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Jesuit Journeys
Fall 2000
Creighton students spring into service
When poverty gets personal
The Spring Break Service Program is coordinated by the Creighton University Center for Service and Justice. In March, more than 100 students gave up their spring breaks, were divided into groups of 5 to 12, and traveled to 13 sites nationwide to assist a broad range of community service programs. Brandy Lively, 20, helped coordinate a group bound for Milwaukee.
Before I took my spring break service trip, poverty was not completely real for me. Sure I had done community service working at women's shelters and handing out food, things of that nature. But I always felt like a spectator.
This time poverty became more personal. On this trip I had time to talk and, more importantly, time to listen to the people I was working with and serving. I discovered they were a lot like me. In fact, one sobering experience introduced me to a young woman who, except for one poor choice, might be just like me, or I just like her.
After weeks of planning, things got rolling in earnest when our group of six left Omaha on the first weekend in March. We traveled in two cars, switching places along the way to get to knowone another better before arriving Sunday at the House of Peace in Milwaukee's central city. We stayed in separate rooms on the second floor in an area that had been designed as a women's shelter. Today the House of Peace is primarily a food pantry that also operates a thrift clothing store. This would be our base for working with several other agencies providing, among other things, meal programs, elderly and child care services, and jail ministry.
On our first morning in Milwaukee we met Linda, the only social worker at the House of Peace. She gave us an overview of the programs and talked about the three obstacles this kind of service faces. The first two are providing food and clothing.
"These kinds of things are relatively easy to deal with. The third, hopelessness, is much more difficult," she said. "Hopelessness and despair are not things you can fix overnight or with material possessions."
Fixing hopelessness and despair requires justice for the long-term, finding out the reasons behind the poverty and the problems people confront. Listening to Linda reminded me of a story I had heard once about a large number of people being pulled to safety from a rushing river. The more people were pulled from the river, the more kept floating downstream. One rescuer wanted to know where they were coming from and discovered a large boat upstream that was sinking. The passengers kept jumping off.
Pulling the people from the water is service. Justice requires fixing the boat.
We  started that first day working in the food pantry and sorting boxes of clothing for the House of Peace thrift store. As Linda said, these represented the first two obstacles. Even as we were working, a man came to the door with a truckload of toys and non-perishable food, as if to prove her point.
After lunch we met with Rob, an extremely open and talkative man of about 40, a person I just kind of knew from the start was going to be very interesting. A former gang member and homeless person, he led us on a tour of impoverished areas of the city where we saw places where people struggled daily to overcome obstacle number three.
The whole time he talked, we walked, covering more and more of the city. He cut through a park to avoid neighborhoods he said were too dangerous, leading us to places like Repairers of the Breach, a day shelter run in part by the people who go there to receive aid.
While on the tour we met Pete who, during a time of personal hopelessness, had been homeless and lived on the streets. He survived by going from shelter to shelter and soup kitchen to soup kitchen.
Pete says God rescued him from that life. He now lives in a nearby suburb, has a house, a wife, and a family, and works for justice by helping others
'Spirit is the word I think best describes most of the people we met and spoke with. They had such spirit and a desire to do what they could to make things better for themselves and others. For me, to witness that spirit was to be inspired by it.'
overcome the obstacles he knows so well. He works at a church and visits some of the same shelters and agencies he needed years ago. Pete makes it a point to visit people, talk, and help them find the tools they need to build a better life. He is a catalyst for justice.
In the course of our week in Milwaukee we participated in a number of activities. We spoke with inmates at a jail, handed out sandwiches to the hungry, read to kids, and spoke with lots of people along the way.
Spirit is the word I think best describes most of the people we met and spoke with. They had such spirit and a desire to do what they could to make things better for themselves and others. For me, to witness that spirit was to be inspired by it.
The time I needed that inspiration most was during the jail ministry segment of our service. Among those I met at the county jail was a young inmate about my age. With one semester left in high school, she had earned a scholarship to study art. But she got sick, never graduated, became pregnant, and kept the baby. In the process, she hooked up with a man she said stole from her. She, in turn, took to stealing to support her child, got caught, and wound up in jail.
I didn't feel a need to verify the details. Mostly, I just listened. Perhaps not all of what she said was true. Maybe she had to fabricate, embellish, and rationalize a little to live with herself and accept her fate. I can't say for sure.
What I can say for sure is that sitting there listening to her gave me the feeling that I could be her. Or that she could be my sister or a friend. On the surface there was little to distinguish her from a friend, a loved one, or me. She was on the verge of making it when something went awry. It was a haunting realization that our roles could very well be reversed.
As I relive these experiences in my mind, I find myself reminded that a key goal of Jesuit education is to develop men and women for others. I don't know how long it takes to develop such a man or woman. I do know, however, that in less than a week I learned forever how much we have in common with the others for whom we're asked to be present. |
