AFB Minneapolis/St. Paul

Fall break is a time for rest and relaxation.  A time for students to catch up on sleep, go home, and visit friends.  Fall break is, by its very name, a break from school and worries and responsibility.

Yeah, right.

Twelve students, including myself, didn’t get the memo.  Instead, we packed up our bags and headed off to the Twin Cities to serve the homeless population and those in extreme poverty.  Our whirlwind adventure began on Saturday morning, when we drove up to Minnesota, and didn’t end until Tuesday evening when we finally arrived back at Coe and wearily unloaded the vans.

During that four day span, we managed to get in a lot of quality service.  Our team worked together on a variety of projects.  On Sunday, for example, we packed food for three hours at the Dorothy Day Center in the heart of St. Paul.  We also got to sit down and eat lunch with the homeless clients, which was a new and interesting experience for some of us.  It was a little awkward at first for me, but once I had a conversation going I heard some amazing fact and stories.  It was refreshing and humbling to see the city from a different point of view.

The AFB students also worked in a family shelter, Sharing and Caring Hands, on Monday and Tuesday morning.  There, they served breakfast to over two hundred people each day.  In addition, the students worked at sorting donated clothing and cleaning up Como Park.  In a special service opportunity, a few students got to work with Project Home, which offered a place to sleep at night for homeless families in the basement of the same church that gave our group a place to sleep as well.  It was touching to work with kids who were carefree and happy to just play at night, even considering their situation.

Despite our hard work, we also found time to squeeze in a little fun:  Ethiopian cuisine, an impromptu tour of the St. Paul Cathedral, and free time in the Mall of America were an added bonus.  We spent a little time exploring the neighborhood we were staying in and got to compare and contrast different subcultures within the cities.

In the end, we left a mark on the Twin Cities; however, the people we met and served made a positive impact on us in return.  What we saw and what we learned will forever influence our actions and choices.  I can’t wait to take my new knowledge and apply it to fighting homelessness and poverty in the city of Cedar Rapids!

Hannah