A Group Reflection

Hello again, I am Allie and Happy New Year from all of us to you!

A few weeks ago, we all met for a group meeting about our trip and we were all very excited that our trip is coming along! Before we know it will be March and we will driving up to Toronto! In preparation for our trip, we each did a reflection on our last meeting and we would like to share them with you!Here you will find each individuals thoughts and ideas from our last meeting on the Dignity of Human Life! Each individual was given the opportunity to give there post their own style!

Laura:

“With the meeting on Monday focusing primarily on human dignity, it was impressed upon my heart to take our service a step further.  It is easy to see the need for friendship of those living in L'Arche communities.  Our hearts are moved to offer our love and time to make a difference for them.  Yet we have so many people who are marginalized within our own small worlds.  I have made it a goal for myself (and I have challenged my team to do the same) to learn the names of at least two people who are essential for Gannon's success, but do not receive public recognition.   #humandignity #makingadifference”

Maureen:

“Hello! My name is Maureen Piccirilli and I am one of the Co-Leaders going on this amazing trip to L’Arche.  I am so excited that I am getting to know these amazing people that will be walking through this life changing journey with me.  Our time together so far has been beautiful and reflective.  Their insights wonderful and I look forward to all the future meetings we will have together.  In our most recent meeting we discussed the dignity of the human person through some quotes said by Pope Francis.  We discussed that each person, no matter how old or what their disability may be, has a dignity and a gift to offer.  This is one of the key concepts that we will discover through our journey to L’Arche.  These people are beautiful and talented and deserve the respect that would be given to anyone else.   They have gifts to share and if we take the time to look for them, we will realize that these gifts should be shared around the world.  I look forward to move forward with this group and to experience with them the amazing journey that is L’Arche.”

Katherine:

“I find one of the most challenging images for the dignity of the human person amongst those who live on the margins. Sometimes they are the children bullied in school, sometimes they are refugees of war or natural disaster, and sometimes they are those living with disabilities, but in all cases, they have something in common: someone doesn’t want them. There are some people we wish would just go away, and when I confront that desire within myself, I confront both a prejudice within myself, and the discomfort and vulnerability that comes in facing someone else’s pain and the call to be with that person and to share his or her pain—and joy.

Dignity is so often a word we use to refer to those who have gravitas or who have contributed something considered valuable to society. Yet the person who meets each day with joy because he or she is alive is also dignified, because that person is a witness that life has value—including for those living on the margins. What I love about the L’Arche mission the holistic view of individuals who have both good and bad qualities, and the insistence that every person has value. In recognizing human dignity, a revolution begins, and the people on the margins are brought into the center where we all belong.”

Lily:

“At this last meeting, I loved what we did. We chose quotes that spoke to us and shared them with the group. These quotes were from Pope Francis and were about human dignity. The quote that really hit me mentioned how we often see people with disabilities as less important and less “useful” than people without disabilities. The Pope said that we all have our gifts and that no gift is more important than another. This is so beautiful and true because everyone has something to offer, although it might not be physical labor or the ability to make money, that doesn't mean that it’s useless. Sometimes what this world needs most is simply someone who can just make people smile. God’s gifts come in all shapes and sizes, but never vary in importance. This message is the epitome of our group’s mission; to spread the importance of all human life.”

Brandon:

“The meeting that we had was such a great way to bring awareness to all of us about the respect of human life, and how dignity of a human is so much more than what we make it. It opened my eyes in a unique way to the fact that we all are not so blessed everyday to have what we have, and some people just aren’t equipped with the proper skill sets to advance in life.  Even in the smallest of circumstances, each life is not more important than another; it is hard to live that way I know! However, if we can look past ourselves and step out of our comfort zone, than I know this trip will be not just a service trip, but a humble service all together.”

Leigh:

“I greatly enjoyed our conversation on human dignity. Most things worth saying have already been said, so using quotes (especially such well-chosen ones) drove the point home. I felt closer to everyone after this meeting and enjoyed the fact that many of us were able to share personal stories which pertained to both the subject at hand and the purpose of our trip. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with such a devoted and open group. Before this meeting, I was starting to feel a little nervous for the trip. Now, I have no doubts, and I can hardly wait for our trek to Toronto!”

