On the evening of June 26th, some members of the Class of 2024 Student Service Program embarked on their service-learning trip to San Juan to experience the needs of a community outside of their own. One of our favorite parts of these trips is hearing the students’ different takeaways. We’re going to share with you testimonies from a few of our students.
This year, our Senior Service-Learning Trip was to San Juan, Puerto Rico to help the local community. On Thursday, we completed two service projects, which affected two different parts of the community. First, our group visited the San Juan Community Library and afterward, we visited the Food Bank of Puerto Rico (Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico).
San Juan Community Library
Today, our first service project was at the community library of San Juan. When walking into the library, we noticed it has a small little area outside with a couple shelves. Then, inside it consists of multiple shelves and a large round table. This community library is the biggest library available to San Juan locals, so the work they do is incredibly important. Compared to a typical library we would see in the United States, this one felt very small. We served here by improving the curb appeal of the building by raking the many leaves out front, which fall every day, and by cleaning off the books stored outside in the breezeway. Book cleaning helped make sure the books were no longer dusty and were in the best condition for the community. This service project moved us in many ways. But most of all, it helped us to remember and realize there are things we take for granted every day.
Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico
After the library, we traveled to Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico. We helped the food bank by doing some of the little tasks around the facility that seemed to fall to one role. It was the end of their fiscal year, so we were tasked with helping in inventory. This involved sorting through the food to make sure the food bank is serving quality food to everyone, while also reorganizing the freezers and fridges, weighing meats and produce. This made us very happy because we saw a direct impact to the people working inside the food bank – lessening the burden on his role there – while also improving everyone’s experience at the food bank.
To summarize, this day was very productive for us, because we got to help the local community. It also allowed us to realize there is a great difference in resources available for the people here. We are looking forward to you hearing more with us as our projects continue.
Student Authors
