Charleston 2 - Children (3/26)

On Tuesday, we started our day by visiting CYDC. We continued our project from the previous day by paper shredding which wasn't necessarily the most exciting experience, but we were able to bond throughout it. Before all 11 of us had the pleasure of shredding paper together, a select few were able to get their craft on and decorate one of the classrooms for Easter. Every year, CYDC has an Easter Bunny visit the kids the week before Easter, but they have never been able to make the time to decorate for her visit. We were able to change that, and even though it seemed like we were simply having fun crafting/decorating, we were making an impact on their jobs. The staff of CYDC was extremely thrilled by all the work we did for them, especially since we were working on projects that they can't make time for in their busy schedules. We felt we could have done more to help them, but their constant genuine "Thank You's" made us realize that we were helping them with miniscule projects they now don't have to worry about so they can devote more time to their kids, which is the most important thing. Because of this, we truly felt like we made a difference in the CYDC community.

Then we visited WINGS for Kids for the second time. We all agreed that it went way better and smoother than our first day. The kids already seemed to respect us more and showed that they appreciated us being there — bonds were already being formed! This time there was choice time instead of time outside, which allows the kids participate in a semester-long activity they had preferenced at the beginning of the semester. These can include things like: soccer, cheerleading, science experiments, artwork and other various activities. Ashley's group of 5th graders, for example, are planning an anti-bullying carnival for their school in which they control the budget, T-shirts, and every other aspect of planning. We thought this was really cool to have an event like this in an elementary school. Choice time was definitely a time that we realized how cool of a program WINGS really is because of all the ways the students were able to express themselves in a totally different manner than on Monday. We ended our long day starving and ready for our home cooked family meal of Tacos. They were a success, like the rest of our family dinners, because clearly we're all the next Rachael Ray on this trip. We ended our successful day by visiting our fellow ASBers in Francis Marion, SC. They are staying on a plantation about an hour away, with a water front view and a bonfire. We roasted marshmallows with our new friends and enjoyed some moments of silence to take in the view. Some of us thought getting together with a group that had no one we knew on it (or so we thought) might be kind of awkward, they were actually some of the most welcoming people we've encountered here and it was one of the most fun things we've been able to do so far.