#TeamRainbow – Amanda

Our trip started out quiet, as there was never a time during the weeks leading up to the break where the whole group was together. I was still unsure of everyone’s names and it was even harder for me to catch on to the nicknames of everyone in the group. I earned the nickname “Mystique” for being quiet and not forthcoming. Little did my group know, that this would quickly turn around and they would learn more about me than they had imagined.

The group slept a while up on the way to Minnesota. We took a stop in Lamoni, Iowa and that’s when the groups personalities started to come out. We flagged down a horse and buggy and had them take a picture with Flat Jay, that’s where the cultural differences began. After taking the photo, the two 14 year old Amish boys informed us that it was against their religion to take pictures but they didn’t care they said.

We took another stop in Urbandale, Iowa and that’s when the mysterious side of me started to drop. Ever since then my filter has dropped. We arrived at the church around 6pm and we were all very excited to meet Rev Kev. He is our host for the trip. We first went to the YMCA to get shower passes and visited a few key places we needed to know about.

After getting settled in Rev Kev took us back to his home to meet his partner and to take us out to dinner. His hospitality was overwhelming. He offered to drive some of us around the city. Leigh and I took him up on that opportunity and I was able to learn a lot about his life and journey as a gay man in the church. His story was amazing, his passion was even more inspiring. I loved to hear about all the things he had to overcome to be who he was born to be and he seems like he’s got it all – very happy. I hope one day I can be as happy with my professional and social life as he is with his.

Well that’s all for now, we are off to Pride Alliance.

Do everything in love,

Amanda Schulze

GrowMemphis Days 1, 2 and 3.

Day 1

Stop in St. Louis

Stop in Columbia

We planned to meet at the Leid Center at 7:30, I was on time whereas some were not. I got over it and it turns out that Sarah K. had an issue with her car. We got it figured out, got some gas and were on the road by 9 a.m. in our 15-person van. We decided to take the highways to Memphis through Columbia and St. Louis. My personal highlight was our adventure through Columbia to take a group photo outside of “The ZOU.” A few hours later, we made it to St. Louis. Even though it was raining, we managed to run outside and snap a photo in front of the Arch. Finally, after a tiring day we made it to our destination of Memphis, Tennessee! We found the location where we will be staying for the week, Idlewild Presbyterian Church. We were told that it was haunted and it seems to be haunted by the drawing in the bathroom of Eliza.

Day 2

Listening to some music downtown

Rock Chalk!

Free day! Since we wouldn’t be working until Monday we decided to venture through the city of Memphis. We went downtown to Beale Street, listened to live music and went out to lunch at B.B. King’s Blues Club. Erin and I split a barbeque pork sandwich and fried pickles. It was really good! While walking downtown, we were taking a picture with the Jayhawk and a girl ran up to us saying that she was a native Kansan! We, being the Memphis group of course, got a picture with her. 


We spent the day just walking around town and it was a lot of fun. Later, we went to Patrick’s Steaks and Spirits to meet up with KU alumni to watch the KU vs. Purdue game. It was Kylie and Sarah K.’s first time ever watching a KU basketball game. Although the majority of the game was irritating, the ending was great! We’re planning on meeting with the alumni (and hopefully more) for the game on Friday.

Day 1 of work

 Day 3

Today was our first day of working for the Mid South Center for Peace and Justice. We met Chris, the Grow Memphis director, and went to our first site. We pulled weeds, shoveled compost and put it into the beds. That was really it. Pulling weeds doesn’t sound like it would take so much time but it did! We drove back to the Mid South Center and had our pb&j lunches outside on the patio. 

Transplanting

After lunch, we went for a walk through the area and then left for the greenhouse. I was in heaven in the greenhouse! It took me back to my summers working at a garden store back home. We transplanted the seedlings from small plastic containers (similar to the ones you would get annuals in at the store) into paper cups. We worked there for an hour or so then went back to the church. We made another trip to Kroger (right across the street from the church, so convenient!) and had grilled 
cheese and tomato soup for dinner. After dinner, we went downtown to take a tour of the city of the River Front Trolley. We met some ladies from Australia and had an interesting experience with a couple of locals. 

