Day 6 (Friday) + Departure + Closing Thoughts

Hello, Friday! This morning threw us a curve ball as we began to drive to the food bank. Traffic was unbelievably backed up before we were even close to the highway. We sat in traffic for forty minutes before we passed a car stalled on the side of the road, closing one lane. Arriving 27 minutes late to the food bank, we got started on our task. It was the same as yesterday—sorting through boxes of items and organizing them based on dry goods, drinks, cans, etc. Despite our tardiness, we completed all of the boxes, with 10 minutes to spare! Winning!

We ate lunch and then began our free day Friday! Huzzah! We hit up downtown where the boys and I went back to the Market. They enjoyed the “fun with flags” merchant, while I perused the other stands. I stumbled across a really cool jewelry stand.

It worked like this: select an oyster—all of which had been growing pearls for 5 years—and make a wish. Select a charm that will hold the pearl from the oyster. Select a chain to string the charm on to and wear as a necklace. I looked at the oysters and felt my hand drawn to one in particular of medium size and smooth. I held the oyster in my hands and made my wish. The sales lady and I then stood over a bucket with a knife and cracked the oyster open. Her fingers dug through the slimy insides and pulled out a pinky, lavender, shining pearl. “I’ve never seen one this beautiful!” she gasped. I picked out a charm in the shape of a rose and placed the pearl inside the charm. Stringing it onto a silver chain, my necklace was complete. I could not stop smiling. It was the perfect souvenir.

After this, we took a ferry to Fort Sumter—the site where the Civil War began. The first shots were fired here which thrust the nation into a long, brutal war. It was so cool seeing the fort and all of the cannons. We spent about an hour at the fort and then took the ferry back to mainland.

From there, we went to dinner. After asking the locals, we settled on Bowen’s Island—a family owned and run business off the road a ways down and set up right by the sea. The seafood was so fresh. Literally, outside the restaurant, a small motor boat sat on the beach shore with an enormous pile of oysters pulled straight from the sea just now. A man with a giant hose sprayed them down where they would then be taken in, cooked, and served to us with knives to crack open and slurp down. It was a great experience! I ordered fried fish and shrimp and tried two oysters. De-licious!

As we licked our lips and wiped our mouths, the boys turned to Alana and asked, “Mom, can we get ice cream?!”

Alana said yes, as long as we paid for it since it wasn’t in the trip budget. So, she turned to ask a local family about ice cream places in Charleston. They recommended a small crepe stand down and off the road where you could get ice cream in your crepe. Gung-ho, we hopped in our vehicles and followed the verbal directions they gave us.

As the rain came down, we found a small pink stand off the road called Tokyo Crepes. A woman worked the cash register behind the window and a man made the crepes behind her. I ordered a customized crepe with vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookies, and chocolate drizzle syrup in it. They wrapped it up in the crepe like an ice cream cone and when they handed it to me, my eyes widened. It was huge! Running back to the Suburban through the rain, I hopped in and slowly but surely, devoured my ice cream crepe. It. Was. So. Good. Every bite was so yummy and sweet that I felt like my mouth had died and gone to heaven!

After crepes, we drove home and talked about the trip during reflection at home. After reflection, we played Truth or Dare, but mostly Truth since the Dares were silly. During this time, Zach commented to us, “I don’t feel so good.” Well, after 20 oysters, I suppose I wouldn’t feel so good either.

He went upstairs to lay down. We continued playing until 12:30, and that’s when I decided to go to bed. As I pulled my covered up and closed my eyes, I suddenly heard THUMP THUMP THUMP. HURRRRLLLL. HURRRRLLL. HURRRRRLLLL. Poor Zach projectile vomited all into the hall way up stairs before he could make it to the bathroom. On the walls, on the floor, puddle deep. The stench wafted through the house. While I was too tired to deal with it, the others jumped into action. I slept, the rest of the girls helped clean it up, and the boys helped clean the rest of the house. Apparently they were all awake until very late into the night, so when we all woke up at 5:30 the next day, their sleep was more of a “nap.”

I felt bad that I didn’t stay awake to see what I could do to help. When it happened, only two girls were quick about helping to clean it up. Everyone else remained downstairs, so I figured they wouldn’t be helping. So I ended up getting the most sleep of everyone, which I also felt guilty about. However, that allowed me to be energized and in a good mood for Saturday, departure day.

