3/20
Two years ago I left Daisey Street Louisiana completely unaware
of the major changes Alternative Spring Break 2011 would bring to my life. I
went to Daisey Street as an Elementary Education student who enjoyed service
but never thought about turning that love into a career. It wasn’t until after
ASB 2011 that I started to question what I was meant to do in this life, that I
started questioning so many different parts of society, and that I started
trying to understand the bigger picture. Suddenly I had so many questions and
started wondering how I as one person could start coming up with answers to
these questions.
Since my first ASB trip so much has changed. I changed my
major to Sociology, I made service a bigger part of my life, and have spent
every day since this trip thinking of ASB in some way, whether reflecting on
the memories from the trip, planning the next ASB, trying to figure out how to
turn my passion for service into a career, or simply trying to find ways to
help and understand the many problems in society.
As we pulled up to Daisey Street today, two years later, I
had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t sit still. I was about to be reunited
with a place that I had only worked at for one week yet it changed everything.
My heart started to beat faster as we took that right turn. As much as I was having
my own moment I knew this was something that ASB 2013 participants could
appreciate. I explained to the participants why we had brought them there.
While there are days when volunteerism is long, tiring, and tedious, these
small acts of giving back can lead to tremendous results. When we left Daisey
Street there was only a floor to a house. There were no walls, no roof, hardly
a resemblance of a house that would become a home. But today there was a home,
there were chairs on the porch, there was a family that lived there. All of
those small tasks: hammering nails, leveling out dirt, installing termite
shields created this home. The small tasks that can seem pointless are actually
just the opposite. They are necessary. I reminded the group that the small acts
of volunteerism they have been doing all week: raking leaves, cleaning up a
garden, bagging oysters are just the first steps of a journey. While the tasks
sometimes seem small, they are necessary. With each small task that gets
completed we are helping to make steps towards the bigger picture, even though this
bigger picture can be harder to see. But the big picture was right in front of
us on Daisey street today.
I feel more fortunate that I can ever explain for having an
amazing group of participants, chaperones, and trip leaders who allowed me and
other ASB 2011 participants to have this reunion with Daisey Street today. It
was a “full circle” moment in my life. How lucky am I to have my first ASB
experience combine with my last ASB experience? It was emotional but for all
the right reasons. I again cannot explain what this program has done for me and
as I explained to the ASB participants not everyone gets the same things out of
ASB but as long as they get one thing out of it it has been a success. My hope
is that each participant will leave the trip with one thing in their heart and
that is the desire to simply help, help in small ways everyday. It is after the
trip that the journey to service really begins, if you choose.
Feeling so grateful,
Molly Goguen
Operations and Education Trip Leader
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