Sacred to our Heart

    We started our day by going to the Sacred Heart Parish for the Catholic mass. We really enjoyed how welcoming the community was and the friendliness of everyone. The service was so lively and the singing was incredible! Towards the middle of the service, the priest of the church invited us on stage where we were hugged and welcomed by the church. After the service, we were able to talk to some of the people who have been going to the church since they were young.
   
      After mass, we headed back to the retreat center where we ate some lunch before leaving for the Detroit Historical Museum. The museum was amazing and gave a great perspective on the growth and development of the city. In my country of Iraq, Detroit is famous for the cars so it was really neat being able to see the development of the “Motor City”. The ground floor of the museum was the best part of the museum, preserving what the city looked like in the 1800s.
   
     After the museum, we drove to Corktown and walked around one of the city blocks undergoing gentrification. It was astounding to see the difference between one updated building among other buildings that have been foreclosed.
 
     To end the day, we traveled back to the retreat center, made dinner, and had some amazing conversations. Our reflection tonight dealt around the 1967 riots in Detroit leading to the further segregation of the city that is still seen today. Overall, it was an amazing day and the group can’t wait to start our volunteering tomorrow!

-Asla Alkhafaji

Say Nice Things about Detroit :)

     Good evening friends! Our group left Gannon bright and early this morning and safely arrived in Detroit this afternoon. We spent the day settling into Salem Church, our new home for the week, and doing some grocery shopping and group bonding.

      After dropping off our bags, the first order of business was lunch. We ate at Cleopatra’s, an Egyptian restaurant near the church. Detroit is a center for Arab culture in the States and is well-known for its Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. We’ll be visiting a mosque later in the week to more deeply explore this aspect of Detroit, and we may or may not be stopping at another Arab restaurant. (What can I say? Your girl loves falafel)!  

     After the amazing meal at Cleopatra’s, we headed to two nearby grocery stores: Food Pride and Whole Foods. (We took the “don’t shop on an empty stomach” rule VERY seriously – we were absolutely stuffed after lunch)! We took note of the atmosphere, variety, and prices in both stores. Food Pride was a more low-budget grocery store, similar to Shop ‘n’ Save or K Mart. Whole Foods was a little more upscale and had a wider range of specialty products. Both stores had a diverse clientele and employee base.

     We’ll be eating lunch at Capuchin Soup kitchen nearly every day and taking turns making dinner in the evening using the church’s kitchen. Caleigh and DK started us off tonight with pasta (yay)! Cooking for a group of 11 with diverse dietary preferences is definitely going to be fun and interesting. We have a vegan and vegetarian among our ranks, plus a member who eats only halal (specially slaughtered and blessed) meat. 

 

     Tomorrow we’ll begin to explore more of Detroit and tackle some thought provoking issues such as Food Justice and Gentrification! 

- Alex Stauff

       

Preparing with Knowledge

Hello again!

   We are (roughly) 3 weeks away from our Detroit ABST trip and our group is itching to begin the journey! In preparation for this trip, our group has been having Pre-trip meetings to discuss Food justice, Food security, Gentrification, Detroit History, Faith, and Art!
    Recently, our group visited the Erie Art Museum's "Second Sunday" program to better understand the Art we have here in Erie. This way, we can compare what we saw in Erie to what we will see in Detroit.
    We had a great time and not only had the opportunity to view some beautiful art, but also make some of our own! The "Second Sunday" program had a snowflake-making station and we made paper snowflakes that represented who we are and our uniqueness.
   
 As famous author Wade Rouse puts it, "Be As Unique As A Snowflake: Embrace All Your Dimensions”
... and we certainly are:)

Until next time,

ABST Co-Leader Rachel

Lucky to be Co-Leading

 Hello Detroit Blog Followers!

     My name is Rachel McKernan and I am one of the student leaders for Detroit ABST 2019. I am a sophomore Physician Assistant major here at Gannon and I attended the Navajo Nation ABST last year. This is my first year leading an ABST and I feel so honored to have been selected to help lead this Detroit Trip.
     I have heard such great stories about personal growth, faith learning, and meaningful service this trip exposes student's to. This year's group is one-of-a-kind and I cannot wait to see where this trip takes all of us!
Stay tuned to hear more about this trip as we begin the countdown to Spring Break!

Warmest,
Rachel McKernan

The Fruit That Has Been Grown

Every plant sprouts from a seed. We remembered the journey we partook in together as we ate breakfast, packed our bags, and cleaned the retreat center. Some of the group members were very tired as they were recovering from a pillow fight the night before. After the van was packed, we headed to the Detroit Eastern Market. The area allowed local farmers and merchants to sell their produce under one big roof. Here, we shopped around and grabbed some lunch to go. We also meant up with Tyler, the assistant farmer at EarthWorks, and spent some final moments with him.

