Today was another great day in the life of ASBD 2012. We attended a panel discussion on hunger and homelessness, the group I was in last year. I liked how the panel touched on the fact that due to the current economic turmoil, hunger and homelessness is affecting people closer to home. Instead of it just affecting a stranger on the streets, it’s now beginning to affect immediate families and friends. It’s also not just a problem for people that have drug or alcohol addictions, it’s happening to college educated people with good employment history and no criminal record. The fact is that hunger and homelessness can happen to anyone at anytime; everyone that you see hungry or homeless is not a person who has an addiction or has given up on life. They can simple be overcoming a hard spot that was completely out of their control. We also visited Mariner’s Inn. It was amazing to see a facility with programs and incentives in place to give people the tools they need to overcome addictions. Our tour guide showed up the principles of the 12-step programs in which individuals admit that they have a problem and are willing to do whatever it takes to regain control of their lives. We talked with a few gentleman that were part of the Mariner’s program and it was good to see that they were in the process of turning their lives around and that they hadn’t given up. One gentleman was actually close to finishing his G.E.D and he talked to up about his dream of becoming a cook or working with computers. People in the live-in part of Mariners were very respectful to us and it was good to see them reading spiritual books. They say that the 12-step programs advocate the fact they are not religious programs, but spiritual programs. I really enjoyed seeing that people have a place to go if they are serious about getting help for their addiction. My group, Education, then headed to the St. Vincent and Sarah Fisher Center in order to tutor kids. The first kid I tutored didn’t like me at all. She told me to leave her alone and that she didn’t need any help with her work. It was funny because as adults I think we have those times that we just don’t feel like being bothered, and that is exactly the vibe I got from her. I ended up working with another student and helped him in math, vocabulary words, writing, and reading comprehension. I let him work on his own and then corrected his work afterward. I would let him know when a certain problem was wrong and allow him to figure out where he made his mistake. He even asked me if I was coming back. I felt good because I felt like he appreciated me.
