Spring 2019: Post #1

Dear friends, family, and supporters,

Welcome to the Our West Bayfront Spring Break 2019 Blog! Thank you for following and supporting us. We are preparing ourselves for an 8 day service trip in Erie, Pa (Home to Gannon University). The student leaders are Maddie Rowley and Katie Gress.

We Leave in ... https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20190303T12&p0=814&msg=OWB+SPRING+BREAK&font=cursive

I am a junior PA Major from Cleveland, Ohio. My freshman year I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala on an ABST during my spring break. I made many new friends and connections who I still am in touch with today and learned so much about myself and others. My ABST experience impacted me greatly and is definitely one of the highlights of my Gannon career. I am very excited to embark on this 8 day adventure, meet new people, and help the OWB neighborhood while learning more about the place I have called home for the last 3 years.

-Maddie Rowley

Hello all! I am a sophomore Occupational Therapy major from Pittsburgh, PA! My freshman year I went on an ABST to Washington D.C and it forever changed my life. I had such an incredible experience and felt led to lead an ABST to try to help others have an equally as amazing service adventure. My first ABST was something I will cherish for the rest of my life and I am so excited to make more memories on this trip. Erie is such an awesome place and I cannot wait to use this trip to experience the city that I call home for so many months of the year in a new and enlightening way.

-Katie Gress

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Day 2 Monday, March 4th 2019

DAY 2! After a restful night of sleep, all 8 of us arose bright and early Monday morning to start our first day of work! We did some deconstruction work on a project for the Our West Bayfront Organization. It was cold and hard, but we had a lot of fun and certainly made the best of it! Following our morning/afternoon of hard labor, we came home to start preparing for our dinner with the mayor. We were honored that he agreed to come have a meal with us and were so excited to host him. Caroline set up different "cooking stations for us each to work at so we all had our own duties and responsibilities! We had a blast spending time together and making an excellent meal. It was really awesome to learn so much from each other about the ways we cook and the different strategies we each had for recipes and cooking! Before the mayor arrived, Maddie and Katie posted large signs around the room that said "What we want to see change in Erie", "What we love about E...

Day 4: ASH WEDNESDAY

The day started early for about half the group. A group of intrepid students braved the early morning bitter chill for a brisk walk to St. Peter's Cathedral for morning mass. After a scintillating wake-up service, they trudged wearily back for an eclectic breakfast to start the day. The morning's project consisted of the organization of the Little Free Library's book stock. This project lasted several hours in the morning and stimulated the students interest in books by an overexposure to large quantities. After shifting the vast piles of various books, the students felt sufficiently hungry enough to go back to the St. Joseph house and dive into an lunch of assorted and widely varied foods. Following this invigorating episode, the group as a whole felt it necessary to take a little repose. Sadly, at this time Caroline felt in necessary to retire to her home due to some personal health issues. After drying their tears, the re...

Day 1 Sunday, March 3rd

After settling in, the group took a trip up to the Bicentennial Tower. Since today was the first Sunday of the month, it was free! Maddie read a diversity dialogue and then afterwards the group had time to read the plaques and come back together as a group to share one new interesting thing they read about Erie, Pa. It was a great way to start our week by seeing the beauty that our city has to offer! Our main "service project" for day one was helping to serve dinner at Sunday supper! We served dinner and at dinner with people at First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant! Heba and Ashlyn are serving food at the main line! Tim learns some martial arts from a new friend he met at the Sunday supper! Heba engages in conversation while sharing a meal with a local neighbor! Caroline, Claire, and Heba show their bright smiles as we begin to serve the meal. Katie wipes down the tables after the meal while Heba continues her conversatio...

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