Filed under: Advisor Post
We’ve got a lot of pictures you haven’t yet seen, so check out our Flickr page to view them. We’ll keep adding to this page and will let you know when we have new images in each of the sets. Also, the students will be writing some post-trip reflection posts, so please check back for those!
The whole gang poses with Ed and Arleen from Once Upon a Time
Well, we are all home now after a safe, sleepy, 12 hour drive on Friday back to MCC. I want to re-cap our last few days. On Wednesday, Kate & I took students to the Habitat for Humanity warehouse. They had received a large donation from a newly renovated apartment complex. This complex donated hundreds of brass light fixtures. Our job was to unscrew all the lightbulbs, remove the glass, and then sort all the pieces. They were trying to sort the pieces to either be sold in the stores or scrapped. It was sad because these fixtures were dated from 2004 and now they are garbage. I have included pictures of the hundreds of lightbulbs we unscrewed from these fixtures! Our group worked very hard and finished the entire project during our time. After we were done, we explored the warehouse to find hundreds of brand new products in the back. The Habitat leader told us that when a store like Menards switches to a new vendor, this vendor had to buy-out the old vendor products. Then, this new vendor donates all the old vendors products to places like Habitat thrift stores. In our warehouse, there were hundreds of brand new cabinets to be sold in these stores!
After our last few hours at the YES Center on Wednesday evening, we drove from Nashville, TN to Maryville, TN to stay at “Once Upon a Time.” Ed & Arleen own this center and converted their woodworking sheds into bunk houses for 6 weeks of the year to host ASB groups like ours. “Once Upon a Time” was built by Ed and was beautifully done with wood bunk bends, a shower house and outhouses. Yes, all shower and bathroom facilities were outside! I think the students were initially in shock when told they only had outhouses, but after our time there, most stated it was a neat experience and want to go back!
Ed & Arleen organized our last day on the trip. We travelled to Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains to transplant grass. I wish I could remember the grass name, but I cannot! Anyway, the park rangers are trying to grow more of this type of grass in the park so about every 2 years they take a large group to this grass-growing area. We took the original grass, cut it into sections and then planted new rows of grass. This will then double the amount of this type of grass once it grows back in. It was a cold, misty day, but everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be outside and help the park.
That evening, many in our group went on a hike around the property grounds and were astonished by the beautiful scenery. After dinner, a Native American storyteller spoke with the group for 2 hours and shared songs and stories of the Cherokee tribe. On Friday morning, our group sadly packed our belongings and headed back to McHenry County College.
Overall, our Tennesee Alternative Spring Break trip was fantastic. I was proud to hear the students continuously state this was one of the best week’s of their lives! From an advisor viewpoint, I was thrilled to see the students working hard and enjoying their experience. One of the neat aspects of this trip was that the volunteer activities planned were similar to volunteer programs available in McHenry County. It is our hope students will have enjoyed their experience in Tennesee and then come back home to volunteer in our community. As for me, this trip has truly solidified my desire to assist those in need within McHenry County.
Thanks to all for reading – join us on the 2012 ASB Trip! Make sure to check out some of the pictures from the week with my groups!
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Good evening, readers!
We woke up this morning to a lovely sunny Nashville day and worked happily at the food bank and the home store in two new groups. We were able to spend lunchtime outside at the hostel, and while we enjoyed the warmth, some of the students shared their “firsts” of the trip so far.
- Never before have I fought hunger.
(Cody) - This was my first time actually going to a food distribution center; I’m glad I got to help our hungry neighbors. (Rafael)
- I got hustled by a 5th grader in bringing him candy for finishing his homework. I also loved that interaction with people from different communities and cultures; it brought a whole new level to ASB. (Terrance, returning ASB student)
- I contributed to helping feed the hungry. (Elyse)
- I’ve never done any volunteering where I’ve felt like I’m actually helping people. But so far this trip affects people’s lives. (Nicole D.)
- I’ve never met so many diverse people from all over the world. (Shannon [our hostel draws a lot of international tourists, and Nashville is also home to many refugees from conflict-torn countries, including Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq])
- I’ve never really done volunteering at a warehouse before, so it was nice seeing the behind-the-scenes income to an organization such as Habitat for Humanity. (Nicole R.)