Eleven different alarms sounded at the same time, 5:30 AM. We woke up and began throwing our bags together and doing last minute packing, i.e. deflating the air mattress. We were on the road by 6:30. I napped in and out until Asheville, North Carolina. From there, I took the passenger seat next to the driver to serve as the Navigator. Since my grandma Mimi lives in Knoxville, Tennessee and my mom was visiting her, I decided to get dropped off there. So, fortunately for me, I only had a 6 hour car ride, whereas everyone else had to go the whole 16 hours to Columbia.

My mom picked me up in Knoxville, I waved goodbye to my comrades, and we drove to my grandma’s house. There, I told them all about my adventures, showed them my souvenirs, showed them pictures, and we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant that greatly impressed me. We closed the night with romantic-comedy movie and a couple episodes of Modern Family.

Sunday morning, we sat in the living room drinking our coffee. My plane would depart at 2, and I would arrive in St. Louis by 6 PM. So, here I am, sitting in the airport waiting for my connecting flight. As I sit here sipping on my Berry Blast smoothie from Jamba Juice, I reflect on my spring break. Who d’a thunk that so many great, amazing things could be accomplished in one week? So many great relationships between peers and students could be made in a one week? I still cannot fully wrap my head around it.

This spring break has by far been the best spring break that I’ve had. Yes, I’ve done the beach scene, and yes, I’ve done the stay-at-home-and-chill scene for spring break. And I can say with confidence that there is nothing more exhilarating and rewarding than giving your time to serve others, develop close, strong bonds, and truly live. Thanks to all who made this possible. Here's to a truly, deeply amazing journey!

Day 5 (Thursday)

Today at the Food Bank, we sorted through boxes to organize the items into “dry goods,” “drinks,” “condiments,” and “cans.” A large pile of boxes towered over us when we arrived. After two hours and forty minutes, we finished all of the boxes! We were so proud of ourselves! We enjoyed an early lunch break and then headed over to Chicora (the school) to park and nap for an hour before the start of WINGS.

After an amazing nap, we went in for our last day with the kids. “This is it.” I walked in knowing that today I would give it my all. This whole week, I had been giving it my best, but I wanted to top “my best” and do even better. My goal for the week had been to communicate love—one of the MAB/ASB principles—and today, I wanted those girls to really know how much I loved them. We hugged, held hands, danced, twirled, and jumped.

During academic center, I made hearts for all of the girls and wrote their names on each heart along with the message, “Thank you for a great week! Follow your heart, never give up.” The girls did an amazing job reading the words on their own and all of them held on to their cut-out hearts. I asked them if they would remember me, and they said yes. We also talked about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of them wanted to be nurses or teachers. I encouraged them to follow that goal because I knew they would all be great at it. Two girls made me hearts. Perhaps the best one was the one from Talajah. She wrote, “Ms. Ashley, I will miss you. I love you. Talajah.” I could almost cry!

Since there is no WINGS tomorrow, we had “Wild WINGS” today, which in essence, is a “free day” Friday of sorts—lots of games and playing. We enjoyed Red Rover and a shark game. After this, we went in for dinner where we experienced a delightful surprise. The WINGS leaders made us Certificates of Appreciation. They called up eleven kids and revealed the certificates to us. I was so shocked! I could not stop smiling!

Dinner was enjoyable. We held a naenae dance contest. The “naenae” is a popular song and there is a dance that goes with it. The kids are in love with it and so, we had a contest between a WINGS kids, a WINGS leader, and one of us Mizzou volunteers. It was downright hilarious because Zach went up for us and was so, unbelievably “white” as he did the naenae. We loved it.

We came home for a delightful dinner—parmesan chicken, green beans, and mac and cheese. After we chowed down, we went outside for a bonfire and s’mores, reflection and Heads Up. At one point, Kristen wanted to run inside to get her notebook, but the door was locked. Nick reached into his pocket and suddenly his eyes widened with an “oh shit” look. The key to get inside was not in his pocket! Alana went over to the church, asking if anyone knew Henry who would be able to let us in. No one knew him. We called a number hoping it was Henry’s personal number, however it was just the church number. Nick then took charge and went scavenging through the church. Soon enough, he came back with someone following him.

