Braddock

About a week ago was the first SRU Braddock Care Break of the year. Just like all prior care breaks to Braddock, we performed various tasks in Braddock, North Braddock, and Turtle Creek (not crick). Some of those tasks were picking up litter, painting, helping at the local food bank, and cleaning up the library. Even though individually they may seem insignificant compared to the larger community, it is by these small steps that the communities and residents benefit.



This year held particular significance for me. See, this was my first care break as an alum. You might be asking why I would attend an event organized for students. The answer is simple, it's a worthy cause. Braddock is one of the most run-down and impoverished communities perhaps in the nation. It wasn't always that way and there are people who want to see it return to its former glory. I met some of those people the first time I attend a Braddock care break. Seeing their dedication made me realize how bad things can be even a few miles from my home.



Last year I missed an opportunity to attend one of these care breaks. Coming back this year reminded me of how my work makes a difference in the community. Its something everyone should experience. If you have a chance to volunteer in your or any community, don't pass it up. Your work will be appreciated potentially more than any you've ever done.

Back From California

Slippery Rock just doesn't compare to San Francisco. I went there for spring break to do what is known as service learning. A group of students from SRU went there all together to do community service insead of a vaction, we call it Care Break. Even though it rained on more days than it did not we all still enjoyed it. If we had stayed in Slippery Rock it probably would have rained every day anyway.

While there we stayed and worked at The Presidio, one of the Golden Gate National Parks. We stayed in one of the old army barracks in the park. The Presidio has a popular volunteer program which people participate in every Wednesday and Saturday. We worked on many projects that the volunteers work on except we did it everyday for a week. Mostly we planted native plants and pulled out a week called oxalis (aka Bermuda buttercup). While we did that we learned a lot about many of the native species. My favorite was Miner's Lettuce. It is called thus because miners in the area during the gold rush ate it. I tried some and it does actually taste like luttuce. I loved the trip more than any vacation. It actually felt like a vacation because of the atmospere among all of the people who went. I suggest to everybody to attend a trip like this. My favorite part of the trip was working oin the coastal bluffs around one of the old army batteries. From it we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and had a beautiful view of the ocean. My only regret was that I had not done a care break earlier.