High school students participate in poverty immersion experience |
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Written by STEVE NORTH, The Servant Leadership Center
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Wednesday, 20 May 2009 01:00 |
TOLEDO—Seven high school juniors and seniors participated in the inaugural offering of Four Point Five, a four-and-a-half day poverty immersion experience sponsored by the Servant Leadership Center (SLC) in Toledo.
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| Participants in Four Point Five are, from left, Matt Czech and Aaron Napier, Toledo St. Francis de Sales; Maddie Roman and Symone Coleman, Toledo St. Ursula Academy; Steve North, Four Point Five director; Devalin McDermand, home school; Deke Ludwig, home school; and Jenna Whetsel, Toledo Central Catholic. (Photo courtesy of the Servant Leadership Center) |
While most area students were enjoying their spring break, these young people were entering into a world unfamiliar to them — the world of poverty. For four-and-a-half days, they served people living in poverty and even got a taste of what it’s like to live in poverty.
During three mornings, the students tutored women at Women Blessing Women, an organization that empowers women for life through education and job readiness programs. Some assisted the same person each day, which resulted in deeper connections between the women and their tutors.
On Tuesday, the students assisted the Oregon Food Pantry by serving its customers, carrying groceries and organizing its food stores. That evening the group ate dinner at Salem Lutheran Church’s soup kitchen, not as volunteers, but as guests. They waited in the rain for doors to open, sat through a church service with the other guests and stood in line to receive their meals.
On Wednesday, the students visited Cherry Street Mission’s Madison Avenue dining facility. Prior to taking a tour of the men’s shelter facility and serving supper sit-down style to the guests, the students walked into the facility separately and alone, to spend four hours feeling what it was like to be there as a guest: waiting for food and talking to strangers about their lives. They weren’t masquerading as unhoused people, but they experienced what it’s like for hundreds around the city every day. Many met people whose stories they will not forget.
Thursday was spent with a homeless man who lives in north Toledo. They did some work on the property where he is a squatter, to help with the security of the place where he sleeps. Supper was hot dogs and baked beans cooked over a fire, accompanied by conversation around the man’s fire pit. The group even went “Dumpster-diving” to find edible food late in the evening.
Friday included an afternoon workshop on servant leadership led by Tiffin Franciscan Sister Nancy Westmeyer, executive director of the SLC. The students learned the principles of servant leadership and were motivated to use their lives to address issues like those they witnessed during the week.
Friday evening and Saturday morning involved working with Food for Thought, a Toledo area ministry that prepares several hundred sack lunches and personal items on Friday nights for city residents who need such help. The group distributes the items in a relational atmosphere at the downtown Toledo Main Library Saturday mornings. Many of the students met people they had encountered elsewhere during the week as they helped Food for Thought, and their relationships continued.
The students all were challenged by the experience to view their own lives with gratitude, to engage the culture at the point of its need and to change their thinking about those among us who live under the oppression of poverty.
“The experience certainly made me thankful for everything that I have,” said Maddie Roman, a student at Toledo St. Ursula Academy. “It also erased a lot of stereotypes I had about homeless people.”
Others who participated in Four Point Five were Matt Czech and Aaron Napier from Toledo St. Francis de Sales, Symone Coleman from St. Ursula, Devalin McDermand and Deke Ludwig, both home-schooled and Jenna Whetsel, a student from Toledo Central Catholic.
Four Point Five is the first of three new initiatives the SLC is developing to reach and challenge people while they are still in high school.
Located at 1618 W. Sylvania Ave. in Toledo, the SLC conducts an extensive small group process and corporate seminars training people in principles of servant leadership, in order to engage the justice-related challenges that face our culture. For more information on the SLC, call 419-476-0941.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 July 2009 09:45 |