Nick said he walked into the church gym and saw the janitor sitting at a chair. He asked him if he had a key for the mission house and he said that he had a master key. Saved! The real kicker was that the janitor told Nick that he was literally about to leave in two minutes. Perfect. Timing.

We all went inside then and played Game of Things. Sharing a bunch of laughs, we played late into the night. Friday is coming all too soon and I’m not ready to say goodbye to Charleston. I have to come back here someday and soak up more of this amazing city and culture.

Day Four (Wednesday)

This morning Nick and Alana surprised us with donuts for breakfast! It was a great surprise and totally unexpected! We all loved it!

At the Food Bank, we did buddy packs again, but we didn’t pack for the whole three hours. However, what we did get done was impressive. We upped our speed by 25%, accomplishing 1,920 buddy packs today. If we would have continued for the whole time, we could have completed a little under 2,500 packs—2,475 to be exact. Within the two hours and twenty minutes of packing we did, we averaged 823 buddy packs per hour. Yesterday, we completed 9 pallets (a board with 15 bins on it, 15 packs in each bin), and today, if we went for the whole 3 hours, we would have completed 11 pallets! Wowzers!

We stopped early because one of the Food Bank people in charge talked to us about the organization. She told us all about their programs throughout Charleston and gave us some statistics on hunger. In Charleston, 1 in 4 kids will go hungry and are “food insecure,” which means they have no idea if they will be fed. Nationally, 1 in 6 kids face this issue, too.

Nap time arrived just in the nick of time! We were all so tired since we were up until 1 playing games.

After nap time, we went to WINGS as usual. Today, was a great day! My Hummingbirds came in and hugged me, happy as ever to see me. One of them, though, Davona, was upset. She was crying because people in class were teasing her. I kneeled down in front of her and told her, “Just because we didn’t have a good day at school, doesn’t mean we won’t have a good day at WINGS.” She nodded her head. “Can you smile for me?” I asked. She refused.

I decided to start singing to her, coming up with a song on the spot about how I love to see her smile. “I love to see you smile! I love your smile! Let me see those pearly whites! Please smile! You are so beautiful! I love to see you smile! Smile! Smile, Davonaaaaa!” I took her hand and then began dancing with her. We two-stepped, I spun her around, pulled her out and in, and dipped her. Slowly but surely, she was smiling from ear to ear. Soon enough, two other girls joined us. It was too fun and it made me so happy that it worked.

Today was also interesting in that when I arrived, and all throughout the beginning, and all throughout the start of academic center, my WINGS leader was not there! So, basically, I was running things with my girls. It went better than I expected! The girls did a decent job of listening to me and following directions. One girl, however, was not very fond of my leadership. Talajah did not participate in any thing that the other girls and I were doing together. It then occurred to me that this whole week, she was the only one who had not warmed up to me. She’s my mission, I told myself. I would win her over.

Academic center was a struggle in that we had to share a room with another nest. Finally, my WINGS leader arrived. She had class, which surprised me that she was allowed to show up late. We also struggled since our normal classroom we use was locked. So, we had to move to a different classroom, which had none of our supplies. It was difficult, but the girls did a fine job of being flexible. I was proud of them!

After academic center, we went to choice. I went to painting again. As I sat with some of my girls, I told them, “Guys, tomorrow is my last day. I’m going to miss you all.”

“When will you be back?” one of the girls asked.

“Tomorrow,” I told her.

“No, after that, when will you be back?”

My heart sank. The realization hit me. Already, I was so attached to these darling girls, and they were so attached to me. And I had to leave them and probably never see them again. “I don’t know,” I told her.

Despite this low, I had a great high, though, during choice. As I mentioned, I made it a personal goal to win Talajah over. She sat behind me during the read aloud and I had placed a sticker on my forehead. I looked over at her, and then took the sticker and put it on her. She looked down at the sticker, then back at me, and smiled. Mission accomplished!

After choice, we all ate dinner and the gang headed back to our house. Tonight, Kristen, Abby, and Conner are making breakfast for dinner—pancakes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits. All of this food is delicious, but Lord have mercy! It is so unhealthy! While I’m enjoying the yummy noms, I’m looking forward to getting back into my healthy eating and exercising. At least the food bank is a little bit of a work out, so that’s a plus.