Megan:

“I really enjoyed this second meeting with my ABST group. It's always great seeing them. The more time I spend with the group the more excited I get for this upcoming trip we'll be going on. Every time we meet I seem to learn something new about my group which is great. The activities our group leaders plan provide a great opportunity for us to open up to each other and get to know one another better since most of us were strangers before coming to this group. Our second meeting focused on the topic of human dignity. We did an activity involving quotes from our pope on that topic and we got to share what human dignity means to us. It was interesting to find that the group was pretty much in agreement with their views and beliefs on human dignity. It was nice to learn that we share similar views on this as well as other things we've discussed. It's definitely great for bonding us as a group.”

Allie:

“As a member of the group traveling to L`Arche, human dignity is one of the things I often have to things about, as do we all. We discussed the idea of service of presence at the last meeting and I believe it ties in with the ideas of human dignity and the rights to life as a whole. The idea of human dignity and the rights to life mean you value the individual for them more then what they can produce for you. And that is critical in our society. Our society has become obsessed with gaining and using others and they have lost the true meaning of human life. By enjoying the company of others and learning to understand what others are dealing with, that is how we become closer to one another. That is how we respect the human life for what is it is. As we discussed human dignity, we talked about how our differences are the important parts of us, because we all have challenges and struggles, but we must help each other through them. The differences must be respected because they are a part of human life, each individual is made in the image of God and therefore must be respected. I enjoyed this conversation, because I believe it brought us all closer as a group. We all have become more willing to share and experience this new adventure together as we embark farther on our ABST journey.”

We all will be meeting again soon, to discuss more about our trip to Toronto and cannot wait to serve the people of the L`Arche community! 

Service by Presence First Meeting

Hello once more! It is Allie Again and in our group meeting last week we discussed the ideas of the service of presence, because in L`arche that will be our primary focus.

The meeting started with a self-expression exercise, which we did not know the meaning to at the beginning, but we used the time to come together and share how our lives have been over the past few weeks and ultimately grow closer as a team. The exercise revealed we all have common anxieties about the next couple of weeks, with finals and the holidays approaching quickly. We also decided our meetings will be our time to escape and decompress from these everyday stressors.

 The self-expression excise eventually tied into our overall goal for the week, because we viewed a video, about the people of L’ache and their wants, needs, and goals, which seemed to be very similar to most of ours. (The video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj6GceipXmM&list=PL-6tfmk27t8dmx23j6sJx_LbzzU1dYtEt ,if you would like to view it) the basic human wants of the people with disabilities, were the same as the wants we all share. Many of our self-expression drawings showed our goals over the next couple weeks and how we all had them in common, and the life goals we have in common with the core members of L`arche.

                One of the topics we discusses, was how to incorporate our new knowledge into our acts of service. The one focus we want to have is a focus on the individual human being and the idea of understanding. Most of the people in L’arche said they did not like being misunderstood. The group discussed how we can all related to the feeling of being misunderstood, and how though our service, it was important to sit and listen to the core members of L`arche and give them the understanding they need.

                The main goal of out understanding, would be to focus on the mental and emotional needs of the people of L`arche. Unlike many other ABSTs we will be focusing on getting to know and understand the people while communicating with them and helping them fulfill their needs which cannot be done physically.

We also discussed how the trip not only aids the people of L`Arche, but will help us all grow in a better understanding of who we are and what we want to do. Maureen shared with us her experience at L`Arche in past years and how she grew throughout the trip. The growth will make us all more holistic human beings, and help us to create friendship bonds that will last. We are all very excited after our first group meeting and cannot wait to embark on our journey to L`Arche.

Welcome to Our Journey of Discovery and Growth

Hello, I am Allie Leng. I am a member of the Alternate Break Service Trip team going to L’Arche, Toronto. Our group learned today, life is about discovery, discovering yourself, life, and others. We took one of the fundamental steps on the road to our ABST, today, while discovering things about ourselves and the people we will spend the next few months getting to know and understand. We formed a bond that will help make our trip to L’Arche Toronto a successful experience. We want to welcome you into our experience and family, as we take this journey. Our journey consist of many amazing individuals including our fantastic student leaders Maureen Piccirilli and Laura Masiker and our accompanier the always wonderful Katherine Frazier, as well as a group of highly devoted young men and women, Brandon Feikles, Megan Davis, Leigh Tischler, Lily Peterson, and myself, who are ready to open their eyes to the possibilities that await in Toronto and share their experience with you and others in the community.