Shelby and the Rainbow Road, Day 3

After getting used to church floors, we were able to finally catch some much needed sleep. Despite the restful night, the morning turned quite disadvantageous for me at least. My poor timing in securing a shower at the Y rendered the water as completely freezing cold. Perhaps I should do more camping.

We were all excited to wear our Alternative Break shirts for the first day that we would be volunteering. Unfortunately, disaster struck there as well when I spilled on my shirt, causing an unmistakable yellow stain. Frantically attacking my shirt with a borrowed Clorox bleach pen and then later a hair dryer, I managed to successfully remove the stain in time for us to be uniform for our meeting with Billy from Rainbow Health Initiative.

We also made it to the grocery store to buy more than just cereal. It seems like when our group isn’t frantically tweeting with hashtags, singing along to We Are Young (our group song), or volunteering of course, we’re eating. I blame it on the fact that food is not readily available to us; we all just go into “eat like there’s no tomorrow” apocalyptic mode.

Amanda, Julie, Shelby (ME AGAIN!), Kaitlyn, Leigh,
and Adam, all stoked to finally be at RHI

Flat Jay gets a chance to make a phone call

After a quick introduction to Rainbow Health Initiative, Billy gave us some information on what we would be doing the rest of the week. We were being put to use in a variety of ways, branching out into other organizations. At the end of the week, we would be proud volunteers for seven different organizations. We left Rainbow Health Initiative feeling excited and eager for the new activities each day had in store.

Two quick stops and 30 minutes of goof-off time later, we were in the van again headed to volunteer at a phone bank with Minnesotans United for all Families. We went through training and then were put on the phones to call Minnesotan voters, asking them to vote no on the proposition that would ban gay marriage in the Minnesotan constitution. Our script had two main questions in the style of a survey, but the rest of the text was more of a conversation. We asked them about what they felt, what their concerns were, what their stories were. In some cases we shared personal stories. One of my best friends still in high school is gay, and I shared with two voters how much I want to see him be able to marry the man of his dreams.

We were taught about the concept of a ‘moved’ voter. A moved voter did not always switch extremes. For example, there would almost never be a case of switching from 100% Support to 100% Oppose. Rather, a moved voter was something we had to intuit. Even if the person started undecided and remained undecided, if something we said or something we asked them caused them to rethink the issue in a different light and possibly give it more thought, then we had a moved voter. We were told about half of us would experience moving a voter. I was a little nervous, and very hopeful that I would get to have such an experience. You can imagine my delight when I moved not one, but two voters.

I was lucky to not have very bad experiences. Those who fully supported the proposal were polite to me. Some in our group were not so lucky, and spoke with people who used abusive language and tones. The fact that there is still so much anger and ignorance on this issue is disappointing, but progress is being made. By the end of the evening, we had had almost 150 conversations with voters, and 75 of those had fully opposed the proposal! At the start of the week, I was a bit unsure as to the impact I would be making. I loved phone banking because I felt like it was quite possible that I was actually making a difference. What if the outcome only comes down to a few votes? What if one of those few votes was someone I called and made aware or even moved? It’s a tantalizing thought, and one that everyone in our group felt as we drove back to meet our dear church floor for another night.

Go Memphis! Grow Memphis!

