I have never been to Chicago, so it is no wonder I was a little worried about planning a week-long service trip to the Windy City for 18 students. However, with the help of Ruiling Li (my co-trip leader) and several others, I honestly can't wait for spring break to arrive.
The social issues that our trip is focusing on is hunger and homelessness. Hunger is a huge problem in our country; nearly 50 million Americans rely on charitable food donations. There are several misconceptions of hunger in America, and I recommend to take the Hunger Quiz to test your knowledge about the issue.
What I love most about this trip is that I get to work with international students. Half of the trip is international students and the other half is American. Coordinating the trip with someone from the other side of the world has been a unique and wonderful experience. In our two pre-service meetings, it has been so much fun to see how all of our different backgrounds blend together and have molded us into (what I think) is going to be a great service team.
The writer Aaron Sorkin who once said "change comes in excruciating increments for those who want it."This one trip is not going to solve the issues of hunger and homelessness. But if we look at the root causes (i.e. poor distribution of food, lack of access, addiction, etc.) of these issues and can gain knowledge through our experience, we can then share that knowledge and impact others in the hopes of slowly bettering our communities.