Reflection got deep. I ended up almost crying about some of the things that I shared. It was hard, but I’m glad that I opened up to the group. After reflection, we brightened the mood by playing Heads Up, a game on a smart phone that involves guessing what the subject is. For example, if the category is “Kids,” the word “Shrek” might pop up and everyone has to describe it for the guesser to guess it. We had a ton of laughs with that and were all able to go to bed with big smiles. All in all, I’d say it was an awesome day.

Day Three (Tuesday)

Rise and shine at 7 AM! Hello, Food Bank at 9:00. Today, we bagged buddy packs. Buddy packs are bags filled with small snacks to give students something to eat over the course of a weekend to prevent hunger. These packs consisted of two milks, two cereals, a small can pasta, a small Chef Boyardee, two fruit cups, and a granola bar. We worked in an efficient assembly line to pack these bags for three awesome hours. As we progressed, we made it our goal to open and use all of the Chef Boyardee since it seemed those were running low. As our third hour approached, we began doubling up—doing two bags per person. We raced through the line, all in the zone. The minutes ticked past, until finally noon arrived all too soon, and we had not reached our goal. However, we kept packing until we met our goal.

At the end of the day, we packaged a total of 2,025 buddy packs! That’s 2,025 children that won’t go hungry for a weekend! To put that into perspective, the Charleston food bank distributes between 12,000-13,000 buddy packs each month! So while we accomplished a lot, it was still only a small fraction of the whole. It’s crazy to think how many kids are in need.

After the food bank, we napped and then headed over to WINGS. Today was fantastic! The second those Kindergartners walked in, they all hugged me! We danced together and sang and held hands. In addition to being loved by them, they also saw me as a figure of authority. They did well listening to my instructions. For example, during academic center, I reminded them to use kind words, so they did. They also stayed on task while working on their homework.

Today was a “choice” day, which means the kids were allowed to pick an activity to go to. I chose to go to painting, and four of my kindergartners came with me to painting, too. While we were getting set up, Laura and I did read-alouds to the kids. I read Green Eggs and Ham to the kids, and they loved it! They were all so engaged! Towards the end of choice, we had a couple minutes of extra time. As a teacher, I’ve learned that it’s crucial to keep kids occupied during every minute. So, I jumped up and said, “Let’s do the hokey pokey!” This turned out to be such a great idea! Almost all of the kids enjoyed singing and doing the dance. It ended on just the right moment because the kids then lined up to go to dinner. I was so proud of myself for making a smooth transition.

On our way to dinner, my kindergarten girls were amazing in keeping their level zero voices. They faced forward, didn’t talk, and kept their hands to their selves. I was SO proud! Especially since one of the girls was normally super talkative and unable to stand still. She did a stunning job! I was so proud and so happy!

During dinner, we had a hoola hoop contest between Mizzou students, WINGS kids, and WINGS leaders. This was priceless. Watching my peers try to hoola hoop against these talented kids was too funny. The kids ended up winning—congrats, WINGS kids!

After WINGS, we headed on home. It was my turn to cook dinner tonight with my partner, Zach. We planned to make homemade pizza. This proved to be more challenging that we thought… two hours later! TWO. HOURS. Of cooking. Our problems revolved around gooey dough, especially in the center of the pizza. It did not help that we had to bake the pizza on cookie sheets, and we could only cook two pizzas at a time. Since we were cooking for eleven, we thought four pizzas would be ideal. After our two hours, we finally finished and we all greatly enjoyed the pizza.

We closed the night by playing games late into the night. Spoons got competitive and then we played Signs, which I found particularly difficult. At one point, we were all so slap happy that we just could not stop laughing. It was such a great day. I can’t believe tomorrow is Wednesday. The time is going by so quickly! But I’m having a blast and I would not change a thing. 

Day Two (Monday): Our First Day of Service

As my alarm sounded at 7:00 AM, I rolled off my air mattress and hopped into the shower. Today was our first day of service. We were out of the house by 8:30 and at the Food Bank by 9:00. Our mission: bag the sweet potatoes. Five large bins stood before the eleven of us—all filled to the brim. Small potatoes, large potatoes, rotten potatoes, moldy potatoes, gargantuan potatoes, long potatoes, round potatoes, butt potatoes. Mission accepted.

