Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Final Day

Day 4 and we are so sad to see the team go! We leisurely woke up this morning, since we have such a short drive back. We wrote final notes to members on the team and did a few wrap up activities, including revealing our secret buddies! We then said good-bye to the Y! We were so thankful for all of the opportunities for housing and service that the Y provided for our group.
 We ended the afternoon with a trip to the Jewish Festival in downtown Asheville and tried some awesome foods like Latkes, Knish, and other specialties!
AFB 2014 has come to a close, but we know our service doesn't have to. We plan to serve in the Knoxville area and cannot wait to be reunited again at our post-trip service!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Day 3

Today was day three and our last full day on alternative fall break. We will be sad to see the trip end tomorrow, but have had such an amazing experience together. Today we worked in the Burton Street Peace Gardens and learned so much about the community there that is working to be rebuilt. The beginning of the project began with the recognition of a need by Dwayne and his wife, as they saw their community struggling with drug, violence, and other issues. They wanted a place for people to be able to go and to build a sense of community. Today we worked to prepare the produce beds for winter and met students from UNC Asheville as well that were helping in the garden.














We finished the night with our dinner out to Mayfel's in downtown Asheville. Mayfel's focuses on local food and working with local farmers. The food was amazing and the restaurant was decorated with Halloween decorations. We all had a great meal and even walked around downtown Asheville afterwards.
We surprised the group with their awesome orange AFB t-shirts and then played the "yarn game" to make a web of the things we've appreciated about each member of the group throughout the week. We finally ended with a great bonfire and s'mores.
It's been a great night and we can't wait to spend time with the group tomorrow in downtown Asheville, exploring the area. Tomorrow we'll get to find out who our "secret buddy" of the week has been, which is someone who we've given small gifts and notes to throughout the week. Team Snack Pack has had another great day.


Friday, October 17, 2014

Day 2

Greetings!

Today was an eventful, action packed AFB adventure filled with laughs and learning moments! Our team has really come together through the different activities and organizations we have had the pleasure to serve.

Our first today was MANNA FoodBank! It is one of the largest food banks in North Carolina. MANNA serves around 200 partner agencies in over 16 counties of Western North Carolina. We were making packs of breakfast bars to send out to some partner organizations. After that, we got to label packets of pasta being sent out. There was also an educational component focused on food insecurity included to round out the experience.




After an extravagant lunch of PB&J and/or the highest cut turkey sandwiches, we got back to work with the YMCA of Western North Carolina. In our service today we worked to improve the conditions of the office, food pantry, and garden surrounding the location. Everyone came away with a deeper understanding of the mission/values of the YMCA.

We are looking forward to the next day. Even more AFB adventures await. Volunteers out!


Day 1

Today began our AFB trip! We hit the ground running and left from UT at 7am. Most of us were sleepy at this point and had some great snoozes in the car. The drive to Asheville was absolutely gorgeous.
The day went differently than planned, but the group has been awesome rolling with the punches. The positive energy and group dynamic has made our service such an amazing experience together. The first day was a long day to say the least. We started off serving with ABCCM, where part of our group worked with serving veteran's lunch, and the rest of us worked in the garden pulling weeds. It was amazing to see the progress we made from start to finish as a team.
We then went back to our housing site with the YMCA, where we also worked with them as our second service site. Some of us worked with their Healthy Living Mobile Pantry at Oakley Elementary distributing produce and other food items to those in need. We got the chance to learn more about what the Y does around the community as well as speak with the families that came to our distribution. The other part of our group got to work in the food pantry back at the Y and help to clean up and build shelving units for the food that would then be distributed.

We ended the night with a great team dinner of Mexican food and finally picked our team name!! We are now Team Snackpack!!

No matter the plans we originally made, the key aspect on alternative fall break is to be flexible, and I think our team was just that.

--Lexi

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Pre-Trip Post!

This Thursday marks the beginning of our trips, and the day has come so quickly! We've been preparing for months and cannot wait to finally put everything into motion! Since April when we found out we would be co-leaders after going on an AFB trip together last year to North Carolina surrounding the issue of food security, we have been so excited for this day!

After over 100 applications, countless phone calls and many meetings, we are so excited to finally put it all together in Asheville, NC! We've had lots of great pre-trip meetings and even got together for burger night at Copper Cellar to have a pre-trip dinner. Our participants found out we were going to Asheville, NC by popping balloons with a letter matching a food item that corresponded to each letter in Asheville, NC. We can't wait to go see all of the wonderful things Asheville has to offer! We are so excited to get to work with the many organizations addressing hunger and food security in the area.

Keep up with us on our blog to find out more about our service sites, learning experiences, and impact with working with hunger and food security!


Leader spotlight:

Lexi Steinhaus
Junior studying business
from Milwaukee, WI
favorite activity- running
random fact-I'm obsessed with dogs
favorite food-ALL THINGS MEXICAN

Hi there! I'm Lexi and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to experience an alternative break trip again, but this time as a leader! I remember not knowing exactly what to expect last year when I went on a trip and realizing afterwards what a great experience it truly is. Immediately after, I knew I wanted to be able to share this experience with other students. I love working with our theme because I think food is a basic need everyone should have access to and that affects all aspects of a person's quality of life.



Zachary Wallace
Senior studying Nutrition
from Memphis, TN
favorite activity- reading, running, eating
fun fact- I ate a whole watermelon by myself in one sitting.
favorite food- I love a hearty vegetable soup.

Hello, everybody! As you can see in the quick get-to-know-me right above this text, I am a senior majoring in Nutrition. I want to pursue a degree in public health after graduation. Eventually, I would love to work with infectious diseases prevalent in underserved communities. I was driven to lead a trip because AFB holds a special place in my heart. Nothing compares to it. There will be lots of laughs and good times had on our trip.