Hi everyone!

We just wanted to give all y’all an account of how ASB went! Let me start out with IT WAS AWESOME. We arrived in Hartford on Saturday on a Peter Pan bus and took Hartford transportation to our housing site for the week, the New Britain YMCA. There are no words to describe how great this place was. A wonderful staff greeted us and led us to a refurbished basement with sleeping mats, a kitchen, a tv, and bean bags. Yeah, it was as cool as it sounds. There is a nearby grocery store, so our first mission was to set out and get some food.

HandsOnHartford was an awesome organization. They work with multiple programs run through the city, such as Peter’s Retreat, The Backpack Program, Hartford Food Pantry, and Hartford Soup Kitchen.

We spent some time at Peter’s Retreat, a home for people who live with HIV and who  are homeless/at risk of being homeless. We chipped off some old paint on the wall and put on new primer. Since our group was working in close quarters on such a big project, we were able to do group bonding straight away. A couple volunteers were able to play bingo with the residents, and those residents are a riot and a half.

We did some service at the Hartford Food Pantry, stocking the shelves and serving customers that came in to shop during their monthly appointment. The model of this food pantry was different in that it stressed the concept of serving guest with respect. Guests were given a shopping cart and went through shelves that resembled grocery store shelves. Each guest was accompanied by one of our volunteers who had a sheet stipulating how much a person was allowed to take based off the size of their family. Other volunteers helped in the office or helped packing grocery bags for guests. Later on, we ended up running a food drive, where the food that was donated would be put on the shelves of the food pantry. Compared to the average 50 lbs of food that an average food drive brings in, we were able to collect 341 lbs of food in 2.5 hours.

We helped with the Backpack Program, a program that packs bags for kids in local elementary schools that are at risk of going hungry over the weekend while they are away from school. We packed bags full of nutritious goodies and sorted them to make sure the the correct number of bags were given to the proper schools. Overall, we were able to pack 550 lunches for that weekend.

We spent some time at the Hartford Food Pantry where we served guests lunch and were able to spend some time playing dominoes and bingo with them. By the end of the day, we had served 120 lunches. The guests at the food pantry were so happy about us visiting them and talking to them. This was some of the volunteers favorite part of the trip.

We spent a lot of our afternoons at the YMCA since we generously given free passes to the facility for a week. Activities ranged from cycling, running, rock climbing, and Pilates. There is also a pool there, so maybe pack a swim suit for next time! They also provided us a TV, so make sure everyone brings fun DVDs! Board and card games were a staple of each night as well, so relive your childhood and bring some of those back!

Overall, this was a fantastic week and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I learned a lot about people, about life, and about myself. We introduced ASB to the Hartford residents and I’m convinced they cannot wait to see us again. Thank you to my volunteers, my Co, Emma Rehard, the chairs, the PMs, and the CSC for continuing this wonderful program.

Cheers and good luck next year!

2013 Hartford, CT Round 1 Cos–Signing off.

Sheena Chatterjee

Hey guys!!!
We are super excited that spring break is 8 DAYS AWAY!! Emma and I just received an email confirming what we will be doing with Hands on Hartford during the week:

Monday March 11- Peter’s Retreat
Tuesday March 12- Community Pantry/ Backpack Program
Wednesday March 13- Community Meals
Thursday March 14- Community Pantry/ Backpack Program
Friday March 15- Community Meals
 Peter’s Retreat- Our supportive housing program for 25 residents living with HIV/ AIDS. Activities here will include some combination of painting, cleaning, yard work, help w/ lunch and bingo for residents.
Community Meals- Our soup kitchen which feeds 80-150 people Monday- Friday. Activities here will include helping to prepare and serve the meal and cleaning.
Community Pantry- Our newly renovated pantry which works off of a client choice model, serving 40-70 households daily (Tues- Thurs). Activities here will include assisting clients with shopping and stocking and organizing shelves.
Backpack Program- In the same building as our Community Pantry. A weekend nutrition program in which 300 backpacks are packed weekly with kid-friendly foods and delivered at school to children who are food insecure. Activities here will include packing the backpacks and writing notes to be included in them.
We also have some side project that you will be helping with to prepare for our annual Walk Against Hunger.

Get excited everyone! Check out the Hands on Hartford website to get an idea of who we are working with. Here is a link to our trip packet as well! This will give you a little bit more information about the trip and surrounding area as well!

Last reminder: Don’t forget about bringing a sleeping bag and pillow with you! Don’t wait until the last minute, start asking around for one now! We will send you guys an email next week with a list of suggested items to bring/pack.

The clock is ticking!
Sheena

Hey Volunteers!

I hope you guys are getting excited about spring break because it is only 3 weeks and 1 day away! Time is flying by as Emma and I are settling all the details of our trip, and we are really excited with how it is turning out.

We wanted to take this post as an opportunity to talk about other programs within the CSC that you can get involved with after spring break! There are so many of them for you to choose from:

Afterschool

Children’s Theatre

Joining Hands

Making Music

Project Hope

Siblings

Student Food Rescue (SFR)

Student Studio

Voices from the Middle (VFM)

Wizards

One-time Events

We are specifically covering the program The Empowerment League. I (Sheena) was able to talk with program manager, Anne Jacob, who gave me the inside details on what the Empowerment League is all about. The program used to be known as Multicultural Advancement Partnership Program (MAPP). This program caters to a wide variety of interests with 14 sites for volunteers to choose from. The sites deal with English for Speakers of Other Languages tutoring ( ESOL), job training, art emersion programs for elementary students, stocking pantries and working in kitchens at women’s shelters for domestic abuse. One program Anne elaborated was the partnership The Empowerment League has with 3 local prisons. “The programs help prisoners assimilate back to society. People deserve the opportunity to have an education and be a part of the community once they finish there sentence.” The Empowerment League heads a book club once a month with the prisoners. “The members are really insightful during the discussion. You would be surprised how they relate to the stories.”

