The day started on Saturday morning when Katie asked me if I had directions to Project Angel Heart. I said no, but as I like to learn areas and directions I said I would find them. Until I printed them out I did not realize why she asked, it was a nice day and I had forgotten that we were going to deliver for Project Angel Heart.
We left for Colorado and 41st at 12:15. We arrived around 12:45, filled out the yellow paperwork, and stood in the kitchen with 15 other volunteers. Jamie arrived around 1:00 and by 1:15 we were on our way to deliver. We were assigned the first half of route C which was broken in half because of an excess of drivers. That is exciting news, when there is an excess of help because so many people are becoming involved and want to help.
We then left to deliver 8 bags to 5 houses only a few miles southwest of Project Angel Heart. Delivering to each house was a different experience because we did not know what to expect. All that was required was to bring the marked number of bags to the front door, knock, and hand them over. We took turns going up to the doors and someone was home at each house we went to. Two of the houses asked us to come in and put the bags on a table, the other three houses collected them at the front door. One man was sitting in his living room with the front door open and as Jamie and I approached the porch, he yelled for us to come in. He didn’t say hello, but asked us to put the bags on a table near the door. We said okay and left and he continued to watch television. This short delivery wasn’t a chance to get to know these people or to connect with them, only an opportunity to drop off the bags and say “hello” and “have a nice day.”
After the fifth delivery, we headed south to go back to DU. On the way back, we stopped at a house in the same neighborhood we had been delivering in and bought lemonade from a little girl on the corner. I remember when I would sell lemonade it was 25 cents. We paid this girl 80 cents for one cup, after that I felt quite old for inflation to have occurred so quickly. The lemonade was good, especially on that day because it was so hot.
It was at this point that the map ended, at the end of the neighborhood, and looking as far south as I could to see if I recognized any roads, I saw that the map labeled that we were in an area known as Five Points. I have heard of this place, I have heard the stereotypes and developed my own opinions on what it would be like, Five Points is the rough part of town, the supposed ghetto. Although we were there in the middle of the day, this area did not quite live up to my expectations. It was not quite as scary as I thought it would be; we saw three cop cars flashing outside of a house and a few people running around in the streets but that was pretty much it. I guess this taught me to be less skeptical of places just because of common stereotypes and to see it for myself. Although my interaction with this place was minimal, it did not seem all that bad; the people we delivered to were polite for the most part and were willing to talk and say hello and there wasn’t really that much activity in the neighborhood. It is still wise to approach with care, but it is less wise to judge without reason or knowledge, and I learned this because there is little reason for me to fear Five Points in the day time, now that I know a little what it is like.
This experience mostly taught me to appreciate beautiful days and to be wise of stereotypes. Saturday was such a beautiful day, we drove through the city and to all the houses with the windows down and Katie managed to get only the left side of her upper body sun burnt (she was the driver) and we all enjoyed the breeze. I was also glad to be delivering to a place that I had not been to in Denver before; it gave me an opportunity to navigate a new location and to see new things. An opportunity to compare and contrast, to see similarities in places I know and places that are new, and to buy lemonade from a girl and deliver food to ill clients. I feel like what I got out of this experience is to appreciate what I know and the opportunity to learn what I do not.
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This service learning log really struck home with me. during my delivery shift i noticed that i was stereotyping people on the basis if where they lived. I often times found myself uncomfortable with the neighborhood that we were in. ultimately, it took me some time to realize that the people that we were delivering to seemed just like everyone else. From this experience i have better learned how to reserve judgments.
I thought that delivering would involve more interaction than it did when Rori, David, and I went on 4 delivery runs. As Jessica pointed out, delivering is just an opportunity to says "hello", "Have a nice day", and cough up the bag of food sitting in your car. A little disappointing, it also occurred to me that state of the clients we were serving. Sick and going through some tough time, some of the clients we served just didn't have the energy to have an engaging conversation. We could see this with at least half of the clients we delivered to. Sad, I feel bad for being greedy and wanted something these individuals just couldn't provide. Still, delivering food and giving them that extra support, really was something i enjoyed and felt good about.
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