Our West Bayfront

Hey Family and Friends!   Group leader Maddie is checking in with you all tonight! ABST OWB day four started out with a beautiful walk to Bayview Park to experience the sunrise together as a group.   The night before a couple group leaders made individualized overnight oats (chocolate peanut butter or brown sugar blueberry flavored) for the whole group to munch on while we watched the sunrise.   It was beautiful to experience the view that Our West Bayfront residents get to experience each morning. Following our sunrise experience, we went back First Pres (where we are staying) and we rested.   The introverts in the group really appreciated this.   We had the morning off from doing construction work at the St. Joseph House because our insulation job, that we did earlier this week, was being inspected.   After spending the morning resting and recharging, we decided to spend the afternoon exploring the city and bonding as a group.   One of our accompaniers was able to ma

 Hello! Cathy here tonight. Today on the work site, we did interior insulation and finished all the gaps and cracks around the windows. We were expected to take all week to do the insulation, but we finished with an hour to spare today! We need to wait for our work to be inspected before moving on to drywall so we may have a break from the construction tomorrow. I really enjoyed the productivity and how our group works together. Sam and I had a really nice rhythm to put up the interior insulation, and it's good to see how our group, in general,  anticipates each others' needs. We also had the chance to walk to the house today and see the neighborhood around it. It was sad to see how much litter there was on the streets. However, there were many beautiful houses nearby as well! For lunch, we had oatmeal energy bites as dessert. I made about three or four dozen last night, and only one remained by the end! Hopefully, I get the chance to make more for tomorrow. A

Good evening lovely ABST readers! Thank you for following our journey so far as we rediscover Erie, PA! My name is Kendra Walker. I am a junoir accounting and finance major here at Gannon. Today, I have the honor of relaying the epic journey that we have embarked on. Sleeping in Solidarity  Our day started bright and early with breakfast at our host site the First Presbytrian Church of the Covenant. First off, I have to say even though we are sleeping on air mattresses it is pretty cool to think that we are staying in what looks like some lost European church but that is less than 10 blocks from my apartment. The First Presbytian Church of the Covenant really is an amazing place that I wish that I had spent more time at before this week. I am so honored at how welcoming the community has been to us and the works that they are doing in the community. As Sam had mentioned yesterday we had the opportunity to talk with Pat Tracy Sunday. There she mentioned that the church turns the r

Family and Friends! Hello!  My name is Sam Desser.  Our group’s ABST is focusing on surviving and learning in the Our West Bayfront community, the same community that Gannon University is located in.  We will be meeting with community partners, local business owners, and community members to learn about neighborhood revitalization.  Be sure to keep checking our blog so you can be up to date on what we are doing! Today our group had the opportunity to volunteer at Sunday Suppers at the Church of the Covenant.  This organization provides a warm meal to community members every Sunday.  During our time volunteering, I had the chance to talk to one of the other volunteers.  As we started talking more, he started to tell me his story.  Although I could never do his story justice, I will attempt to share a little of his story.  This man was told he would never be able to read or do much of anything after a terrible accident. He was placed in a mental institution after receiving brain dama