- I’ve never worked with students in the city. (Jessica)
- I have never worked or volunteered in a youth encouragement center where the staff and students were so warm and welcoming. It makes you feel adored and loved when all the kids give you the attention. (Paige)
So here are some of these “firsts” in action from yesterday (Monday), and please note that all of the food bank and the YES Lindsley Center photos were taken by Jessica, whose talent behind the lens is remarkable.
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We spent this evening at the Grand Ole Opry for their Tuesday Night Opry, a weekly radio broadcast featuring a number of country acts, both classic country (honky-tonk, cowboy, and bluegrass) as well as new country (and even “alternative” country, a sub-genre I just learned about [and listened to] tonight). It reminded Kate K. and I quite a bit of A Prairie Home Companion, just super countrified.
Half of the gang gets to the Opry early
The whole gang
Well, we’ve got to pack and be checked out of the hostel before we leave for volunteering tomorrow morning, so I’ll sign off. There’s a storm outside and the thunder is the room-shaking kind. But everyone is snug in their beds and hopefully able to sleep through the noise and the thumping.
We’ll “see” you all tomorrow!
The last two days Kate & I have taken students to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. This has been an incredibly rewarding experience. This food bank collects food from pretty much any type of venue (food drives, hospitals, churches, grocery stores, etc…), sorts thousands and thousands of pounds of food, and then distributes it local organizations in 47 counties of Tennessee.
While we were at the food back, our group sorted through non-perishable items. The food bank is humongous and has one large area strictly for sorting. In one area of the room, there is pallets and pallets of food from the above venues and volunteers sort through these boxes and categorize into categories. Everyone is assigned a task. There are sorters who go through this monstrous amount of food to categorize, and then others were in a designated category area to weigh and pack the food. Yesterday, Kate, Rafael and I packaged 2 pallets of beverages. Each pallet contained 45 boxes and each box weighed 30 pounds. So, just in our one area we boxed up 1,350 pounds of beverages! Today, I was designated to the canned meat and canned fruit section. Alone in that area, one huge pallet was finished.
Second Harvest has 400 organizations they distribute perishable & non-perishable items to. It was actually very neat because the after school program we went to is a recipient of Second Harvest donations! We could actually see how our efforts directly benefited local residents.
Our group of MCC students has impressed us tremendously throughout the course of the trip. In every volunteer situation, they are eager and willing to work and help. Every student has been respectful, positive and enthusiastic! The students have really enjoyed Second Harvest because as a volunteer you are kept busy and can see the direct impact!
Fun Facts:
The food bank stated they move through 113,000 pounds a week and each product has a shelf life of no more than 11 days in the center. One volunteer stated today that if they did not refill the shelves, they would be out of food in 8 days! This is crazy because this center is HUGE and that still does not do its size justice. They also stated that 70% of sorting is via volunteers like us!
Check out the link here!
Just one of the many palettes assembled by the crew today
Filed under: Advisor Post
We’re finally in for the night after an action-packed day and have a few highlights.
This morning, Talia and Kate took a large group to the Second Harvest food pantry’s distribution center, where they sorted and organized donations from grocery stores and then packed them into 30 lb. boxes. Emily and Laura took a smaller group to the Habitat for Humanity’s home store, which turns out to be more like a thrift store Home Depot: people donate their old cabinets, appliances, paint cans, sinks, doors, or anything else that could be reused, and the store sells it for money that will be used to help build houses. In fact, Julio, a clerk at the store, told Emily that Habitat built a house for his family a few years ago, and now he works for the organization. That group spent the morning cleaning up and organizing the merchandise.
Shannon, Nicole, Krystal, Kate, and Elyse
Kate and Laura's gang waits for the students to arrive
One of the students took this picture for us
A "low shot" from one of the St. Luke's students (she was about 2' tall)
All of the groups took a break to grab lunch at the Baptist Hospital’s cafeteria (cheap and delicious!) before heading out in small groups to three different YES locations around Nashville. Talia took a group to the McIver Center, Emily took a group to the Lindsley Center, and Kate and Laura took a group to the St. Luke’s Center. All three groups had similar experiences, and all of them were good. Each center works on the same model: after school the kids come in and play some games in the gymnasium (and maybe get a snack) before heading to either the Learning Lab to work on specific class related activities or to the homework room to work on specific assignments (the older kids usually go to the homework room). Then there’s a bit more game time, a bit more study/learning time, and then a brief chapel time. We all had great fun hanging around with the kids at the different locations, and are looking forward to going back tomorrow.