     Memphis, Tennessee: Here, in the volunteer state, I find myself within a church--it's dark, chilly, and a we're pretty sure it's haunted. I sit here blogging, reminiscing of the days happenings, a long, work-filled, exciting day. After driving in a van big enough for a circus for hours upon end and taking pictures for this competition, we arrived at our destination. By the way, no one can beat Memphis; New Orleans has nothing on us, well except for photos with random souvenirs. The candy is ours. Anyhow, we stumbled upon a church, oxymoronically called Idlewild Church. The guy in charge told us a few ghost stories, not realizing my susceptibility to the paranormal. Walking to the bathroom is a fun as talking to a Mizzou fan. Speaking of basketball tradition, the night with the alumni and watching the game was incredibly epic. Too close of game, we praise Monica for her over-hugging of the Jayhawk. Hopefully, the luck will continue this Friday. *fingers-crossed.

     Finally, I awoke upon today ready to hit up the gardens. Heading to Mid-South Center for Peace and Justice, we find ourselves meeting Chris, the advisor for the upcoming week. We go to the only grounds that GrowMemphis actually owns. We began to shovel the compost, running into snakes, worms, and other critter crawlers. All along with our cute little dog friend, Willow. We're here to build a community garden that the locals can grow fresh food and then use them for ingredients. Hoeing and tilling in the sun leads to hard work, and an actual farmers tan. We headed to lunch, at the center. After an adventure of the area, we ran over to the greenhouse. Avoiding a car accident, all because of Erin's "NOOOOOOOOIIIII!!!!!" We successfully transferred plants from compost to cups of dirt to make the transfer of plants from greenhouse to garden easier and more beneficial.

     Returning from a long day of work, I look forward to tomorrow's similar yet completely new experience for the day. I thought today was both interesting and accomplishing, learning of the environment and its workings. I can't wait for the rest of the week. The best parts is working with my team of ladies. As a man on the trolley said, "He's like Charlie Sheen--winning." Anyway, Kylie, the quiet attitude-filled one; Monica, or Momica, the motherly, perplexed one; Sara J, the cawt-up klutz,  driving us around, whom is only beat by Erin, the klutzy, hilarious, fun-filled one; Shannon, the peppy, up-tempo, hardworking one, and of course Sara, our resident hipper (hippy-hipster). And, Lisa...my laugh stealer. A team that I have driven up a wall, but I still enjoy their presence...we'll see by the end of the week. And off to bed, sleeping for the next day.

Btw, Monica is possessed by Eliza beware.

Day One in Richmond

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much;
It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

-       President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as inscribed on the FDR memorial in Washington, DC. 

Although today was our first official work day at the Peter Paul Development Center in Richmond, I feel like the spirit of our break really began yesterday on our daytrip to Washington, D.C., which is beautiful this time of year.  Several of the newer memorials that we saw had quotes etched on the wall that were very thought provoking in light of the mission that we all set out on when participating in Alternative Breaks.  The FDR memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial each had several quotes from their namesakes inscribed along the walls that we read as we wandered throughout, and a few of them really made me pause and think about why I decided to go on an Alternative Break and what I am hoping to see and do throughout the experience.  This quote, from FDR, drew my attention when I first saw it yesterday, and my experience on site today really drove it home already, one day into the trip. 

This afternoon, we began our first afternoon at the Peter Paul Development Center with several tours before we got to work.  First we toured the small center that serves 72 second through fifth graders and a handful of middle and high schoolers in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Richmond.  As a part of our trip, the employees of the center also drove us around on a tour of the neighborhood that the Peter Paul Development center serves.  This neighborhood is filled with seemingly endless amounts of federal housing projects not meant for permanent habitation in which many, many people live.  The endless small, square housing units have no grass in their yards, no flowers in their gardens, and really offer no hope.  In a small one to two mile radius around the center, there are at least four different housing projects that are filled with families making less than $10,000 a year; thousands of people are crammed into these units, all of which are poverty stricken and crime ridden. 

One thing that struck me, having seen some of the kids arriving at Peter Paul before heading out on the tour, was the sheer number of children who live in these neighborhoods.  Peter Paul provides supplemental education and recreation to about 72 children each day, and yet just driving around on the main streets we saw hundreds more children sitting around on front porches or playing in the dirt on their front porches who still don’t have access to services like the one we volunteer with. 

