Baltimore Mission Trip Experience
On April 27, 2019 I flew out to Baltimore, MD with six strangers to provide educational services to children.
We each had applied for Florida International University's Alternative Breaks and we were supposed to get to know each other in the 7 months we had to prepare, but we somehow never got around to hanging out! When I realized I was jetting off to a city I've never been, with six people I barely knew, safe to say I was ANXIOUS!
We spent 2 days at Washington D.C. before driving up to Baltimore and we visited some amazing spots like The White House (obviously) and the National Washington Cathedral which is so underrated and beautiful!!!!
Now let's get down to the missionary work. It. was. work.
We were volunteering with Living Classrooms, an amazing organization that provides programs and services for communities in Baltimore. At first, we wanted to work solely with children at the UA House. We figured that's where we'd make the most impact and to be completely transparent, we didn't really want to get our hands dirty - yeah that changed.
For 3 days we worked hands on with the kids at UA House and we loved it! We played soccer, assisted teachers, and mostly played with them until their parents arrived to pick them up. It was such a meaningful experience but we were gonna be in Baltimore for 8 days, we wanted more ways to serve the community.
After reaching out to Living Classrooms about where else they could use our services, we heard about about Project SERVE and WE WERE IN!
Okay so here's the thing, all of us went to college in Miami, most of us were sheltered our whole lives to this "Miami bubble" so we had no idea what were in for. All we knew is that Project SERVE was a program that provides on-the-job training for unemployed and disadvantaged young adults while they revitalizing Baltimore neighborhoods.
We were told that we'd be picking up trash and beautifying communities around Baltimore. They gave us the run down on all the bad parts of town and we were told there was one VERY important rule. "Always kick a bag before you throw it out incase there are any rats in it" That's when reality hit lol. We were dealing with piles of trash on abandoned lots and homes in the neighborhood. It sounds gross, and it was. But between cutting grass and picking up trash we got to talk to some of the men in the Project SERVE program and it was eye-opening. They had been in prison for years, and this was a way for them to get trained to get back into the workforce. One of the boys mentioned how he had been in prison for over 20 years and had never even had a job. After hearing so many stories and even one poem, we felt like this was why we came to Baltimore. To serve a community filled with talented, unique, underprivileged individuals.
After such an eventful day we were excited for the next day. The guys showed us all the good food spots and gave us a lot of recommendations, after all we were 7 college kids in a new city that we did NOT plan accordingly. We got to do the most memorable act of service of the trip (in my opinion), doing mock interviews. We split up into groups, it would be 2 interviewers (us) and 3-4 interviewees (Project SERVE participants). I didn't realize how much knowledge I could provide, after all, I was 20 and these guys were 30-45 years old, but they were so excited! I felt their energy elevate every time I'd give them some pointers, they even wrote NOTES! Me and Ari, the "interviewers" felt so proud of them, I wish I could go back to that moment just to record the entire thing and see their faces! We got to pick up and beautify the neighborhood some more the next day, and really bonded with everyone, including our host who kept scaring us to death about the "huge rats" that live in Baltimore, luckily we never saw one!
We'd reflect nightly on our long days working with Living Classrooms while eating the dozens of snacks we got from Wawa, it wasn't in Miami yet so we were all obsessing over their sandwiches and smoothies! It was surreal meeting these 6 strangers and coming on an 8 day trip to middle-of-nowhere Baltimore. We still talk regularly and honestly, if ya'll are reading this, when's the next trip :-) ?
Did you guys think that was it? Nope. We got to go back to the UA House the next day and got the opportunity to build bicycles to give out in the community. It was an amazing experience and if I learned anything, I learned how to build a bike! YAY!
On our last mission, we got to participate in the Kingsman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival as volunteers! We weren't able to affect as much change as we wanted on this one, but we did get to attend a cute festival with a lot of local talent and vendors. It was a beautiful park and the food was so yummy, I highly recommend anyone to go, they even have kayaking! It was the perfect way to end a laborious trip!
There were so many things I left out, but this blog post was based on the mission! Maybe I'll do another post about the best places to eat in Baltimore because there are SO MANY!
Visiting Baltimore and Washington D.C. with a mission to serve people in the community is by far, the most meaningful trip I've ever been on and I can't wait to go back some day <3
A special thank you to everyone who made this trip possible. Please consider donating to any of these organizations <3