Mid-Semester Update!

Whew this semester is flying by! It's exciting to think that our trip to San Diego is steadily approaching!

On that note, here are important dates for the trip itself:

Everyone should be back on campus by noon on Monday, January 4th. We'll have our team commissioning ceremony, weigh-in and packing...

Everyone on the team should have received our flight information, but here's a quick summary: Our flight will leave bright and early on the 5th and arrive in San Diego around noon. When we return at the end of the trip on the 27th, we'll land in Indy around 10:30 pm. We'll assume everyone is taking the coach back to DePauw unless told otherwise; if you're a parent and are planning on picking your son/daughter up directly from the airport that's totally fine as long as they let us know!

In other news, things are going well as we prepare for our trip. Our fall team retreat was October 4th out at the reflections center in the nature park. It was a good chance to start getting to know each other better, learn about homelessness, and discuss some of the challenges of servicework. We read and discussed "A Resident of Nowhere" by Ed Loring and "To Hell with Good Intentions" by Ivan Illich. Vicky and Becca also put together a powerpoint that provided an overview of both national and local trends in homelessness as well as the relevant legislation. At the end of the retreat, we visited the A-Way Home Shelter, Greencastle's center for homeless individuals and families. We learned about the resources the center provides and were able to tour the facility--we were saddened to learn that there are no resources for individual homeless teenagers in Greencastle! In any case, during the remainder of the semester, smaller groups of our team are planning on serving dinners a few time at the shelter!

Anyway, we still have a few team meetings left and I am getting more and more excited about the trip! More info to come!