It is one thing to hear and read about this sort of situation in which so many people live, but to see it is another thing entirely.  Seeing these neighborhoods that have been neglected filled with people who have too little that we clearly are not providing enough for was extremely sobering.  If Roosevelt were judging our progress on the thousands upon thousands of people who live in these projects and have far, far too little today, we would be put to shame.  The Peter Paul Development Center is one small organization that is doing exactly what most Americans are not, making this president’s legacy proud by attempting to bring this progress of providing a good education for those who have too little. It was inspiring and incredibly fun to work with the children there, but it was also difficult to think about the hundreds and hundreds of other kids just from this one small Richmond neighborhood alone. 

On this first day, most of our volunteering time was taken up by the tour, which I am very grateful we got to go on; even just the short bus ride showed me enough to make me value programs like alternative breaks and strive to do service even more by seeing firsthand a situation like this one that is simply everyday life to all these people.  After the tour, we did all get to spend about an hour working one on one or in small groups with second through fifth grade students.  I personally spent most of my time working on multiplication with two fifth grade girls.  Both were so enthusiastic about doing multiplication problems and being challenged on the white board.  My job was to write up multiplication problems on the board for one of the girls and supervise her work, checking her answers and helping her figure out when she went wrong.  She specifically wanted to do three and four digit multiplication, and was very excited and proud about doing such long math problems.  Having been told before we began that most of the children in this neighborhood are several grade levels behind, I was proud of her enthusiasm and her skill at math.  Although she struggled a few times, she was always very receptive to help figuring out where she went wrong and fixing her problems.  I was glad for the chance to practice multiplication, since that’s something that I don’t have to do without a calculator very often, so I found myself challenged along with her as we worked through the problems.  At one point, she gave me a multiplication problem to do and tested my skills as well, which was more challenging than I was expecting and gave me even more respect for her for working her way through all the difficult problems I gave her.  I was really inspired by her desire to learn and work so hard (even if she was trying to show off a little for the new volunteers), and hopefully I can take a little bit of that energy back to school with me when the week is over. 

Peter Paul: Day One, Two, and Three

DAY ONE
Saturday / March 17, 2012
Early morning on Saturday, at the brisk hour of 5 A.M., my group and I was ready to embark on our long journey to Richmond, Virginia. With seven of us traveling approximately 16 hours together, it was definitely time to get comfortable! With only one male, Dustin True, initiated the trip by taking the role of the first driver. Lindsey McDaniel, who was the other driver, is the other site leader for the trip and would drive part of the way. The other volunteers that would be helping were Carlye Yanker, Emily McCartney, Alli Sierra, and Alyssa Ong.

With this being said, the trip was a long one. On the road, we mainly slept, but apart from this we sang along crazily to the radio and even chatted about what our favorite movies are and other basic facts. We discussed about how excited we were to finally be able to visit the place that we had been wanting to go since November when first applying to Alternative Breaks.

My group and I were assigned to help at the Peter Paul Development Center in the East End of Richmond, as well as the Glen Lea Elementary School, which is located approximately 10 to 15 minutes away. Though we had a few hiccups on our trip, such as the torrential downpour of rain and Carlye losing her wallet, we finally reached our destination at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, where we will be living for the duration of our trip, at 1 A.M.

DAY TWO
Sunday / March 18, 2012
On the second day of our trip, we decided to take our free day to the great city of Washington, D.C.! Since it is only a few hours away from Richmond, we thought it would be a great experience to visit our nation's capital and experience the history of how America was set up. We were able to visit the Smithsonian, The White House, and many of the monuments such as the Vietnam and Lincoln Memorials. While visiting the monuments, we also ran into a few KU fans and had them pose with us for a photo! Overall, it was a very successful day and it allowed us to bond cohesively as a group, which would help allow us to work together better when we help at our locations tomorrow.

