. Live to Celebrate Life: One of My Favorite Years...My Life as a GVV

After graduating college a friend and I decided to give a year of our lives in service to others through Americorps. The result was one of the most influential experiences in my life--My life as a Gateway Vincentian Volunteer. A group of 7 volunteers from across the country came together to live in solidarity with and serve the poor. We lived with a group of Vincentian priests and brothers on the south side of St. Louis.

We lived as an intentional community to support each other through this year of growth and change. We each held separate social service jobs within the community -- community integration for drug addicts and those with mental health issues, case managing at a social service agency, doing home repairs for the poor, kindergarten aide for inner city school. I did a little of everything from my post at a small outreach facility of St. John's Mercy hospital. At the end of the day we had a community to come home to for support. A community to laugh with, cry with, explore with, joke with, to change the world with.

Events I did on a regular basis:

Taught English to recent arrival refugees and immigrants at International Institute of St. Louis. This was AMAZING. This was my favorite thing to do. I can't imagine how lonely it must be to arrive in a foreign country, not be able to speak the language, have virtually nothing, and be expected to get a job in 3 months (even for the elderly). These men and women were so strong, yet so tired. They had endured so much already in their home country. I heard story after story that just broke my heart over and over again. My life (however bad I may think it is at times) is a walk in the park. Despite such sad stories, the atmosphere was always light. Most were eager to tell their stories, to have someone to talk to, someone to laugh with. I discovered that laughter is a universal language. I still keep in touch with a few students that I really connected with, and pray for those that I lost touch with when I moved.

Me at International Institute

Tutored at-risk inner city middle school girls at Marion Middle School. A most heart breaking moment occurred when I was being questioned by the girls and realized that even though I was single, only 22, and had no job, that none of those struck them as a decent excuse to why I had no children yet. They settled for "I'm just not ready for a baby". Teenage pregnancy is statistically the norm in the neighborhood I lived in, so I was glad to hear these girls agree that they too were not ready for a baby. I adored all the girls, but one "trouble-maker" in particular that I helped one-on-one every week. She used to ask me to be her Big Sister so we could hang out. She struggled so much with homework that it was easier for her to just blow it off and pretend she didn't care, though she was also afraid of what would happen at home if she got bad grades. I tried my best to inspire her and the other girls by getting them excited about an education (and letting them know that there are scholarships available to them - because lets face it, if you live in poverty spending money on school is not always realistic).

Escorted family practice medical residents on their community rotation. We would go to places like soup kitchens or food shelves and do blood pressure screenings and make referrals. There are people walking around out there with blood pressures off the charts who have to choose between food and medication. I saw a lady with a blood pressure of 240/110! Most people with high blood pressures were aware that their bps were high and had been on medication at some point, but when their prescription ran out they couldn't afford to get a new one. I saw things that no person should have to suffer through in a country as well off as ours. These were good people. Good men and women with unfortunate circumstances. Women with children and no one to rely on. Grandparents. People with mental illness because they couldn't afford to pay for medication to keep their illness under control any longer. Why? How? How could this happen in the United States? Why does it continue to happen, and what can I do about it? What will you do about it?

Brought groups of volunteers to prepare and serve meals at The Bridge. The Bridge is a place were low income or homeless individuals and families can go for breakfast, lunch, dinner, shelter from the elements, community, and access to social services. I felt so entirely out of place at The Bridge in the beginning. Here I was a young, white, female. I certainly did attract a lot of unwanted attention, but was surprised to find how quickly I made friends to stick up for me. By the end of the year it was one of my favorite places to be, and I still drop in when I visit St. Louis. I spent most of my time out of the kitchen socializing with the guests, serving coffee, and lending a listening ear. I was always struck when I would meet people my own age. Here I am with a roof over my head, enough food to eat, financial security. Why is my life so different than theirs? Could that just have easily have been me if I were born into a different family? I miss the friends I made there and hope they are doing well now. My favorite person to see was someone who wouldn't even remember me now. He always sat alone, never talked to anyone, but was always smiling, always high as a kite, always paranoid. I don't know why I felt so connected to him, maybe because he was ostracized and forgotten even among societies ostracized, maybe because I felt for the circumstances that brought him to this point in his young life, maybe because I was the only one he would talk to. I was only able to have one sober conversation with him, but that is the person I see. That is the face I see when I think of the homeless. Not someone who threw away their future to drugs, but someone kind-hearted, gentle, lost, alone, trapped in their circumstance without someone to lend a hand, someone who hit rock bottom and used an unfortunate coping mechanism, someone who still wants to be loved.

Centenary Church - Bridges

On a lighter note I also tutored kindergarteners and 1st grader refugees and immigrants with The English Tutoring Project. It was fantastic! They were so cute and so eager to learn. One little girl asked me to be her mom (because her mom "wasn't very nice")- break my heart. She also asked if she could be my flower girl when I get married. She was so starved for positive adult attention. She always wanted to hold my hand, and would light up inside whenever I acknowledged that I listened to her and remembered things about her.