Blog #2

After coming back from my first day of service, I can say it was much different than I expected. The people who came through those doors do not resemble the homeless people off the streets of downtown Chicago like I had previously thought. Though they were not the most stylishly dressed people, they were not dirty, smelly, or dressed in rags. It did not take very long for me to realize these stereotypes had affected my judgement of the facility. These stereotypes I have formed since I was very young, growing up in a well off neighborhood in the suburbs of Chicago. These cultural influences have altered my perception when I look at certain situations. When I think of poverty, I picture the dirty, scary-looking homeless man begging me for any spare change. Though this is certainly an extreme example of poverty, there are others out there that are suffering in different ways. There are thousands of people living in the area who struggle to survive on their meager pay checks and many of those people are also trying to feed their children as well. Growing up I was never exposed to this kind of poverty. I can say that ever since I have come to St. Ambrose and started my service-learning at Cafe on the Vine, my perception of poverty has changed drastically.

It was much easier than I thought to forget about the "homeless person" stereotype I had developed. While applying this new perception at Cafe on the Vine, I found myself building empathy for those whom I came in contact with. This allowed me to set aside these stereotypes and put myself in their shoes.  Some of the people that walked in seemed to be happy, conversing with the volunteers and others seemed downright depressed. I could feel their gratitude as well as the devastating struggles that poverty has left them with. Of course there is no way for me to fully understand their position, but it did give me some insight and helped a great when I was working at Cafe on the Vine.

In the future I will try my best to use this understanding to reserve all judgements I have toward anyone walking through the doors of Cafe on the Vine. I will aim to help them as best I can and to see them as regular human beings, same as me. I will not get nervous around them because they are dependent on me and the other volunteers and workers at Cafe on the Vine. I am very fortunate and blessed in life and I am more determined than ever to give back how ever I can.