After departing the market, we were officially headed back to Erie! The drive home consisted of many naps, rap sessions, and reflections of the week. 

When you plant a seed, there is no guarantee that anything will come out of it. There is a lot of time, nourishing, and dedication involved. With enough work and little bit of luck, the seed will begin to sprout and from roots. Soon, the stem will begin to stretch towards the light. Five months ago, we all applied to be apart of this trip, not really knowing what would come out of it. After several meetings and activities, we began to get to know each other. Over the course of the week, we all contributed in our unique ways. Through deep talks, many laughs that were so hard we could not breathe, and being part of new experiences, we were able to rise towards the sun. Justin, aka the head blogger, had some final thoughts: “I could never put this experience into words, but I would say the biggest things I have learned are to love every person where they are at, be open to new experiences, and there will always be a reason to have hope.” Now, we at back at Gannon in Erie having some final group bonding. Although the people of the city have mixed opinions, Detroit has a beautiful history of resilience and is filled with potential. We hope this blog has provided some new insights to our viewers and encourages seeds to be planted in new ways.  

The Last Supper

This morning we woke up early to stop at On The Rise Bakery for a second time. We wanted to pick up some baked goods for the lovely staff at EarthWorks. For the first half of the day we continued our conversation with the staff about urban farming and diversity. Ryan, one of the student leaders, commented that, “diversity makes the garden beautiful.” Patrick, the head gardener at EarthWorks, was quick to respond and said that, “diversity makes the garden more resilient.” Speaking more on the issues of food scarcity, he also mentioned “I’m not saying everyone should return to being hunter-gathers, I’m just saying we should question the things that are defined. What is true progress? Needing more things is the sickness of modernity.” To go off of his point, Julia brought up this quote from Gandhi: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” She continued to say that “This experience has inspired me to be more sustainable in my own life by giving me the tools and education to garden for myself.” After our conversations, we purchased some EarthWorks gear for ourselves to bring back to campus. 

Due to the weather conditions, there was a smaller number in of people in the cafeteria than normal. Those who were there seemed to be pretty positive about the city and their experiences. 

Following lunch, we were able to work in the greenhouse. Here, we worked on sifting soil, planting seeds, general cleaning, and helping them prepare for the upcoming growing season. Earlier in the week, Julia mentioned that she wanted to start her own garden and Wendy, an EarthWork’s employee, took note of that. Today Wendy gifted Julia with a succulent, with the intent of it being the first edition to her new garden. In our final moments at EarthWorks, we said our goodbyes to the staff we had grown with over the past week and took some group pictures. 

After saying our goodbyes, we returned to the Retreat Center to get ready for a sunset prayer at an Islamic Mosque. On our way there, we discussed some thoughts we had about the religion and appropriate behaviors to practice. The community was hospitable and welcoming. A few members gave us an overview of Islam and answered any questions we had. We went to a five minute community prayer service inside the Mosque. Afterwards, the staff unexpectedly provided us with a home cooked meal and engaged in personal conversations with us. They made it easy to see the parallels and connections between Islam and Catholicism. 

In our final reflection, we compared statistics from the Detroit area to those of our hometowns. This brought up conversations of people being put in situations beyond their control. We also discussed the issue of white privilege and examples we saw throughout the week, ending our final night together by thanking each other for all that we brought to the weekend. 

Frozen In Time

Our day began just like the past couple days, with us eating breakfast and heading to EarthWorks. It was our first day with not so great weather. The whole morning it was raining and and the whole afternoon it snowed. With these weather conditions, the staff decided it would be best to stay inside and talk with us more in detail about urban farming and the city. We discussed Detroit’s history, the founding of EarthWorks, and the issues of public transportation in the city. Adriana mentioned “It was striking to hear that some people spend four to five hours a day using public transportation to get to work. It is totally different from anything I have ever experienced.” 

Detroit also has the highest rate of car insurance in the country, which makes it difficult to purchase a car. During lunch, we talked with individuals who had both positive and negative views on the city. Joe expressed “Each turn or decision that you make affects the plans that you have for the future. You can never plan what life has in store for you. Sometimes, it's the unexpected that makes the biggest impact. ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get.’ - Forest Gump.” We also discussed the relationship between aiding and enabling those in need. 

In the evening, we traveled about forty five minutes to a Gannon Alumni Dinner in Troy, Michigan. We spent around two hours talking with alumni who now live in Detroit and everyone had a great time. Due to the snow storm, many were not able to attend. Those who did make it were Mary Klupp (class of ‘73) and her husband Fred Klupp, Tanya Postwaite (class of ‘08) and her husband David Postwaite (class of ‘09), and Peter Mulard (class of ‘16). These alumni gave a valuable insight on interview skills, resumes, college in general, and career advice to us as students.