Day One Perspective by Julia Dergunov

Today, we went to two different places but just this one day has already been extremely thought provoking. First, we went to Jeff Street Baptist Community.  In this area of Louisville, the places where a majority of these people used to live have been reconstructed into more expensive artsy, urban areas leaving them homeless and this occurs in a large amount of cities.  A few of my group members and I were randomly chosen to make and serve egg burritos for the homeless people that go there to get breakfast on the daily. We had the privilege of having direct interactions and seeing the positive impacts that doing what seems to be the most simplest tasks can give at the very beginning of the trip. In giving these people breakfast, you saw the different ways that they approached it but from just about every single person, I noticed how much they appreciated it.  Next, I joined the other group who was painting an apartment for a woman who has recently become homeless. That was an indirect interaction, but knowing the situation behind what you're doing gave a greater motivation to do the best in painting for this women. Later in the day, we went to a thrift shop that opened two days ago where we organized all of the new things that people have dropped off. We made it much easier on the women who were in charge of the store. It was an eye opener to the different income situations that thrift stores apply to. One focal point of our trip to Louisville is that we are here to learn about wealth distribution, not to change it. How can we learn about something like this and not attempt to  change it? Today, I have learned about the little impacts that you can give to others through your actions that can change their day (serving breakfast) or year (painting an apartment).