The following post has been submitted by Becky '17, First-Year Program Participant

On Monday August 19^th, Team B of The 1742 Experience volunteered at New Bethany Ministries.  We split into two sub-groups.  My group, led by co-team leader Michelle '16, went to the warehouse while the other group, led by co-team leader Jenn '14 , stayed at the kitchen to cook and serve lunch.  We met Fiona, a charming and intriguing woman from Ireland, who gave us instructions for our project in the warehouse.  We demonstrated exquisite teamwork, diligence, and efficiency as we went through all the bags of food and organized them in different crates.  We got the whole job done and had fun doing it.  We also swept the warehouse floor after we finished emptying all the bags and filling all the crates.  We demonstrated resourcefulness by using snow shovels as dustpans.  Stepping back and looking at the end result was exciting and satisfying because we made a significant difference and it looked much better.  The look on Fiona’s face upon her return was extremely rewarding because we could see how astounded and grateful she was.  We then proceeded to load the crates into Al’s van in order to transport the food to the kitchen, which is up the street from the warehouse. 

After we ate lunch, we took over the other group’s job in the kitchen in order to give them a break.  We served seconds to those who were still hungry.  This part of the day was extremely rewarding as well because seeing the happiness and appreciation on their faces was heart-warming.  It truly made my day when they said “thank you” or “bless you.”  While reflecting upon our experiences later, everyone agreed that the peoples’ gratitude and appreciation were very rewarding.  We were definitely very helpful to all the people there, and I think they were to us as well.  They were all happy to have us, and we learned from them as well as gained new experiences, insights, and perspectives.

Special Thanks to Stations Cafe in Bethlehem for their sponsorship of the program. Students from Team "MO,CO" stopped by to express their gratitude to Stations on their way back from their service experience on Monday.

Team "MO,CO" walked to New Bethany Ministries to assist with serving a midday meal and sorting donations int the warehouse. The post below is from Jen '17, one of first-year student program participants.

After splitting into two groups at New Bethany, the group led by Jenn  '13, remained in the kitchen and prepared the food for lunch. With the instruction of a woman named Penny and a professor at Lehigh University, Roy, we cut up and washed all the vegetables for the extra large salad, and were surprised by the unusually large locally grown cucumbers! After prepping the salad, we laid out slices of bread on trays, which was definitely the simplest step. With the instruction of a leader who could not speak, we struggled to prepare the desserts properly, but were proud of how well we communicated with her. As a team, we understood her instructions and fixed our mistake with optimism and diligence. We had some extra time before the meal was scheduled to be served to the patrons of New Bethany and the freshmen bonded and learned more about Moravian College and Bethlehem as a whole from Jenn. Most of us would agree that serving was the most rewarding part of the experience. Everyone was so appreciative of our service and with every “thank you” all we could do was smile and be proud of our good teamwork and cooperation. As cliché as it sounds, it was so rewarding to see people leave with full bellies and smiles on their faces knowing that we contributed to their good day. The two smaller Moravian groups switched places so we could eat, and we got a chance to interact with some of the people there, all of whom were very respectful and grateful. It is truly amazing how the daily workers at the soup kitchen have such great success with having to train new volunteers everyday, but they are clearly very good at what they do and enjoy doing it. This appreciation spread to us and thus, we had a rewarding day. During a reflection of the day, what most of us agreed on as the greatest accomplishment is one of our members, sophomore team leader Michelle '16 signed up to return to the soup kitchen as a volunteer. She enjoyed her time at the soup kitchen and warehouse so much that she wanted to make it part of her weekly routine.

Team Avengers 

 

Team MO,CO

(Marvellous Opportunity, Community Outreach)

Our first team photo!

Student Leadership Team - Training

To prepare for our leadership roles in The 1742 Experience, we focused on Kouzes' and Posner's Five Effective Leadership Practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. In order to put these leadership practices to use, the Student Leadership Team and Katie, went to the North Summit Climbing Gym in Wind Gap, PA, where we learned the basics of indoor rock climbing and incorporated the five effective leadership practices.

(Left to right) Sam Blake, Casey Hilferty, Michelle Mason, Nick Roberts, and Jenn Leedom

The 2013 program will begin on August 18, 2013. Check back then for blog entries!