“Helping others in their time of need really shows how a community can come together” Jandery De La Cruz, ASB Day 2

Today was the first day that we did hands on work with Friends of Rockaway. I enjoyed every minute of it. We partnered up with another person and my partner and I worked on grouting  the kitchen floor. Although this task wasn’t difficult I really appreciated the fact that the Friends of Rockaway trusted each and every one of us to do a task that affected the house. What we are doing is trying to help our people in their time of need. Helping others in their time of need really shows how a community can come together no matter where they are from in a difficult time.

Although Sandy happened a year ago there are still many people that are in need. For those people who are getting help by volunteers warms my heart because they are also opening up their homes to us.

As we worked on different tasks, it made us all come closer together because we had to depend on each other for the task to come out complete and well done. For example grouting the floors and hanging up a closet rack took a trusting partnership to complete.

Another highlight of my day today was during lunch hour. My group as well as our supervisor had a personal discussion about Friends of Rockaway as well as our life after graduating, and we discussed what we are all passionate about. Something that stuck with me was that not everyone knows what they are passionate about or know what they want to do after they graduate but an opportunity like working in Alternative Spring Break can definitely uncover that for you. This is something that has opened my eyes a little more and it has only been a day that I actually worked. From talking about the community and the people who are in need of help, to getting into the core of what goes behind the scenes into helping those people get back on their feet; you take it all into consideration. There are so many people needing help but the helpers not having enough funds to help these people. Making change doesn’t happen quickly but hopefully it can be done.