Community. Service. Learning. Each Residence hall at
Calvin partners with one agency in Grand Rapids in a long lasting, intentional
relationship that strives to work towards these things. Students from
Calvin Residence halls continue to serve and learn alongside their partner
organizations for years, in an intentional two-way relationship. The
people that connect the dorm residents with their partner organizations are the
Community Partnership Coordinators (CPC's) from each dorm. This semester
the CPC’s worked on activities including the ACCESS county-wide food drive,
dorm service auctions (to raise money for their partnerships), and continued to
lead other important work serving and learning within the Grand Rapids
community.
Fall 2013 CPC's
Boer-Bennink: Libby
Schimmel
Bolt-Heyns-Timmer:
Aby Nwadike
Beets Veenstra:
Sarah De Vries, Sierra Slaughter
Noordewier-VanderWerp:
Amber Gilliland, Matt Schanck
Rooks-VanDellen:
Josi Baar,
Schultze Eldersveld:
David Potts, Abby Stapleton
Kalsbeek Huizenga Van Reken: Marissa Ritter, Anna Lindner
Kalsbeek Huizenga Van Reken: Marissa Ritter, Anna Lindner
Access-County Wide Food Drive
BB - Cook Library Center
S-LC: What have you learned about Grand Rapids through
working with your partnership?
"Through service-learning with Cook Library, I have
learned so much about Grand Rapids. Surprisingly, there is more
then Calvin College here! I think that it is really easy for
students to get stuck in their studies on campus, but I have learned that there
is so much to learn from throughout Grand Rapids. Every neighborhood in Grand
Rapids is different and has something beautiful to offer. I am so thankful for
the opportunity to see the beauty in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood through
going to Cook Library and attending church there." -Libby Schimmel
BHT - Messiah Missionary Baptist Church
S-LC: What have you learned about Grand Rapids through working
with your partnership?
"There really is an invisible line that divides the
poor from the rich. You drive down one street and the houses are beautiful and
big. You literally move one street over and the houses change. The color of the
people usually change too." - Abuoma Nwadike
I have to work with a lot of kids who say things they
shouldn't, have seen things they shouldn't, smell like cigarette smoke and
aren't always clean. It pushes to think about the circumstances that led to
them being there. Its also kind of hard to relate to them. A lot of their
parents are divorced, remarried or single parents. From a two parent home, how
do I relate? - Abuoma Nwadike
BV - Horizons
S-LC: How does your service take you out of your comfort zone?
Beets-Veenstra's dorm partnership is
Horizons which is an organizations for adults with special needs. What we do as
a dorm is, we have monthly events where we get to hang out with the Horizons
members and play fun games and eat food. As simple as the service is, it
actually puts many people outside of their comfort zones every time we have an
event. Lots of people are uncomfortable in situations where they have to
interact with people that are different from them, and people with special
needs seem so different on the outside that it is hard for lots of people,
especially students, to relate. Usually, after a conversation it is easy to see
that there are common interests and a relationship is possible! Sometimes it
can be really hard to strike up and carry on a conversation with a person with
special needs. Sometimes people feel like they are just sitting at a table with
not much to talk about and they feel very awkward and out of place. But that is
okay! Service-Learning is never meant to be an easy thing. It is good for
everyone to be in a situation where they are outside of their comfort zone from
time to time. -Sara DeVries
KHvR - Supper House
S-LC: What memory from your service with your partnership
will stick with you?
"There was one evening at Supper House when I was
waitressing a large group of adults at one table. They were a particularly
high-energy and talkative group; it was difficult to forget them! After I had
finished serving food to them and a few other groups I was attending, I stopped
by their table to see if there was anything else I could do for them. They were
loud, but polite, with their replies, exclaiming that everything was good and
nothing was needed at this point in their meal. I began to walk away when a man
I had not paid particular attention to at that table stopped me. He pointed at
the apron I was wearing. "Do you go to Calvin College?" he asked
gently. I said that I did. All the waiters and waitresses wear aprons that are
provided to us through Supper House. On that particular day, I had happened to
pick up a black apron with "Calvin Dining Services" printed on the
front. How it got at Supper House, I can only imagine, but I am glad it ended
up there! The man continued to make small talk, asking me what year I was and
what I was studying. After a minute or so, he asked me if I could do him a
favor. "Sure," I replied. He motioned for me to come closer to him
and to take a seat away from the rest of his loud table. I did so and proceeded
to ask what I could do. He looked at me very seriously and with a small voice asked,
"Could you pray for me?" I quickly told him that I could, of course,
pray for him. I asked if there was anything in particular I could pray for and
he simply said, "Everything. Especially employment." I nodded in
understanding and asked if he wanted me to pray with him at that moment.
Shaking his head no, he motioned me closer yet again and said
so quietly that I had to lean in to hear him, "My name is...Pray for
me." I gave a small smile and assured him that I would. When he and his
energized table group got up to leave, he smiled slightly at me and walked out.
I have not see him since, although that does not mean he has not been at
Supper House since, but I continue to pray for him and whatever it may be that
he is facing. I am thankful for the many ways God continues to use Supper House
and the people there. And how he placed a Calvin College Dining Services apron
in front of me that night to spark a simple conversation." - Marissa
Ritter
NVW - Oakdale Neighbors
S-LC: What is your favorite thing about the organization
you are serving with?
“What I like the most about Oakdale Neighbors is their
flexibility and their desire to work with you. The members of Oakdale Neighbors
also care for the community that they serve in.” - Matt Schanck
S-LC: What memory from your service with your partnership
will stick with you?
“I think the memory that will stick with me the most is when
I first went to tutor, there was a girl that could barely speak English and I
was trying to help her read a book and write a reflection.”
- Matt Schanck
RVD - Baxter Community Center
"This year, RVD has had the privilege to work
alongside two great organizations, Baxter Community Center and the soccer
ministry through Eastern Avenue CRC. With both partnerships, the residents have
the opportunity to work and play alongside the people of the community, and the
conversations that occur in the process are wonderful. Spending face-to-face
time with the people we serve and learn from has been the best aspect of our
time with both organizations."-Josette Baar
SE - Roosevelt Park CRC
"There was a day when only one ESL student showed up
and so we all sat and talked with her and helped her with some words and
phrases, but it soon turned to her talking to us completely in Spanish.
It just really reminded me how much of a learning opportunity it can be
for me as it is for those students who come." - David Potts
S-LC: What have you learned about Grand Rapids through
working with your partnership?
"I feel like I've really learned how diverse Grand
Rapids really is by interacting with the people from our partnership and those
who come to it." - David Potts
-Kelsey Stark
Communications Coordinator
-Kelsey Stark
Communications Coordinator
