Five days until departure

Before even boarding the bus, this trip has taken many twists and turns. We were challenged to get the cost of this 18 day trip low enough for students to be able to afford it. So, after some readjusting, we replanned it for 8 days at $100/student. We were able to significantly bring the cost down by using our own BPC bus with driver and by renegotiating some overnight accommodations. So, now that we are just 5 days away from departure, here is where we are today: 9 students are participating, one history professor is on board and one administrator, and one driver. A total of 12 of us will depart from Bay Path College at 6:00 AM on Friday, January 2nd and head to Shalom Place for our tour of our overnight facility for that night.

Shalom Place, a ministry of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, seeks to provide economical hospitality and service-learning opportunities to small groups who want to further their understanding and experiences of social justice through volunteer and educational opportunities. Here is a picture of our first night accommodations:

Don't forget sleeping bags everyone! I have extras just in case.

Then, we head out to the 5:00 - 8:00 PM Co-op shift at the D.C. Central Kitchen (about 2 miles away)where we'll be helping unload and prep food for the next day. Here's a link to their site: www.dccentralkitchen.org.

What I am working on today is printing out a complete Google Map of our whole trip and going over my packing list. I'll try to post every day from now on.