Our assembly line formation began with the person cutting the net to be used for the bags, a bag tie-er, people loading potatoes in, people holding the loading bag, and people tying the bag off once completed. Could we complete the mission in the three hours? We bagged and bagged those potatoes as the minutes passed by. David performed his acrobatics to hop into the bins and load up the bags, in addition to seeing if he could “score” the bad ones into the dumpster from three bins distance away. It was cutting it close as the twelve-o-clock hour came upon us. Our legs were aching, our stomachs growling, our feet throbbing. We had maybe one-fourth of two bins each left. Five minutes left. We packed and tied those bags eagerly. Four, three, two, one.

…We didn’t make it.

But, alas, we pressed on. We were so close, we decided to power through like the superheroes we are. Only going 15 minutes over, we completed our task. Huzzah!! With great jubilance, we sat down in the break room and devoured our deli sandwiches like ravenous barbarians. Maybe that’s an exaggeration. But at first, we were all so busy stuffing our faces that we couldn’t talk.

After that, we headed to the park where some people went out to explore and play, while others stayed in the cars and napped. I was one of the napees. It was brief, but blissful. I needed it in order to energize myself for the afternoon ahead of us at WINGS.

Once arriving at WINGS, we selected our “nests,” which were groups of children organized by grade and gender. Being a fan of primary grades, I selected Kindergarten girls. Immediately, they wanted to know my name, hold my hand, hug me, and play with me. At one point, the notorious Call Me Maybe came on, and we all danced together. We are the Kindergarten girls “Hummingbirds.”

We were also one of the lucky groups to win a random drawing for a few minutes of free play outside. There, the girls showed me more of their dance moves where I joined in. While all of this was great fun, I was most excited for academic center. I could not wait to put my teaching skills into practice.

During academic center, I sat with three girls and read the directions for their homework. They were studying prepositions—next to, behind, in front of, etc. They were superstars! They knew exactly how to do their homework. After they completed that, they showed me some of their magnificent drawings. Masterpieces, I tell you, masterpieces! All the coloring was INSIDE the lines. And when one girl wanted to spell the word “blue,” she drew her “b” correctly, instead of the common error of making a “d.” I was ecstatic. The girls also used this time to give me two more names since my name is rather boring. So, now, I’m “officially” Ashley Glee Laclara Timona Byrd, or something along those lines.

After this, we went back outside for free play. We enjoyed playing tag and doing trust falls with each other. The girls also greatly enjoyed a jumping game where they would jump up and push themselves up on my arms to lift them higher. If I jumped with them, they would go even higher! They also loved getting picked up and spun around. It was so much fun! It reminded me of the days that I worked summer camp.

Following free play, we went back to our classroom where we enjoyed a read-aloud together of the Bearenstein Bears. They loved it! They were giggling as the nest leader used different voices for the characters. We talked about teamwork after reading this book, which was also great since each letter in “team” stood for something.

T: tell others my strengths and weaknesses

E: express your words kindly

A: act as one

M: make sure everyone feels included

I loved this! I cannot wait to take so many of these things to my own future classroom!

At the end of the day, the kids had dinner. This was an interesting site. Many of the kids just ate their fruit cups, nibbled a little bit on their spaghetti, and did not touch their green beans or drink their milk. The bulk of the food was thrown out, and even the food that was not served had to be thrown out, too. This made me sad, because I hate seeing food go to waste.

We left the school fatigued and came back to the house where we lounged out and snacked until dinner was ready. David and Raedeya made dinner. T’was a sausage fest. They bought so much sausage at the grocery store and the whole house smelled like sausage and the pasta was dominated by the sausage pieces. But it was delicious! The boys did a fine job and our bellies were happy.

Our day wrapped up with reflection and a ping pong tournament. My moment of “fame” lasted only temporarily. However, I’m quite all right with that. I needed to finish this here entry and then go to bed. Kids wear you out! I don’t know how and where I will find the energy to go all day as a teacher. I applaud the WINGS staff, though. They are doing a remarkable thing, and it’s an amazing experience to put myself in their shoes for a week.

Here’s to a great day! Cheers!

