Fuller Center-Americus, GA

Hello all! I'm not even sure where to begin because so much has happened in the last 8 days! I have spent the last week in Americus, Georgia with Dickinson College students working at the Fuller Center for Housing for their spring break. I am incredibly happy with how this trip went, we had some hiccups along the road but I had a wonderful set of students and I am incredibly pleased and thrilled with all the work they did in 5 days through working with the Fuller Center.

Finding Geocashe

Day 1 (Saturday) : We left for Georgia last Saturday  in 4 degree where and ended up spending the night in Columbia, South Carolina, which is about an 8 hour drive from Carlisle. We got to Georgia by driving 3 minivans, two which were from Enterprise and were insanely nice. I didn't realize that fancy vans had full on outlets in the car to charge laptops and all of that jazz. The vans went smoothly and we only "lost" one along the way, meaning they took a wrong exit and we had to meet up with them at the next exit. When we got to our hotel, it was fairly nice, however... one of our five rooms had the case of the bedbugs (many of them), so I had to go to the hotel desk and complain to get another room and that it was not acceptable. While we were there, there was a cheerleading and baseball tournament somewhere nearby and there were a ton of children running around as well. Though the rooms weren't the greatest, the food in the morning was pretty good. I had grits readily available at any moment and they had good coffee. We left the hotel on Sunday to drive four hours to get to Americus, Georgia. 
Day 2 (Sunday) :When we entered Georgia on Sunday, we went on a hike and had a picnic at Lake Oconee. This was a very nice location, the lake was large, lots of picnic tables and it was a great day for a hike. While we were hiking we found a geocache, which was really cool since I had never seen that before! Inside the box was a tiny Beanie Baby, a pair of sunglasses, a little notepad and pen, and other random objects. We wrote in the notebook that we are on a service trip, but we have been lost for days and contemplating cannibalism, we have lost 3 students due to dehydration and we left a mini deodorant, and other small items. When we started on the hike, we thought it would walk around the lake, but the trail ended, so we had to turn around and walk back.  After the hike, we loaded the vans and headed the remaining 4 hours to Americus. When we arrived we stayed at United Methodist Church. The church was really cool, it had a full kitchen with two refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, and it was supplied with cups, bowls, and plates. Right off the kitchen was the room where all 11 of the girls slept, we were surprised and they brought us all cots, so we didn't have to sleep on the floor! The four men stayed in another room on the opposite side. The floor in the kitchen and dining area was black and white checkered and they had different tables and booths to sit in. They also had a room called Foundry, and that is used for youth group, but it has a foosball table, ping pong, and air hockey. When we arrived that night, they prepared supper for us and we got to talk to some of the members of the church. There were two bathrooms for us to use and a shower in each, so it was wonderful to have those facilities. We also played a lot of fun games throughout the church. There were 3 floors and a sanctuary that made perfect locations for hiding spots for hide and seek and the opposite game called sardines and live action Mafia. This church also had a full daycare and preschool, where about 80 children come everyday. I was shocked to find out that their youth group has about 40 students, which is totally different from St. Stephens in Harrisburg, that has less than 10 students. The youth director, Charles, was so very helpful and wanted to know what he could do to help, he was welcoming and kind to all 15 of us there.

PaintingTrim

Day 3 (Monday): First day at one of the work sites! We went to the new downtown office of the Fuller Center for Housing and got to find out more about this organization and get our hands a little dirty. The Fuller Center is branched off of Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller worked for Habitat but later got fired for conflict of interest. Millard was a millionaire by the time he turned 27 and he found his marriage was crumbling because of money and he decided to do what the Word of the Lord said to do, so he started the Fuller Center for Housing. Fuller Center builds homes for people who do not have any other options and it is a fairly complex application. Each applicant has to do "labor equity" which means they have to be involved with helping the house and they have to be able to pay back their affordable mortgage, because their mortgage is what creates others homes. We worked very closely to a man named Kirk who is the one that got us to Americus, he gave us directions and helped show us the town later in the week. He has done so much and has had a variety of jobs, but his passion is Fuller Center. We also met an incredible man named Thad this week. Thad is a recipient of a house because he got in a car

Playing Chess with Jordan

accident when he was 38 and became paralyzed and he needed a home to let him become independent again. Ever sense he received his home 20 years ago, he has been heavily involved with Fuller Center. He is the one who taught us how to use power tools, he was motivation and encouragement for us all week and he truly cared that we were there. On the first day, I worked on touch up paint around windows and helped take down ceiling tiles and repaint them because they had over 25 years of smoke damage to them. Other students help sort over 10,000 tools for the tool library and others created a floor and helped knock down a wall. That night, Kirk invited us to play chess with some children that live in a Habitat house, though Fuller Center is separate, they still have a large connection. Playing chess is hard and I played an 8 year old and lost miserably. Jordan has been playing chess for 1 year is very good at it. The kids at chess were all happy that we joined them and we could tell that it meant a lot of them that we joined. We ate pizza for dinner that the church provided and then played a game of Sardines (opposite hide and seek).

Improvements of the office!

