MAB Weekend - Nodaway County (Pre-Dental Club Partnership)

This was the first time that Mizzou Pre-Dental decided to partner with Mizzou Alternative Breaks and site lead a trip for our members. We were very weary at first on if this would work, but we gave it a shot. We selected our 10 participants and I don't think we could have selected anyone better. Our members amazed us on how willing they are to be flexible and participate in anything they were asked to do this weekend. We were selected to head to Nodaway County, which is also considered Maryville, Missouri. If you didn't know, this is the hometown of Northwest Missouri State so we had the chance to stay on campus at the Newman Center! We would like to give a huge shoutout to the Newman Center for allowing us to stay there for the weekend.



We started off our service weekend at the Ministry Center, which is Maryville's local food pantry and clothing store. We met Merlin Atkins. He is on the Board of Directors and has grown the pantry from ground up. While there, we helped do deep cleaning that they don't have time for during normal hours. After serving, Merlin started to tell us the story of how the Ministry Center came to be and how much they impact the community. He told us that they have provided over 365,000 pounds in 2015, as well as 30,150 backpack buddies with snacks for elementary school students.



We then headed over to the New Nodaway County Humane Society. We started off by taking out all the dogs to get playtime. It was so enlightening to see the dogs' faces light up with excitement to be able to get out of the cage and play outside. After the fun, it was time to get down and dirty. We started cleaning the cages by pooper scooping and mopping each one individually. Our members were also cleaning out old cat holding rooms as well as washing out dog/cat bowls that needed to be sanitized. Being able to see the reactions from the full time volunteers assured us that we helped out in such a big way. After all was said and done, it was great to sit with our baes, Mitty and Bahama (cats at the humane society)

Our last service was the one that I think hit home for everyone. We went to Parkdale Manor Nursing Home and played games with the residents for the night. It was nice to see the faces of the residents light up when they were told we were here for the night to be with them. We played scrabble, pitch, and a homemade dice game that they created (which is actually very competitive among the residents). We had one student who became best friends with one resident, and they talked for the full two hours that we were there. When the activities director, Marilyn, came back from taking her back to her room, she said she couldn't take the smile off the resident's face from our member taking the time to hear her story. Thank you all for allowing us to spend our Saturday night with some of the best people in Maryville.

We believe that from our experiences over the weekend, this has made an impact on not only our members but also the citizens of Nodaway County. We are so thankful for the opportunities we are given each day, and it was eye opening to take a step back from our daily lives and give back to the state of Missouri. Pre-Dental Club would like to says thanks to all of our service site we went to over the weekend as well as Mizzou Alternative Breaks for allowing us to get out and give back! (Oh and we just got a thumbs down from a Kansas resident because of our tiger tail hanging from our van… MIZ)