DAY THREE
Monday / March 19, 2012
Today started the actual day of visiting our volunteer locations and experiencing firsthand the poverty-stricken areas that inhibit some parts of Richmond. We first started our day by getting our grocery's for the week, which turned out being more difficult than we had planned. Being on a budget can be very difficult!

After this, we then were ready to visit the Glen Lea Elementary school, where we will be helping from 9 A.M. to approximately 1:30 P.M each day. There, they gave us a simple tour by showing us all the rooms and teachers that we would have. Since I like working with older kids, I would be placed with primarily older students during the week. After we visited Glen Lea, we then went back to the church for a brief lunch break and then headed to our next location to the Peter Paul Development Center.

At the Center, they gave us a similar tour by showing us the classrooms and teachers. They also showed us their garden, though, where we might be helping out on Wednesday! After this, they also gave us a broader tour of the entire Church Hill Community, where the kids of the Peter Paul Development Center is from. While visiting, I was able to see how truly blessed I am. It's definitely an eye-opener coming into these neighborhoods and seeing the realities that these kids have to face on a daily basis. I, personally, know that I couldn't do it. They come from homes with an average income of around $10,000. I was seriously in shock by that number because that is less than it even costs to go to KU! I truly did not realize how good I have it.

After this, I was placed in Mr. Ted's group to help assist one of the sixth graders in his class do his homework. During this, the young boy spoke to me about his dreams of becoming a chef. By hearing this, I have been able to realize how grateful I am to be assisting at the Peter Paul Development Center. They truly have the mindset to help these kids achieve these dreams and not only am I glad to see these kids succeed, but I am also looking forward to opening myself up more to the broader world that I wasn't necessarily aware of before this experience. I am ready for change.

Shelby and the Rainbow Road, Day 1 & 2

The complete team, plus a random guy we picked up.
He's metal, so he doesn't need to eat much.

On March 17th, approximately 5:30 pm, Team Rainbow finally made it through the grueling 8 hour drive from Lawrence, Kansas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Team Rainbow is composed of Thunder and Lighting, our site leaders, as well as Red, Guatemala, Mystique, and me, Doodle. Our mission was simple: one week of volunteering with Rainbow Health Initiative.

Stage one of our mission: actually getting to our destination. The drive was sprinkled with pit stops and interesting encounters, including an Amish horse buggy, a lead singer to a "soon to be famous" tribute band, a very large barn of some importance, and Urbandale, where we snacked on Quizno's and the infamous Urbandale Voice was born.

Upon finally arriving in Minneapolis, we quickly located the church with whose floors we would quickly become comfortable with: All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church. We were excited to meet Reverend Kevin, or as we fondly call him, Rev Kev. After getting some things straightened out at the Y, Rev Kev took us out on the town for dinner. We had fabulous BBQ despite being far from the saucy capital of Kansas City. We met with a few other members of the congregation and shared stories and laughter. I was so inspired to hear about how these men were able to persevere through and hold such strong faith despite criticisms in their past about them being openly gay. Their stories were all encouraging and hopeful.

The following day we attended service at the church. I absolutely loved everything about it. It was refreshing to hear a message that was not hateful or condescending, and the diversity within the congregation was wonderful.

Celebrating the game with over 100 other Jayhawks!

With Sunday as our free day, we spent most of the afternoon at the Mall of America, right after enjoying the beautiful weather in the statue garden by the Walker Museum of Art. Some of us did some “hardcore shopping” while others just tried to take in all the sights. Feeling tired and somewhat defeated, yet still toting our full shopping bags, we left the mall seeking a place to catch the KU game. We lucked out when we found Tiffany’s Sports Lounge, the official headquarters of KU for the Twin Cities. A very stressful game, but somehow we pulled it off. Good times were had by all, even as one of us caught up on sleep right there in the establishment.

Two full days, and at this point we hadn’t even met with our organization. I was exhausted, yet eagerly anticipating the next day.

The ghost of Adam haunts us all.