Day 5 By Hannah and Ashley

Big Orange Country!


This is Hannah Loftis, one of the many many engineering majors on this delightful trip. Today was our last and final day of our alternative spring break :(  . Today we worked with the Louisville Rescue Mission once again! This time we went to their "base of operations". This is where they coordinate volunteers and where they also have lunch twice a week on Wednesday's Friday's. They also give those in need a mailing address, a safe place for the luggage, and a place to bathe and wash their clothes. They also have a supply closet which contains things such as basic toiletries and school supplies, all the way to literature and basic food necessities . Individuals drop off their donations  at this location ,which are then distributed throughout the other LRM locations. The volunteer coordinator assigned all of us different tasks around this facility to complete this morning. I was tasked with organizing the donations into their respective locations in the supply closet. This included placing travel sized toiletries in their perspective boxes, moving clothes out of the room to go to the Thrift Shop ,where we worked at on Monday, and organizing a whole wall of toilet paper. After this was completed I then partnered with Ashley to help move a closet full of books to the van which were then to be transported to an alternative location. This took multiple trips and a lot of effort, but after it was all said and done the closet was cleared out for a future alternative use. After we finished the days activities we all went to the Muhammad Ali museum which addresses several of the social issues we discussed in depth this week. I am thankful for my experience, the knowledge I gained, and the friendships that formed this week, which will all last a lifetime. Go vols!

Hey everyone! My name is Ashley Hodge and I am one of the few business majors on the ASB trip. As Hannah pointed out, this is our final day in Louisville, KY. We spent this day working with LRM organizing boxes that were filled to the brim with things that people need. These were necessities that were donated by the local community and included food, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. After organizing a thrift shop earlier in the week for the same organization, it blew my mind the amount of clothing and necessities that this community has gathered in donations. Another task that was assigned to our group was the process of checking bags in and out for individuals who were participating in the organizations program. This includes over 300 men and women who were either housed at one of the LRM locations or come in off the streets every night and are registered in their system. The Louisville Rescue Mission provides these people with a place to keep their personal belongings while they take showers and check their mail (the organization also acts as a permanent address for those who have nowhere else to receive mail). This was a particularly moving experience since most of the time I take for granted the simple things that I have in life like mail service and access to personal hygiene.
This entire trip has given me a new and more informed perspective of the privilege that I have and how I can use it to help those who don't receive those same privileges. I am extremely grateful for my experiences during this week and I hope to bring everything that I have learned back to Knoxville in order to impact my own community.