The Open Road + Day One

As I threw my clothing into my suitcase late Thursday night after a long day of school and work, I questioned why I had signed up to go on a service trip with ten other people that I hardly knew. I kept reminding myself that I was doing this so I could grow—I needed the experience to be a better teacher. And since teaching is my passion, I knew if I held on to that one reason, it would keep me going.

Friday, my departure day, arrived. Before I knew it, my suitcase and I were piled into a van with five other people. The journey had begun. We left Columbia around 5 and stopped in St. Louis at 8 for dinner. There, our taste buds experienced a journey of their own—mostaccioli, sweet Italian salad, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies.

From there, we continued onward and eastbound. Late into the night, we arrived in Nashville where we crashed for the night with a Mizzou alumni family. We enjoyed our stay greatly! In the morning, they had fruit, croissants, bacon, and a breakfast casserole ready for us. Together, we devoured the delicious meal, stuffing our bellies for the ten hour drive ahead of us.

Around 1, we arrived in Knoxville where we stopped at Cook Out for lunch with another Charleston MAB/ASB group. The food there was also a delightful trip for our taste buds and bellies! For dinner, we stopped in Columbia, South Carolina where we basked in the glory of Chick-Fil-A.

Alas, we made it to Charleston. Dog tired, we unloaded our bags and took off to the grocery store. The competition was on—each of us had a partner and a $50 dinner budget for one night. My partner and I decided on homemade pizza. As we loaded our cart, I grew nervous about us going over the budget. We were going to be fine; however, my awesome partner and his darn sweet tooth put us over with the decision to buy more cookie dough. $5 over—curses! But, at least it was Nestle, not Pillsburry—you’re welcome, Nick.

By the end of the night, we were all tucked in bed and sound asleep. Oh wait. There’s a story there…

When we arrived to the house, we were trying to figure out sleeping arrangements. My trip leader, Alana, and I would be sharing a bed downstairs. This bed appeared to be a pull-out from a couch. We took off the cushions and gave the grip-handle a good tug. Then another tug. It came up, but then was stuck. Another good, hard tug, and finally the bed was pulled out. As we looked upon our mattress, our jaws hung and our eyes gaped. “That is definitely blood,” Alana said. Not far from the blood rested a squashed, dead fly. This is jankety, I thought to myself.

Alana lay down on the bed and suddenly the front end collapsed to the ground! It was settled—we would not be staying on that bed. Air mattress all the way for the win.

Now: Sunday. Our free day. After WINGS came for orientation, we went to Folly Beach to take family photos. So. Much. Fun. We had a blast and laughed so much. After picture time, we had a picnic on the pier—sandwiches, chips, cookies—hashtag nomnom.

After this, we drove to Downtown Charleston where we went to The Market. It was a huge in door shopping area with all sorts of merchants. Souvenirs, jewelry, clothing, hand-woven baskets, paintings, and more! Bursting with life and color, we made our way through the hustle and bustle, all easily identifiable in our matching white shirts. While there, I couldn’t resist the urge to buy certain souvenirs. I came across seashells with “Charleston, SC” written on them with small palm tree drawings. In addition, I had to continue my tradition of purchasing a spring break hoodie. My freshman year spring break, I went to South Padre and bought a hoodie that indicated my travel destination. I wear it all of the time. I decided a Charleston hoodie was a must-have. With them being on sale for $20, I could not say no!

In addition, I had to carry on the tradition of my spoons. My grandma got me into this one when I went abroad to France for two weeks during the summer many moons ago. My awesome group helped me locate the spoons, and I successfully bought one to add to my collection.

After the Market, we were wiped out. We headed home for an intense game of Uno. Following this, “Mom” and “Dad” made us Mexican for dinner. We all chowed down on beef tacos and chips and queso.

The fun only continued from there. We went outside and played catch with the football, touch-tag football, and knockout in the Church gym. After these eventful activities, we marathoned through a bag of popsicles and played the “Game of Things.” We settled down with reflection where we discussed our feelings about tomorrow.

While I cannot wait to meet the kids at WINGS, I’m anxious that I won’t click with them, or that they won’t like me. I’m an optimist, so I’d like to think that everything will work out. There’s always a learning and growing experience in everything, it seems. So, while we have successfully arrived alive in Charleston, the real journey has only just begun.