            During the group meeting today we participated in an activity that aided the discovery of ourselves and others, while helping to break the ice. As we all answered questions about our lives and beliefs, we came to realize that we all were not as different as we believe, and the differences that do exist make us stronger as a team. We all bring different experiences to the table and these different experience will help us to better understand the people we will work with in L’Arche. In addition, we contemplated how our differences affected our thoughts and actions and how the thought and actions of the members of our group differed from those of Gannon University and society as a whole. We came to understand that some of the beliefs we hold may not be the same as society and because our work will deal with the emotional support rather than physical labor, we must learn to accept these difference. Along with our contemplation of different ideals, we discussed the dignity of human life and how because of differences in culture or ability, society has a tendency to ostracize those who are different, when we need to embrace the differences and learn from them, because they help to grow our understanding of the world, and help us find out who we are as an individual. During our discussion on differences, we realized that we all faced challenges because of our differences and they varied in degree, based upon the situation and circumstances, but these challenges did not make anyone any less of a person, these challenges just make the life of each person different. By the end of our discussion, we seemed to have an understanding that each individual, not only in our group but in our Gannon society and in our Global society, had their own problems and differences, but when we use what we know as individuals and combine it to make a whole team, we can accomplish much more.      

            We are all very enthusiastic after our meeting as a whole team to grow more and learn together to bring the best possible experience to the people in L’Arche and we hope to continue to grow as a group and discover more about ourselves and the others involved!

“Everyone is broken except mine is visible” A Closing Reflection on our Journey

September 27^th 2013- The day I found out I would be leading a trip to L’Arche with Annie; I had very little knowledge what L’Arche actually was

October 11^th 2013- The day Jen Kline, aka Mama Bear, was announced as our accompanier and the dream team started to come to life; I still had little idea on what L’Arche was but was starting to do more research

October 25^th 2013-The day the dream team was finalized and I found out who we were taking along with us on this unknown journey to the great white north; I started to understand L’Arche, but had no idea what we were going to encounter along this journey.

March 1^st 2014- The dream team departs for L’Arche; the day my life would be changed forever

Marh 8^th 2014- The day we departed from the most beautiful experience I could ask for, without a dry eye in the group we said our goodbyes and departed for Erie.

With all of these unknowns and new beginnings of friendship forming, through all the meetings, through all the planning, I wasn’t expecting or ready for what I was about to experience.  In a single week at L’Arche, I learned more about who I am as an individual, and more about life as a whole than I have in my 20 years of living.  This trip put my entire life and my entire being into perspective and I realized what I was taking for granted in life.

Starting this week I led a meditation about us being the light of the world and sharing our light with others throughout the week.  Little did I know that I would be the one having the light shined upon me.  I was expecting to give the talents and love that I had to offer, when in reality all I could do was receive the love, happiness and joy that every single member of L’Arche had to offer.  All that needs to be said is celebration.  This trip was a pure celebration of life itself. 

What I learned throughout this week is that we all have our disabilities and are broken in some sort of way, however the difference between us and the core members is theirs is visible.  You can see what struggles they have encountered, it is all on the surface, but with us we hide ours to appear “normal” in the public eye.  What I learned this week is that we are all the same; we are all beautiful children of God.  I saw the beautiful gifts that the core members had to offer through their high spirits, open hearts, and compassionate beautiful souls.  They have the gift to share everything they have and to shine the light of the world on everyone they encounter.

As we depart for the final time, all I can say is thank you.  Thank you to L’Arche for welcoming a goofy group of Gannon University students into their world.  A thank you to my beautiful dream team for being the best group I could ever ask for.  I went on this trip expecting to make a difference in a core member’s life.  I leave this trip a changed man because of everyone I have encountered. I thank them for always having a smile, for breaking my shell to find out who I really am, and showing me what really matters in life.  It isn’t the new phone, car or money; it’s the relationships you make and the love that you share with everyone that you encounter.

Signing off for the last time,

Chris and the Rest of the Toronto Dream Team 

Fun Facts Friday

Hey Everyone,

                This is David writing today. For those of you who don’t know me, I am full of useless information that I usually share and after I say the snippet I follow through by stating “Fun Fact!” This week on the trip the Gannon group has heard many of these fun facts such as the leading cause of lower back pain in males and many others. From this experience, we have also learned many useful and interesting facts about L’Arche and incorporate them into our daily reflection. So if you see the phrase fun fact pop up from any of the other members in this group, it was probably my doing.

