service trip

last week, i went on a service trip as my spring break with the service center on campus.

i had an amazing opportunity to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House.

if you are unfamiliar of the Ronald McDonald House, it is a non-profit organization that houses families who have children in critical conditions, going through constant surgeries and who possibly may die soon. it is across the street from the hospital and it gives the families of those children, a place to live for up to 8 week, meals, clothing and all the amenities of a hotel and more.

i met a woman named suzanne, who was in charge of scheduling volunteers, collecting donations, etc.
i have honestly never met such a humble person in my life.
she had such a deep heart and i know that she sincerely cared about all the families they were caring for.

i was assigned to clean up the exterior grounds of the facility and making food for the meals. i was able to get to know a few of the other volunteers and even though it wasn't as long as i would have liked, i am glad i was able to help out.

how would it be if your life was dedicated to service?

i hope one day i can be a woman like suzanne, who dedicates her life to bettering those around her.

the crew

i also was able to volunteer at a local park.

our group build compost bins, pulled out bushes, pulled weeds and planted flowers.
it was a ton of work, but so worth it.

hilary, kaitlin, joel, kenna & will

shelby & i

the crew

i was also able to volunteer at Feeding America.

myself, along with 21 other college kids had the opportunity to package beans-which will be sent out to families who are food insecure. one of the shocking things i heard was, one in four children in the San Diego area are food insecure. many of them have no idea where their next meal will be from.

can you imagine that?

even though i am a college kid with a tight budget, i have never been to the point that i don't know how i'll eat.
growing up, i was always blessed with food in the cupboards, hot meals and occasionally eating out. if anything this trip showed me, how truly blessed i am.

like the ronald mcdonald house, they survive based on donations. they have local farmers, local businesses and big name brand stores...constantly donating and brightening families' futures. god bless them.

angie, will, kaeleena, leah, me & kaitlin

the crew

another project we did, was cleaning up Flinn Springs, a county park in California.
 just your typical yard clean up job, we weeded, raked, picked up trash, etc.

me & leah

rachel, liz, me, kaeleena, joel, will, angie, bri, kenna & leah

another clean up we did was a beach clean-up on the border of Imperial Beach and Tijuana

it was super fun. we broke into teams and had competitions on who got the most trash, funkiest trash and other random prizes. haha.

minus running into mexican border patrol telling us we were in an unsafe part, it was pretty great.

even though a beach clean-up may seem a little less service empowering, for me... like the ronald mcdonald house or feeding america, it was still a great opportunity

the crew

i was so blessed to meet a lot of new friends and have a lot of crazy fun adventures.