As I reflect on our four-day trip to Atlanta through the blogs our students wrote (often late at night, after full days of service), I’m moved by what they chose to notice, what challenged them, and what clearly changed them. These are some of my reflections:
Day 1: Diving Into Service
As soon as we arrived in Atlanta, half the group headed to Agape Youth and Family Center, where they worked alongside students in a free summer program. Our students described the experience as a “perspective shift,” because they felt the students really needed the extra school support, but not many of the youth there were excited for us to be there. This was a reminder that building connections take patience and consistence.
The other half of our group sorted through bins of donated sports equipment at Leveling the Playing Field, ultimately organizing over $10,000 worth of gear for redistribution to youth in under-resourced communities. They not only counted and logged 679 baseballs, but also left knowing that equal access to play is not a given.
That evening, our full group came together at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, where they (alongside another corporate group) assembled 20,411 meals for families across 29 Georgia counties. Here, it was where I really started to see the group develop team work.
Day 2: Learning Through Every Lens
Day two reminded me that service-learning isn’t just about the hands. It’s about the eyes and the heart.
The morning at Grant Park Conservancy was a lesson in environmental stewardship: Pulling weeds, removing invasive plants, fertilizing flowerbeds. There’s something beautiful about students from Tampa caring for green space in a city that isn’t theirs.
A stop at The King Center gave our students a grounding in the civil rights movement, reflecting on the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. And then the National Center for Civil and Human Rights took that learning even deeper with immersive exhibits. There was a Sit-In Simulation that put students in the position of a peaceful protester at a 1950s lunch counter. I heard many students say, “I wanted to take the headphones off, but a minute and 30 seconds is nothing compared to what the changemakers then had to endure.”
Overall, these two experiences made us ask ourselves, “Would I have been able to stand up for what was right back then, even if it meant I was beaten, arrested, or murdered?” It’s a question I still ask myself today as we see the injustices that still exist here and across the world.
Our afternoon at Open Hand Atlanta brought it all full circle. Students hated the fashionable hairnets, but they quickly formed an assembly line packaging medically tailored meals for homebound individuals. They were so efficient that Open Hand ran out of food for them to pack and finished hours early. That is a group that came to work.
As I reflected on this day, I was reminded how so many people underestimate the generations that come before them. It’s why I’m so passionate about this work. Organizations sometimes say “yes” to a teen group, expecting them to be disengaged and uninterested. What we know at the Ryan Nece Foundation is that every generation is capable of showing up for their community in impactful ways. And I’m always so proud how our students shock volunteer sites with their hard work, efficiency, dedication, and passion.
Day 3: Stretching Our Students
On day three, we stretched our students with what might have been the fullest day in our service-learning trips’ history.
The day began before sunrise. A 4 a.m. wake-up call to reach Community Church’s Community Marketplace by 5 a.m., where students packed 257 bags of food and hygiene supplies for neighbors in need. Sybil and Melvin were the nicest leaders there, and we may have drove them a little crazy with our asks of “What can we do next to help?”
At the Atlanta Mission, students split between Restoration House and My Sister’s House, serving lunch to residents experiencing homelessness and organizing clothing closets so that anyone in need could navigate them with dignity. The Atlanta Mission is the longest-running shelter provider of its kind in America, and I love that our students got to be part of its work, even if just for an afternoon.
The visit to Wellspring Living helped informed our students of an issue that isn’t talked about enough: Sexual exploitation and trafficking. Our students left having thought about it, and having contributed to the organization’s campus in tangible ways. We talked about how all the small things we’ve completed throughout the day can create a ripple of change for these organizations.
And then, after all of that, we drove to see a Broadway-style musical, Basura, at the Alliance Theatre. Based on the documentary Landfilling Harmonic, it’s the story of a community in Paraguay that found music in a landfill. After a day spent serving people rebuilding their lives from the ground up, there couldn’t have been a more fitting way to close the evening.
Day 4: Finishing Well
Our final day of service took our students to LifeLine Animal Project, where they distributed treats, built enrichment toys for cats and dogs, and cared for animals waiting for their forever homes. It might be easy to wonder why an animal shelter makes the itinerary on a trip this focused on human needs, but I believe the answer is the same one we gave in Asheville when students questioned whether treat bags would only last a day or two were really worth it: No contribution is too small when it is centered in service. Every being deserves to feel seen and cared for. Plus, getting to play with “Nacho Girl” for 15 minutes filled me with joy, and was a reminder to all of us that rescue animals are not damaged goods.
Favorite Moments from Atlanta
At the end of the trip, I asked the students to reflect on their favorite moment from the past four days. Here is what they said:
Looking Ahead
To Krystle: Thank you for making this trip possible. The early mornings, the logistics, the pivots, and the presence you brought every single day, this trip reflects your dedication as much as it does our students’.
To Ryan: Thank you for always bringing the right talks at the right time, whether its positive energy, deepness or humor, our students always walk away with a better understanding of what it means to be human because of you and your passion.
To our donors and partners: You make our service-learning trips possible. You are not just funding a program, you are funding perspective, empathy, and the next generation of community leaders.
To our students: You showed up for Atlanta. You showed up for each other. And you showed up for yourselves in ways you may not even fully realize yet. I know the servant leadership you practiced this week isn’t something you leave behind in Georgia, but something you will carry forward.