                Yesterday we went to the L’arche community in downtown Toronto and had dinner with them. At my house, we had an excellent dinner and community prayer. At this house there were four Core Members and three assistants who were all readily accepting and welcoming of us into their community. That is one of the fun facts that we have come to realize on this ABST. After dinner we were cleaning up and taking the plates out to the kitchen and there was one Core Member who was nonverbal who really made this experience of L’Arche so touching. I was standing in the kitchen with my arms at my side and my hands in my pockets and he came up beside me and looped his arm into the space between mine. I took this as him welcoming and accepting us into the house. Before the prayer, another one of the Core Members took the time to describe what was going on in each of the pictures and again the nonverbal Core Member stood up and made his voice heard when he took a picture off of another shelf and showed it to us. It was of him and another Core Member walking down the street holding hands.

 

                Today we had a reflection with Chris Jarvis who works in L’Arche Daybreak and while we were in the chapel for reflection we were able to have some really awesome experiences. Fun fact L’Arche has a program called the Spirit Movers which is a group of Core Members who use dance and music to express themselves and have performed for the public many times and are well known throughout the community. They were practicing in the room that we usually have reflection in hence why we were in the chapel. Towards the end of the reflection we were joined by one of the Core Members who plays the wooden spoons in the group and has performed publically for large groups. Fun fact, this performance touched each of us because it was so beautiful to see this happen before us. As we do our final reflection, we are talking about the different experiences we have had that challenged us, pushed us forward, and those that have touched us this week.

And finally, fun fact, in Canada tourniquet is pronounced without the final “t” (so you would say it “turn-a-key) as is Toronto (so you would say it Tor-on-oh) and they also have milk in bags! This has been “Fun Facts by David *tooth glint* “(when you see one of us back in the states, be sure to ask us to sing the theme song for you J)

One more sleep till home!

“You are my sunshine…"

Welcome back friends! 

This is Annie.  Our group had an awesome Thursday!  This was our final morning in the programs.  Molly and I were in the Club which functions as a community center for the Daybreak community.  It was such a fun morning making masks, finishing the celebration around Mardi Gras.  We then had lunch with Father George and a woman named Elizabeth.  She now lives as a hermit on the Daybreak community property.  We all had a very emotional morning taking in all the love and care that this community has shown us.  We sat with Elizabeth at lunch listening to the story of her experience, both living in and starting L’Arche communities.  As we sit here now we are all sharing our experiences of this week with various core members.  Sharing the times and moments when we have experienced both joy and heart ache. 

Last night we all separately went on the journey of cooking dinner for each of our homes.  I am happy to inform you that we all did well!  One of the dinner guests at my home was a man who has been in the L’Arche Daybreak community for many years, since almost the very beginning.  He and another woman in the community played music for us.  Her on the piano, and he played the spoons.  I was so moved by this experience.  Sitting there listening to “You are my sunshine” and the rhythm of the spoons I realized how special this experience was, it contained the feelings of both comfort and fun, it felt like home.  Here was one of the many times this week when I have seen the home that L’Arche is.  This feeling of home is something that is so present in all the L’Arche communities.  We have been with the Hamilton and the Richmond Hill communities and will be going to Toronto tonight.  In all of our experiences throughout this week I have recognized this need for home that is in all of us.  As we are getting to the end of this week my hope for myself and all of us is that we take that need for home, recognize it in ourselves, and become people who offer that experience to every person we meet from here on out.     

Wednesday Workday!

Hi friends, this is Molly blogging today.  We spent the morning in the various day programs.  Annie and I were at the Club, unfortunately there was only one core member, Helen, but we were able to relax and enjoy spending time with her.  Wednesday’s are usually their “tech” days, so they had IPads that we were able to play some games with.  We were goofing around a bit with some musical apps and a pottery app.  Spending time with Helen and the other core members have really made me reflect on the way that I live my life.  Helen kept saying how she had a “leisurely breakfast” and there was no need to rush.  This made me realize how much I spend my life rushing and I never take the time to just reflect.  I think that is one of the main things that I have been able to gain from this weekend, the importance of slowing down and really enjoying the things in life. 

This evening we are all going back to our houses to cook dinner for the core members.  There are definitely mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety about cooking, but we are all looking forward to this opportunity to cook and spend time eating dinner with the communities that have so graciously welcomed us.  Please stay tuned for more stories about our adventures with L’Arche Daybreak. 

JK note: We also had the privilege of celebrating Ash Wednesday at the Dayspring this morning. And sure enough, a familiar face was presiding over the mass with us. I suppose he did ok :)