Sep 5, 2014
Hannah Floren spent her summer as a Construction Coordinator in South LA. Read her story.
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Hannah Floren spent her summer as a Construction Coordinator in South LA. Read her story.
Howard's floor before and after #ssplosangeles
Los Angeles Week 5, Wednesday
Wednesday rolled around yesterday and signified that it was the middle of the week. It’s strange to think that in such a short amount of time your experience at SSP is already half over. With the sad epiphany however, always also comes water day, one of my favorite parts of SSP.
Before heading off to the beach we stopped by a vacant lot to help beautify the community, in hopes to attract some more business to the area. With a lot of patience, sweat, and encouraging honks from passing cars, we were all able to help clear basically half a forest of weeds. As the work day drew to a close and lunch time grew nearer it was really amazing to see what a difference could be made in such a short amount of time with an entire group of people working together.
Now that the it was time to leave the lot we moved on to our lunches at the nearby South Park. It was lovely being able to relax in the shade of the trees around and just lounge on the grass as we all ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after a few hours in the sweltering heat. Everyone passing by gave us slightly curious looks and a cop actually drove through the park to say hi to everyone. That was pretty exciting.
When everyone finished their last bits of lunch, we all started to pack up to head over to visit some community gardens. The gardens were very sweet, filled with peppers and onions and huge mint plants. The councilors I have to admit were a little more interested in the plants and gardening than we all were. We were so close to leaving for the beach you could almost smell it.
All of us funneled out of the garden and into our councilors cars, and let me tell you, I was stoked. The beach is one of my favorite places (besides SSP of course) and being able to be there with my best friend, as well as all the new friends I’ve made this week, made me extremely excited.
It was even better than I could’ve hoped. The sand was warm, the waves were nice and the sun was out. As soon as we unloaded all of our stuff, a mass of campers took off and ran towards the water. The water was considerably warmer than the beaches in NorCal, where I’m from. I spent a majority of my time just swimming out in the water, bobbing with the waves as they rolled in, and after that, my stress, and the rest of the day just sort of melted away.
- Madison, Walnut Creek, Camper Week 5
Los Angeles Week 5, Wednesday
Wednesday rolled around yesterday and signified that it was the middle of the week. It’s strange to think that in such a short amount of time your experience at SSP is already half over. With the sad epiphany however, always also comes water day, one of my favorite parts of SSP.
Before heading off to the beach we stopped by a vacant lot to help beautify the community, in hopes to attract some more business to the area. With a lot of patience, sweat, and encouraging honks from passing cars, we were all able to help clear basically half a forest of weeds. As the work day drew to a close and lunch time grew nearer it was really amazing to see what a difference could be made in such a
Now that the it was time to leave the lot we moved on to our lunches at the nearby South Park. It was lovely being able to relax in the shade of the trees around and just lounge on the grass as we all ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after a few hours in the sweltering heat. Everyone passing by gave us slightly curious looks and a cop actually drove through the park to say hi to everyone. That was pretty exciting.
When everyone finished their last bits of lunch, we all started to pack up to head over to visit some community gardens. The gardens were very sweet, filled with peppers and onions and huge mint plants. The councilors I have to admit were a little more interested in the plants and gardening than we all were. We were so close to leaving for the beach you could almost smell it.
All of us funneled out of the garden and into our councilors cars, and let me tell you, I was stoked. The beach is one of my favorite places (besides SSP of course) and being able to be there with my best friend, as well as all the new friends I’ve made this week, made me extremely excited.
It was even better than I could’ve hoped. The sand was warm, the waves were nice and the sun was out. As soon as we unloaded all of our stuff, a mass of campers took off and ran towards the water. The water was considerably warmer than the beaches in NorCal, where I’m from. I spent a majority of my time just swimming out in the water, bobbing with the waves as they rolled in, and after that, my stress, and the rest of the day just sort of melted away.
- Madison, Walnut Creek, Camper Week 5
Los Angeles Week 4, Wednesday
"I’m starving."
Those words are so often used by people who have never even come close to facing the effects of starvation. They are used by people who have never even missed a day of eating in their life, myself being one of those people. I have always been provided an abundance of food by my family, yet I have probably whined the words, “I’m starving,” one hundred times this year alone. After this week, I feel as if I have no right to utter those words at all.
After watching a documentary about hunger in America I felt a surge of different emotions. Sadness. There are people who don't have the option to eat when they get hungry. There are people who can't choose what foods go into their body. They take what they can get when they can get it. These people live in our country, our state, and even our own city and we have no idea.
Guilt. I eat three meals a day and still somehow end up complaining about being hungry. I couldn't go a couple hours without eating something while there are people less than 10 miles from me who have no choice but to go a couple of days with no meals at all. As I sat watching this documentary about people who are chronically hungry, I was eating a bowl of popcorn. Now how is that fair?
Anger. How can there be 50 million people in the world who feel like that?
- Anonymous Camper, Wednesday Week 4
Los Angeles Week 6, Monday
I was so excited to participate in another year at SSP! The first night gave us all the opportunity to get to know one another and learn about people’s interests, experience, etc. The first night for me is always a little akward but right when we started playing games and talking to each other I felt like I was at home already. SSP is a place to meet new people and make memories. The first night in LA was the time to do so. Sure everyone was in there little groups, but after a few interesting rounds of ninja and “WA” we grew as friends.
The second day (which is today for me) was a blast. Things like chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast to learning that one of the counselors knows a famous youtuber made the second day AMAZING. Our workgroup was assigned to a man who works at a rehab center. I didn’t tell him this but I really am grateful for people like him. If my dad wouldn’t have gone to rehab when he did our family would not be the same. When we got to the worksite everything was pretty much already in place for us. The shed he wanted was really close to getting done. It was so cool painting the shed and standing on the roof nailing stuff.
My week at SSP has already gone off to the best start I could possibly wish for and I have all the amazing counselors and staff to thank. SSP has really given me an amazing understanding of how grateful I should be. The experiences and memories at SSP have made me the person I am today and I can’t wait for the rest of my volunteering experiences.
-Gracie, SSP LA Camper Week 6
Having campers and counselors come into the kitchen and help us cook is one of my favorite parts of being an SSP cook. This is especially true for pizza night. Giving campers the opportunity to be creative and have fun with the food they will be eating. Campers ask me what should they put onto the pizza, and I respond with “whatever you want” (within reason of course). It makes me so happy to see how proud they are when they see their pizza while going through the dinner line. This is why pizza is my favorite meal to make. Campers get to learn that they are capable of making delicious food for the rest of the camp. Can’t wait to see what the end of the summer holds in store! :).
- Amanda Weinland, Cook, Los Angeles
Over the course of this summer, I have had the amazing privilege to work with incredible youth with great potential and ideas. Around the end of each week, the campers have the opportunity to drive through skid row. This picture was captured as we recounted that which they had seen on their drive.
Being able to hear the campers not only voice their unrest with the situation in Skid Row, but also hearing them speak on the actions that they can take to end homelessness was truly humbling.
Every week, I am more and more moved by the youth and their commitment to service. These campers are going to change the world, and I get to have a front row seat to their growth. I could not ask for a better way to spend my summer.
- Will Tipping, Construction Coordinator, Los Angeles