After all of that, we met back at the hostel to change and regroup before going to downtown Nashville for dinner and line-dancing! Although we’d all split up, all three groups ended up at the Wildhorse Saloon, where there are horses everywhere, even galloping on the ceiling. Check out the short (10 second) video featuring Elyse, Jessica, Jesse, Rafael, and Kate in the row closest to the camera (though it’s a little dark).
We don’t have any pictures of the food bank group yet, but we’ll make sure to have a bunch for you all to see after this morning. Until then!
Greetings, all!
ASB 2011 has arrived, safe and sound, in Nashville, TN. We left MCC at 9:30 this morning, had a smooth and wonderfully uneventful road trip, and arrived at 7 p.m., Nashville time (which is also Crystal Lake time). We checked in at the Music City Hostel and discovered that it’s quite a terrific place. We only took a couple of photos, but here are our new digs:
Kate gets the top bunk!
A picture of Talia taking a picture of one of our cabin's rooms
The common area and kitchen in one of our cabins
- Dinner at Las Palmas
Some of the gang bonfiring with our hostel-mates
Filed under: Advisor Post
Greetings, everyone! It’s the MCC Alternative Spring Break Crew, back again after a year long hiatus and ready for our next adventure. Emily Smith, Talia Koronkiewicz, and Laura Power are back as advisors, and Kate Kramer, geology instructor supreme, is joining the team. We have twenty students–some returning and a lot new, but all excited.
At our last of three pre-trip meetings, the crew outlined (using Nicole R.) and decorated our very own Flat Stanley, who we’ll bring along with us on the trip.
Here are the ASB students (most of them) at our pre-trip meeting
Talia decorates Flat Stanley
This year we’re heading to Tennessee for about three days in Nashville, doing volunteer work at a number of local organizations, and our large group will split up for the morning sessions to help out at Second Harvest Food Bank and a Habitat for Humanity HomeStore before meeting up for the afternoon to Youth Encouragement Services (YES) center for some after-school tutoring (and we’re hoping for some basketball, too, if the weather is okay…).
On Wednesday we’ll head to Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to work for a couple of days on invasive species removal. It’s likely that we’ll get some rain while we’re up there, but it’s still the Great Smoky Mountains, which I’m betting are beautiful rain or shine.
We’re meeting at campus tomorrow and will be on the road about 9 a.m. Wish us luck and keep checking in for updates throughout the week!
We’re home, back to each of our families, each of our houses, each of our soft, soft beds. It was a fantastic week, though, and it was hard for all of us to leave the Center, Dungannon, and the people we met. We spent our last full day in Virginia roaming around the Natural Tunnel State Park, exploring the trails and seeing the landscape. We were worried about the weather, but the day turned out to be rain free, though chilly. It was, however, warm enough to grill out some hot dogs and eat outside after a few hours of hiking. Here are just a few of the pictures from our afternoon.
We came back to the Center to rest up for a bit and get ready for our evening at Lays Hardware Center for the Arts in Coeburn, the next town over from Dungannon. Lays is an old hardware store that’s been converted into a city arts center where they have live music on the weekends, including Thursday night “jam” sessions, pottery, drawing, and other crafts classes, and a stopping place on the Crooked Road, a music trail through Virginia. We got there and grabbed some eats at some of the local fast-food restaurants down the street, and then headed into Lays for the music. The locals welcomed us with open arms, and even the mayor’s wife joined in, bringing us over a big stack of postcards of different seasons in Coeburn (each picture prettier than the last). Emily had a lot of attention from a gentleman in a cowboy hat, Tomas had a lot of attention from an eight-year-old girl who was intent on marrying him, and Jon was asked to dance twice by a pre-teen girl who was just plain adorable. Lauren, too, was followed around by a boy she’d kindly danced with, and he didn’t leave her alone once for the rest of the evening. Here are some pictures and video from the evening (one of the videos is of Tomas taking a solo on stage! Although I shot it long ways and can’t figure out how to turn it, so please just tilt your heads to the left…).
The entire day was a huge success, though it made it all the more difficult for us to leave on Saturday. Some of the group made another bonfire and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, and some of us (a’hem, ‘older’ folks) went to bed early-ish. We were all up by 5 a.m. Saturday and were on the road by 6 a.m. We took this group shot by the Center’s entrance before we left.
