually we surpassed them and we got to finish early. My team was able to come back and rest so we can stay up all night enjoy our team and all the others.

I'm hungry and I can't wait for dinner.

Well we ended up continuing our work at Vista Maria for Day 3 and Day 4 because they found more work for us to do. We had the awesome opportunity to continue our work with facilitates staff member Bob, while painting a 3-tiered hallway in a girls' dormitory area for the Bridges Program.

I'll write more about my observations and experiences in a different post, but here I wanted to highlight a story we found while working in the dormitory. I've seen in movies how girls in rehab or other institutions will write their stories or leave messages on the furniture in their rooms - dressers, beds, etc. While painting we found a dresser in one of the dorm rooms that had a story written in red marker on the side of the dresser that took up the entire side of the three drawer dresser. The story touched me in a number of ways, and so I wanted to post it in this blog so that others would have the chance to read it.

The Dresser Story (unedited):

"The System is meant 4 ur ass 2 fail!

Prove them Wrong!

I came from nothing the only person that showed me love (my momma) past away. My dady sold me to my momma. My aunt & uncle took me in after my mom died. My uncle raped me and took my pride which was my body I had nothing... I looked back to my family but they didn't believe me I cried myself to sleep every night in a place that I never felt safe enough to call home. I feel alone my whole family is in a different country (Philippines). The closest family I got lives somewhere in Chicago I have nobody but myself. Life is a struggle itself and my sleep can't help cuz I still have nightmares of getting beat up by "stepDAD" I was locked in the closset for hours... But I tell you that wasn't enough. I'm so use to pain that I punish myself by cutting I've almost taken my life away by pulling one of the veins out with a staple I got stitches before and I got my skin glued back together. I was born to fail But somehow I still keep going."

Reading this story, on the side of a wooden dresser, in a room that was MAYBE 8 feet by 10 feet for 2 people really weighed heavy on me. I don't know this girl...I don't know where she is today. But I've heard her story, and she does a very good job of telling it.

Life for me is so easy compared to this. Look at all the obstacles this young woman has to overcome just to get up in the morning, much less be successful or really make anything of her life.

Before the age of 18 this young woman had been sold, raped, lost her mother, beaten, locked in a closet, and had been cutting herself. And of the family she did have...no one believed her. Who do you turn to when your own family doesn't believe you? I can't even begin to fathom how I would deal with the challenges this girl faces.

Reading this story makes me thing about the assumptions we make, the conclusions we jump to about people in need. What do we not know about the people we interact with on a daily basis that makes them who they are? When a co-worker bites your head off, what's going on that you don't know about that could be creating that? When a child is misbehaving in school why do we always assume that they're just a bad kid? When someone is homeless, why do people so quickly turn to - oh they must be lazy or they wouldn't be homeless?

This is the story of a nameless young woman...a young woman who represents young women and men across our country and across the world. Young people who are born into situations and systems that set them up to fail. Young people who are dealt an unfair hand. For those of us who are dealt the winning hand...how can we be satisfied to just be happy with our lives and not reach out to those in need? Stories like this are why I volunteer, why I choose to be active in my community...because we're not all dealt the same hand, and sometimes all it takes to succeed in life is someone who cares. I don't go on these trips in service of others...I go on these trips to serve with others, to show our world that we care, and hopefully if and when I'm in a time of need, someone will care enough about me to reach out their hand as well.

This week I painted a boiler room and the hallway of a dormitory. The hallways of the Bridges program at Vista Maria are brighter and cleaner and provide the girls of Vista Maria a clean slate at the place they call home.

Keep going author of the dresser story...prove them wrong!!

The magnitude of what we're doing here didn't really hit me until tonight at the group reflection. For the last three days, my team and I have been painting apartments, cleaning out storage areas, and playing with the children in the daycare at Lighthouse Path in Pontiac; for the last three days, I was subconsciously frustrated with the lack of instant gratification that I felt should be resulting from the work that I'm doing. I guess it's easy to loose sight of the bigger picture and realize the impact that you make when you volunteer, regardless of what it is that you're actually physically doing-- my mom always tells me that I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew and then get overwhelmed and then proceeds to tell me that I need to drop everything else and just study, study, study! HA. If I could, I think I'd make school about third on my list of priorities (of course, we don't live in a world where that's exactly a wise decision). Anyway, back to my magnificent epiphany of the day..

Actually it's kind of a series of epiphanies...and they're more like an understanding. I like lists, so I'm just going to write a list o' understandings:

1) There's strength in numbers. As an individual, I can only make so much of a difference...but when I gang up with my fellow volunteers the impact is huge. Hence the slogan: live united!

ummm we're getting kicked out of the UC, so I have to go. I'll finish this later.

Today was a great day! My group did tons and tons of painting and our hands have blisters all over them.