Hopefully, you guys will find The Empowerment League or any of the other CSC programs intriguing and you will think about signing up for them! Have a great 3 day weekend, and Emma and I cannot wait to see you for Prebreak II on February 26!

<3Ford Homies,

Sheena and Emma

Welcome back everyone! We are so excited to be back at our planning for the trip. And we have awesome news-our trip is full! We are super pumped to start getting to know all of our volunteers. In the next few weeks we will be getting together a couple times for prebreak events, which are a great opportunity to get to know people on the trip, find out what ASB is all about, and hear about all the fun that will be going on during our tripKeep your eyes peeled for these dates, the first of which is on February 4th, at 6 in Metcalf hall. This event will be a great discussion of why ASB is so important to our communities. While these breaks are going to be super fun, keep in mind that they are mandatory for everyone involved in ASB! We can’t wait to see you all there!

Love,

Emma and Sheena

Hey Guys!

There are still spots on the Hartford trip, but they are going fast, so SIGN UP! While Emma and I are working hard at getting you guys meal donations, we decided to take a little break and have some fun. Here is a video for you to enjoy. There is no appropriate lead in, so I’m just going to trust that you click on the link and have a few laughs:

http://host-d.oddcast.com/elfyourself2012/?mId=45172853.3

Love and ASB,

Sheena and Emma

HELLO ASB-ERS!

We cannot believe that it’s less than 18 hours until registration!  We are so excited for all of you to choose your trips (and hope you’ll be selecting Hartford)!  Don’t forget to take a look at the screenshots of the registration process, which you can find on the homepage of www.bu.edu/csc!  You’ll be walked through the steps of registration so that you’ll be fully prepared tomorrow morning.  Check out the FAQ’s about registration at http://buasb.com/faqs/ –this will also help you to be prepared!

Once registration is over, we’re going to want to hear from our new volunteers about what you guys want to see on this blog!  We’re happy to talk more about the trip, where we’re going and what we’re doing, where we’ll eat, or who we are!  Whether you’re on our trip or just want to learn more, please take this survey!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6FJG87G

Love and ASB,

Emma and Sheena

Hey Guys!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break and you gorged yourself with delicious food! As your recovering from your food coma, I figured it would be a great time to remind everyone that registration is this Saturday, December at 8 A.M. Make sure to set those alarms and log on to www.buasb.com for the registration link! (Make sure to sign up for Hartford, Connecticut!)

Secondly, the Hartford, CT trip has been mentioned in a recent article written by buquad.com! Emma and I are really excited to have our trip featured in the article as a new fusion trip, and we can’t wait to meet all of our volunteers on our trip! You can read about it at http://buquad.com/2012/11/16/asb-information-sessions/

Have a good week and happy registration!

Sheena

Hartford may be a short drive away, but there are worlds of difference between Boston and central Connecticut, and we are learning so much about the city and the sites we’ll be working with.

During spring break, we will be working with an organization called Hands on Harford.  As I learn more about HOH, I can’t help but think that every city needs an organization like this.  In fact, the Hands On Network–of which HOH is a member–exists in 58 cities, and is growing.  The goal of HOH is to “bring agencies, volunteers, congregations, community organizations, donors and businesses together to make a significant impact” on the community of Hartford.  All of the partner organizations that work with HOH have a social justice flavor, which is great because they cover everything from children to animals, elders to disabilities, homelessness to hunger, urban engagement to environment…and more.  (A full list of partner organizations can be located at http://www.handsonhartford.org/HOC__Browse_Organizations_Page)

In the same vein, I think the most exciting part of being a fusion trip–meaning we are covering lots of different issue areas–is that each day that we’re in Hartford, we’ll be working at a different site.  HOH is putting together some awesome activities including packing nutritious meals for elementary school students, working at a homeless shelter for people living with HIV, and doing food runs for HOH’s own food pantry.

Hartford is well-known as the insurance capital of the city–lots of insurance companies have their headquarters there.  Hartford is also one of the nation’s oldest cities, and has many “oldests”–park, art museum, and secondary school, to name a few.  We’ll be staying just outside the city in New Britain, CT.  This town is famous for it’s manufacturing and Polish population, and appears to be a lovely, quaint New England down.  We’ll be staying at the YMCA, with easy access to public transportation.

Basically, get excited.

Hi future Hartford, CT ASB-Goers!,

My name is Sheena Chatterjee. I’m from Clinton, NJ and I’m a sophomore in SMG. I’m super excited to be working on this new trip to Hartford, Connecticut. Tune in for more updates on how my lovely Co, Emma Rehard, and I are coming along with the trip!

Fun Facts:

I love pumpkins, sweaters, Kanye West, passionate people, Tim Burton, dachshund puppies, traveling, The Breakfast Club, and pictures!

Many more fun facts to come!

Sheena

Full name: Emma Patricia Nugent Rehard

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

School and Year: CAS 2014

Major/Minor: International Relations/Religion

Fun Facts:

• Lived in Kenya for six years–I speak Swahili!
• Obsessed with dachshunds–I have two named Oscar and Eloise
• I have never been to Hartford.  But I can’t wait to go!
• I sing in the Marsh Chapel Choir
• I have two siblings: a 17 year old sister and a 15 year old brother who my family just adopted this year.