Most of the students slept in the vehicles until our first fuel stop about 9 a.m., and then it was a lot of sugar, goldfish crackers, and card games (at least that’s what was going on in the van–I’m sure that the mini-bus was playing Twister and solving Calculus problems. Or not…).
It was altogether a fantastic week. We learned new things, met new people, made new friends, and did something at a totally different pace from our regular lives. Campus tomorrow will be changed because we are changed. I can’t wait to see everyone in the weeks to come, and I must admit, seeing my husband and my dog and sleeping in my own bed last night were amazing, but waking up and brushing my teeth alone instead of with our group of eighteen ladies was a little bittersweet. I missed them, though I really doubt they would have all fit in my bathroom. 
Thank you all, readers, for being so supportive of us and of this trip. Until next time, this is Laura on behalf of the group signing off!
Filed under: Uncategorized
I am surprised at how fast this week has gone by. It is already Friday. And it is approximately 11:54pm while I currently write this. Wow.
The week began on Monday, where we were all split into three groups and sent off to different work sites where we, well, worked. I was at a woman named Linda Frasier’s house, where we repainted her walls for the first time in at least 25 years. She has rheumatoid arthritis, so it would be nearly impossible for her to do the work herself. It took us six hours a day for three days to complete the task. Linda’s house, like many other houses or homes here in Virginia, sat at the bottom of a large hill. One afternoon, when it was nice enough out (the weather here has been spotty at best. It can be 40 degrees and cloudy some days and 65 degrees and sunny on others), my work group climbed to the top of the hill and ate our lunches together. The view was spectacular. I think you could see for miles from up there. The pine trees were a green mat off in the distance beneath us, and the other trees accented them with grays. I can’t get over how nice the geography is here. Seriously gorgeous compared to anything you will see in flat ole Illinois.
And Linda was a really, really nice woman. She was so appreciative of the help we were able to provide for her. Even though none of us were professional painters. As if that really mattered. We finished on Wednesday, so the painting group was split up and sent off with others. Lauren Wolf ended up going back to Linda’s on Thursday and she got to make cookies with her! I and Anneabel were terribly jealous, since she had already given her a ceramic unicorn. A CERAMIC UNICORN. For real. What an awesome gift. Linda was a totally endearing woman. I got a picture of her kissing me on the cheek. Awesome-itude.
The other groups were sent to a man named Eddie’s, where they worked on redoing his bathroom, which they accomplished eventually on Thursday afternoon. Eddie, Mr. Get-er-done hisself. The last group was sent to a woman named Rita Fern, where they tore down a staircase (with the intention of rebuilding it) and also built her a wall for her basement canning room.
Now, we were all wondering why these people needed our help. It seemed to most of us on the surface that these people seemed well off enough. But as we came to understand later in the week, it turns out that there are certain requirements for those who apply to The Phoenix Center (Or the Dungannon Development Commission [this is the place we are currently residing]) that entail something like being below certain income values and such, amongst other things, I believe. And also, these people were all elderly, and it seemed that they were really unable to do these projects themselves.
Which brings me to the issue of the local townsfolk. They are all so very, very kind. (Except Talia said that no one greets her, which to me seems odd, considering everyone that I saw at the very least acknowledged me in some way) I would also like to say that everyone has colorful personalities. For example, the other night we walked down to Dungannon’s only gas station and met two girls who were twenty-somethings. One was twenty-years old, married and divorced, and had two kids. Unbelievable, right? The other girl seemed like a factotum. She has had a number of odd jobs, and in high school was actively involved in any sports she could participate in. Wrestling, football, cheerleading are the ones I can recall. She could do a full split. Mind you, this was not a skinny girl. She was probably 220, and five foot seven inches. She was awesome. She taught us how to say “Undress me anywhere,” in German. She also educated us in Latvian curse words. None of which I can recall (which is probably for the better). Everyone seemed to know everyone else, which is reasonable considering the town only has ~520 homes altogether. The last thing I would like to mention about these people is that everyone seemed really hands-on with their own homes. This is to say, that they would rather do home repair projects themselves rather than hire a contractor (who are probably expensive and a rarity). A few people I talked to mentioned the fact that they had built their own homes. Which I was impressed by. I wish I knew the first thing to start building your own house. It probably begins with lumber, concrete, and some holes in the ground (on a side note I have always wanted to know how to build my own house, and have considered construction as a viable career choice in attaining this goal). Overall, the townsfolk of Dungannon made quite a good impression on me. In the words of some random guy walking down the street, “Y’all have fun in big mighty Dungannon!” Thanks guy, we have, and I don’t think any of us will forget this place anytime soon.
