Transition 10: Being Reminded of How to Walk Humbly

On Saturday, January 30th, we as staffs of the Service-Learning Center were blessed to be able to spend our days serving and learning with the new and transferred students of Transition 2010. Though this day was in many ways a much smaller scale of Streetfest Day, we were glad to see the same excitement and willingness from the students to learn and serve as those came in the fall.

The students were given a more detailed presentation of the city of Grand Rapids and its unique neighborhoods. They also had a van tour around Grand Rapids before their arrivals at the agency and thus were able to see these neighborhoods outside the classroom introduction. The students were then split off to go serve at two different agencies, YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) and UCOM(United Church Outreach Ministry). I stayed in the group of students working at UCOM and enjoyed much of the interactions and the reflective conversations we had. It was the first time for me at UCOM and thus like all the new students, I was very appreciative of the history through which UCOM has developed as an outreach ministry, a tutoring center (Homework House) and a food pantry (partnering with ACCESS) for the southwest community of Grand Rapids.

Not only did we learn about the food system UCOM tries to maintain for their clients, but also we got to be the servers by repackaging the donated food, cleaning the freezer and rearranging the grocery shelves for future clients. Though some projects were done outside in the freezing weather, I was glad that most students were eager to help out with them. The conversation afterwards was refreshing and encouraging. All of them had fun engaging with one another as they served. They also expressed appreciation for the good works being done at UCOM and their eagerness to go out and explore the city of Grand Rapids.

As we wrapped up the day, we as the staffs were glad to have met these new students and been part of their orientation to Calvin. In a way, this Transition day was a refresher and encourager for us to continue our humble walk of service to Calvin students and the greater Grand Rapids community as the whole staff and as individuals.