This past week I had the opportunity to join a group of nine other Holy Cross students on a trip to Camden, NJ through the Spring Break Immersion Program at Holy Cross. This program has so many different immersion opportunities each year, and I regretted not signing up last year. When the sign ups came out this year, I knew I had to join. My site in particular was at The Romero Center, which is an urban site where my group had the opportunity to engage with the community in a variety of different ways. When hearing where I went for spring break, many people in my life were curious about what I got to actually do. By sharing with you all of the different service sites I got to experience, as well as the opportunities we had along the way, I hope I can give you some insight into my spring break experience.
Mercy Neighborhood Ministries
The first site I got to experience was Mercy Neighborhood Ministries. I was in a preschool classroom with 4 year olds with another member of my group. We got to do art, play games, and go to gym time with them.
Cathedral Kitchen
Cathedral Kitchen was one of my favorite sites that we got to visit. This kitchen offers a daily free hot meal as well as other supplies for free to people in the Camden community. The first day I was part of the to-go meal preparations. For the second day, I got to serve as a busser waiting on different tables.
Inglis House
I got to spend a day at Inglis House, which provides long term residential care for adults with disabilities. My favorite part of this day was our art class where we made still life paintings with the residents.
MANNA
MANNA is an organization that believes in providing medically appropriate nutritional meals throughout Philadelphia. I really felt a sense of purpose and community at this site. When we looked at a map, we also saw how far reaching the food we were helping to prepare would go.
STARS Adult Medical Day Care Center
On my final day in Camden, I got to visit STARS. This adult day center is different from traditional nursing home models I have experienced. We did everything from dance, to play word games, to drawing art, and hearing about BINGO, the favorite activity of STARS attendees.
$4 Challenge
On the Tuesday of the trip, I was invited to embark on a $4 challenge for the day. In a group of me, another Holy Cross student, and 2 people from another college, we pooled together $16 to buy our meals for the day. Our group had a twist where we had to find food exclusively with less than 5% sodium. This experience was supposed to emulate living on government support for food and raising awareness for food insecurity.
Final Thoughts
The next time someone asks me about my spring break experience I will point them to this article to get a little snapshot of what the experience was like. I cannot thank the Spring Break Immersion Program enough for giving me this opportunity to make so many amazing connections this past week.
I hope that all Holy Cross students will consider this opportunity next year!