New floor

Day 4 (Tuesday):This was our last day at the office site, and I got to use a power tool called a plainer, which took part of a door off to make it even and be able to shut better. This door for the bathroom locked many students inside and had them cry for help to get out, so I am happy I could relieve some emotional problems by helping the door not be stuck. I also was able to teach some of the guys how to use this tool, which was pretty cool! The tool library got finished, all ceiling tiles were painted and put up, the floor was finished and we were able to work with Thad and Kirk more closely again. After the work day, we joined Charles and his college students for dinner and worship a few miles away. I had fried chicken, fried okra, mac and cheese, and buns for dinner, I don't think that could be any more southern. After worship, Charles took us all to Sonic for ice cream and then we headed back to the church for nightly reflections and a game of Mafia.
Day 5 (Wednesday): First day at the house location! This house is for the Lewis family, which is a husband and wife and their four children ranging in age to high school junior to 10 years old. We got the house at 10 am and the drywall installers just finished an hour or so before, it was completely dusty, wood floors, and exposed drywall. Our jobs for Wednesday and Thursday was to prime and paint all rooms, install tile floor, paint doors, and trim and any other jobs that were asked. Also on Wednesday, I had a very special day, I spent the night with my brother in Dublin, GA! He drove 1hr and half to come get me and take me back to see his house for the first time. We ate tatortot casserole, watched Man of Steele and Foxcatcher and just caught up with each other! This was the first time we had seen each other in a year, which is incredibly exciting! I spent the night and returned to the house site the next morning. 

Thad and I

Day 6 (Thursday): I arrived back to Americus in the morning and today was the day the doors arrived and I helped lay down grout for the floor tiles. I received a lot of positive words from Thad about laying grout, which was incredibly meaningful! He was so helpful in teaching me what to do and how to do it. It was a great feeling seeing the change from drywall to fully painted walls to floor being laid in the kitchen, hallway, and bathrooms! An incredible change!! That evening, the students prepared dinner and then we played one of my favorite games- Newly Georgia Game, which is like the Newlywed game, where they answer questions about their assigned partner. Not all of these students knew each other and they did really well during this game! They had many laughs and all had positive words about the game! At this point, everyone was starting to feel the long days and manual labor. We normally went to bed around 12:30am and got up before 7am. Our reflections all week had been great and I truly felt like I have gotten to know the students and we all felt like we really did make a difference in Americus. We had random people on the street stop us and thank us for our work and dedication to Americus. We had people stop us at restaurants and thank us. We were event featured on the front page of the Americus paper! Everyone is so appreciative of all that we have done, which I thought was really cool and wasn't expecting it in the slightest. Through talking with people in Americus, people do not really travel far away from here, but if they do, they usually come back. I asked Thad if he lived anywhere else or travelled far  and the furthest he has ever travelled is Miami, Florida, which is one state away. I found that very fascinating. 

Giant Peanut in Plains, GA

Day 7 (Friday): This was our last official day in Americus, we spent the day travelling and learning about the city. We went to a local elementary school and read to the classes. I read to a 2nd grade class Hooway for Wodney Wat, which is one of my favorite books, ever. They all enjoyed the story and all the students were fascinated about why we were in Americus and how old I was. After that, we went an saw the Fuller Center offices and how everything happens and gets scheduled. We then went to Koinonia Farm, which is a self- sustaining farm that has amazing chocolate, pecan trees, blueberries, grapes, and corn fed beef. We stayed here for lunch and had tilapia and hush puppies. There was a gorgeous farm dog there that was wounded from a fox, he was protecting the land and  I was able to pet him for awhile! His brown eyes totally melted me! We then went on at Andersonville, which was Georgia's largest Prisoner of War and Missing in Action camp! This was very interesting and moving. I was standing on land where 13,000 men and some women had died for fighting during the Civil War, we also saw the cemetery and all the different monuments that other states gave to Andersonville. The cemetery reminded me a lot of Arlington, which is a place I really want to go during my time on the East coast! We then moved to Plains, Georgia which is wear President Jimmy Carter is from and I had peanut ice cream! Plains is very proud of their peanut heritage and Jimmy Carter, it is plastered everywhere! They had really neat antique stores and I saw all sorts of things from baseball cards, to comic books, to stained glass and everything in between! We went out to eat that evening at a restaurant named Pats and then finished the night with reflection and a game of Mafia!
Day 8 (Saturday): This was our day of goodbyes, we said goodbye to the 80 degree, sunny weather and started our trek to the north again. We drove to Roanoke, VA where we were planning to spend the night at a local hotel, but the hotel had broken windows of people trying to break in, it is known for prostitution and drugs.... so we didn't stay their. We completed our drive home that night and arrived back at 3am (today).

Andersonville Cemetey

Dog and Koinonia Farm

Tonight we will be having a closing dinner to finish up our trip on a positive note, which is good! I will be back in Harrisburg tonight, which I am excited for my own bed! This week has been incredible, I feel like I have grown up so much this week and I gained great relationships with students and truly solidifies that I want to work in Student Affairs! I am so blessed and happy that I was able to be apart of this trip, we had a great team and I am very pleased, moved, and appreciative of everything that happened this week!