And now for the people I have been here with. It turns out that everyone that came along is awesome. We have all gotten along with each other excellently. I am proud to relay that no cliques formed amongst our members. We are all one big clique. The community amongst us was, and is, great. We have all become much better friends. I know that when we return to the halls of MCC on Monday and see each other, we will have these common memories inside of us, and we will see it shine in each other’s eyes. This trip has become something very special and unique to all of us, I believe. I know that this has been, hands down, the best vacation/trip I have ever been on. I can’t imagine wanting to spend this 2010 spring break anywhere else. And I have everyone here to thank for that. From the advisors to the students, you all have made this an amazing experience for me. It is even hard for me to begin explaining this. I just feel elated that I could be here on this, MCC’s inceptive Alternative Spring Break Trip, and that it has gone so exceptionally well. I have had so much fun here. And if there are any staff or faculty at MCC reading this, I want you to know that if you have the option to support another one of these trips, please do so. I understand that MCC has chosen to spend a decent amount of money for each of us to be here, and I am so thankful that they have decided to do that. Not only have we made a difference in this community, we have made a difference in our own lives too. As this is my last semester at MCC, I won’t have the opportunity to attend another one of these trips, but I have high hopes that another one will occur. I have tried my best to make this trip as good as it can be so that that can be an option. And it turned out that way. As good as it gets here in big mighty Dungannon.
I want to add a little bit about what we have participated in tonight. We went to a bluegrass show in Coeburn, Virginia. And oh my goodness, it was the most fun I think I have ever had at a show, ever. The band was great, and everyone in our group as well as the locals were dancing. I was asked to dance by an older lady who called me “the most handsome man in the room” (take that three other boys on this trip). I won a raffle in which I received a free ticket for two to attend another show at the same venue. It’s unfortunate that I won’t be able to come back for years. I also asked if I could play a song for everyone on the acoustic guitar, and they let me! I felt like a rockstar! Thanks to Krystal who encouraged me to stop thinking about doing it, and just do it. So I did. It felt great to be back on a stage. Everyone liked it. Also, I was asked repeatedly by a eight-year-old girl to “marry her”. I guess she had a crush on me, but it did make me feel awkward. She danced with her feet on my feet, and wouldn’t seem to let me dance with any other ladies. And I had wanted to teach Anneabel the famous two-step. (Two steps forward, one step back, repeat) As it turns out, I’m not allergic to dancing like I had been telling everyone I was. The show was a great penultimate ending to our trip. We spent all week living amongst these locals, feeling a bit awkward about it. But when we went out to the show, and hung out with them, I felt like our opinions and perspectives of them had changed. These people know how to have good, clean, and sober fun. And make other’s feel really welcome. Those folks ruled. A woman I was speaking to at the end of the night said that our group had made the show one of the best and most fun she had ever been to. That was a great compliment. Listen to me, folks. Bluegrass shows in Coeburn are something else. For real.
Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible and as great as it was. I truly would not want to be anywhere else.
Much love to you all,
Tomas Frederick Medina
PS. Mom, if you’re reading this, my knee has been killing me all week from sleeping on a wooden bunk, so you should call the doctor’s office and schedule an appointment for me. Thanks!
Filed under: From Talia
The fab five has completed the bathroom and miraculously, it looks good! The team has worked very hard the last few days and have torn down a shower and put up a new one (ps-this is ALOT harder than it seems), fixed the plumbing in the toilet and shower, and put new tiling on the floor. Wow! It was definitely a few days of trial & error, but we feel very proud of our work. I will post pictures when we return.
As you can see in one of the videos, last night’s reflection was for the groups to create a skit reinacting their work the past few days. Everyone did a beautiful job Tonight, we had another great reflection and everyone started commenting about how much they love the reflection time each evening. Erica even stated that the reflection time is the best part of her day!
Last night we had a gorgeous campfire. We made smores and had a very entertaining game of “Would you rather…”! It was very humorous & a great end to the evening. The students repeatedly told me that they were having so much fun, more fun than they had anticipated. This made my heart very happy
I can’t believe it is already Thursday evening & we are done working on the sites. This week flew by. Tomorrow we are having a tourist day and then heading out very early on Saturday morning. Let’s pray for 2 more good nights’ of sleep!
-Talia
