Re: how to respond to today's events?

Stan, Kevin, All --

I have followed this listserv for over a year now and have only sent out a
message or two.  However, after talking with some folks who have seemed to
lose hope and are beginning to doubt this world, I fell it necessary to
contribute my thoughts on service-learning in conjunction with yesterday's
events.

I came into this field because I strongly feel that community based service
combined with education and reflection, whether classroom based or not, IS
the tool or long-term solution to incredibly heinous acts such as what we
saw yesterday.  Although I had done much volunteer work as a child, it
wasn't until I participated on an alternative break that incorporated
issue-based education, community interaction, and open/honest reflection my
freshman year of college that I realized how powerful this model for social
change really can be.

In just one week, I learned that I was not "better" than the people of the
small town of Pembroke, VA that I served.  I learned that money was not the
key to success.  I learned that my definitions of "poverty," "wealth,"
"friendship," and "happiness" were drastically skewed from the real meaning
of those words.  I learned that I could, along with a group of 17 other
students, build two footbridges, clear a mountain of debris and construct
trails, build the framework for a playground, and construct wheelchair ramps
in just one week as a small token of appreciation to a community that taught
me more about the benefits of respecting and valuing differences, the
dignity and worth of every human being, and the desperate need our world has
to find a medium for communication and dialogue that leads to human
understanding.

I returned from that one service-learning experience with a passion to
interact with people that were different from me, with a passion to honestly
try and learn as much as I could about social issues, and to make changes in
my everyday life to be a more active citizen and to signal that I honestly
wanted to understand and befriend anyone that I could.

I became a leader in the alternative break program at Florida State
University and also began to lead local volunteer initiatives in the
Tallahassee area.  I began speaking with faculty about integrating service
with their coursework to increase the quantity and quality of
service-learning opportunities at the university and I did my best to
incorporate community interaction, education, collaboration, and effective
reflection with every "Into The Streets," "Make A Difference Day," or
ongoing service project that I was involved with.  To this day, I hunger to
learn more about diversity, about the root causes of social issues, and the
ways that I can make an impact, from buying fair trade coffee to refusing
plastic and paper bags to carry things when I don't need them to, to
educating myself on political candidates.

I am now the Director of a national nonprofit that partners with colleges,
universities, community based organizations and other groups in an effort to
provide students and communities with this type of interaction.  If I had
not been a student under some incredible faculty/staff such as yourselves
(thanks Bill and David) and engaged in this type of service-learning
activity, I would have used my business degree to gain personal "wealth,"
and probably would never have thought about how I impact the lives of others
with every decision I make and how I, as one individual, can create positive
change in this world.

In my eyes, true, reciprocal service-learning is one of the best solutions,
if not THE BEST, in helping people find a way to be contributing members of
a well functioning and caring society.  I find hope in this work, and I have
seen great progress.  I find inspiration in the students I work with...and
many of them tell me what an inspiration you are to them.

Thank you for your time and caring (and I apologize for rambling on with
unbridled passion for this subject).

Dan McCabe

------------------------
Dan McCabe
Executive Director
Break Away
Suite E-543
2121 W. Pensacola St.
Tallahassee, FL 32304
Phone: 850/644-0986
Fax: 850/644-3345
www.alternativebreaks.org



----------
>From: Kevin Kecskes <Kevin.Kecskes@wwu.edu>
>To: "'Sithanga@aol.com'" <Sithanga@aol.com>, Fairley@chatham.edu,
sl@csf.colorado.edu, gloconnpgh@yahoo.groups.com
>Subject: Re: how to respond to today's events?
>Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2001, 6:50 PM
>

> Stan, All --
>
> Your and your campus-wide actions seem very powerful, and bring hope!
>
> Your statement, "it is very difficult to think about service-learning to its
> full extent at this time," strikes me.  Perhaps the operative words are
> "full extent," indeed, it is hard for me to think of much of anything fully
> right now.
>
> However, I found my mind returning TO service-learning throughout the day.
> Horrific actions like those we have seen unfolding today can reinforce our
> commitment to our field, our commitment to building a better self, and a
> better world.
>
> Your students' focus to "retaliate with love" redoubles my efforts to press
> on with our important service-related work.  Your students' actions show us
> that we have many options as we contemplate responsible (re)action, to this
> and to other injustices.
>
> Amid such unbearable suffering, may we all somehow find renewed hope in our
> personal and collective ability to create a world worthy of our children.
>
> Kevin
>
> *****************************************************************
> Kevin Kecskes
> Director of Service-Learning
> Washington Campus Compact
> c/o Western Washington University, MS-5291
> 516 High Street
> Bellingham, WA 98225-5996
> 360/650-7554 (phone)
> 360/650-6895 (fax)
> kevin.kecskes@wwu.edu
>
> WACC website: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~campcomp/
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sithanga@aol.com [mailto:Sithanga@aol.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:10 PM
> To: Fairley@chatham.edu; sl@csf.colorado.edu;
> gloconnpgh@yahoo.groups.com
> Subject: Re: how to respond to today's events?
>
> Friends,
>
> Today's events have left us so breathless that it has been difficult to
> regain ourselves and find ways to serve.  The students at LaGrange College
> have team up with Student Life staff to find numerous ways to respond to
> today's tragic events.  The students are approaching all organizations on
> campus to ask for "loose change" and for clothing.  Furthermore, we are
> hoping to use this time as a means to show the President that we hope to use
> peaceful means to solve this conflict.  In addition to assisting those in
> devastated/bombed areas of the United States of America, the students hope
> to show a gesture of love by providing to the suffering in a Middle Eastern
> country that have at times been labeled as our "enemy."  We are not
> providing to the polity but rather to victims of despotic governments and
> victims of unjust foreign policies.  We hope to use this as a means to build
> a bridge between communities and allow our students this opportunity to
> retaliate with "love."
> The students are also participating in the Blood Drives and the college
> Chaplain is holding a vigil tonight.  We have already engaged students in
> understanding this event in Sociology and Human Services/Social Work classes
> and hope to continue to engage them so as to give them a fuller perspective.
> It is very difficult to think about service learning to it's full extent at
> this time, have other schools or institutions thought about service learning
> and reflection activities that are suitable for this? Please forgive me for
> the drawn out e-mail but I hope it proves useful.
>
> Stan Thangaraj
> Director of Community Service
> LaGrange College
> (706)880-8778
> sthangaraj@lgc.edu
>