Instead of going home or on vacation this spring break I did something a bit out of the ordinary. I went on a service trip to Philadelphia. A group of chaperones and several St. Bonaventure University students, including myself traveled about five and a half hours to the St. Francis Inn which is located in Kensington. I knew a bit of what to expect since I researched a lot before deciding to go on the trip. As soon as I was accepted for the trip, I became very excited as I love volunteering and going to new places.
While in the van I quickly made friends with the students on the trip. Norah, Reagan and I all sat in the back row watching “Love Is Blind”. All of us students quickly became obsessed with the show, and we would watch it every night. Sitting on the couch every night, talking, and watching the show was memorable (especially judging Dave for his questionable choices).
Every morning, we would head over to the Inn and start our day by going to mass. After, we would go downstairs and would make our nametags and receive instructions as to what we should be doing. We would usually draw a small picture, such as a pretzel or sun, on our nametags so we would all match. This included cutting bread (one of my personal favorites), plating desserts, putting together bagged meals, putting away donations, cleaning the sidewalks, and other various tasks.
Later in the day, we would serve a meal to those in need. The meal was served in typical restaurant fashion in order to give the guests a sense of dignity and respect. On the first day that we served a meal I decided to reset tables so I could stand back and watch how everything worked. Later on in the week I had the chance to actually serve to the guests. At some times it was stressful, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I loved getting to know the guests and enjoyed hearing their stories. Several of them had very inspiring stories and I will never forget them. I had multiple people ask me if I had worked in food service before and I told them I hadn’t. I was just being myself and treating guests with the respect they deserve. I used to be afraid of talking to people but over time I have gotten better at it and that’s one of the reasons I loved talking to the guests.
This trip was memorable for so many reasons. It was hard leaving Philly and having to come back to the “Bona Bubble”. I will always cherish the friendships that blossomed and all the memories that Olivia, Norah, Maddalena, Reagan, Kevin, and myself made with each other. People may think that going on a trip like this is not worth their time but to me, it was so worth it, and I can’t wait to go back in the future. If you’re ever scared about trying something new such as volunteering, just do it because you may just make amazing friendships and memories that you may never have made.