Calvin students serving in record numbers this spring break

On Saturday, March 19, a record number of Calvin students (more than 120) will
travel to ten different states. The students will travel everywhere from
Boston, Mass., to Grand Isle, La., doing everything from oil cleanup to
learning about urban poverty.
See full story: http://www.calvin.edu/news/archive/serving-in-record-numbers
"We have a variety of trips to reach a great segment of the student
population," said Noah Kruis, associate director of Calvin's service-learning
center.
This year, Calvin is partnering with four new organizations. Students will work
with City Lights ministry in St. Louis, Mo., focusing specifically on issues
surrounding urban education. The students will get a comprehensive view of the
city, visiting the tourist spots as well as the poverty-stricken areas.
Another group will work with Trails Forever, in Great Smoky Mountain National
Park. The trip will have a wilderness focus: students will do trail
maintenance, live in the park and cook their meals over a fire.
In Mobile, Ala., students will work with L'Arche USA, which is an off-shoot of
L'Arche, an organization founded in France, which provides an intentional
Christian community integrating people with and without cognitive disabilities.
And yet another group of students will head to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Ga.,
an intentionally interracial religious community started in 1940 by Clarence
Jordan (1912-1969). On their way back from Koinonia Farm, students will meet
with Wendell Berry, a well-known advocate of grassroots farming, who will talk
to the students about Christian intentional agriculture.
"Food is such a current topic … the food, farm relationship to our society,"
said Kruis. "They're not just looking at agriculture, but also at social
justice and racial reconciliation."
The groups will return to Grand Rapids on Saturday, March 26. Upon their
return, they will each do a service project in Grand Rapids related to their
trip's focus. This is a new initiative and Kruis says it will help students
realize there’s a lot to do right here in west Michigan.
“We often think of going elsewhere to serve, bringing our abundant resources to
an under-resourced community," said Kruis, "but the truth is that there is much
that we can learn and do in service to our own community."
For more info, contact the service-learning center at 616-526-6455.
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Received on Fri Mar 18 11:53:16 2011