Signing up for an Inner City Outreach (ICO) trip over spring break was the very best decision I made my first year at Grove City College. Since then, I have been a part of three ICO teams, and I am leading a trip this spring. That, however, is another story altogether. Most recently, I traveled with 18 other students to Providence, Rhode Island over Thanksgiving break to volunteer at a rescue mission.
While there, we gave out over 300 turkeys, organized a pantry, painted a room, served Thanksgiving dinner, smashed cardboard, set up cots, and bagged at least 300 pounds of potatoes (I still have nightmares about the potatoes). We worked hard all week long, and accomplished a lot for the mission. By Thursday, they even began to run out of projects for us to work on.
I was amazed at what 19 people were able to accomplish in less than a week. Not only did we help prepare and serve the Thanksgiving meal, we also got to meet some incredible people. The people who work at the mission are so loving and giving, working with them was truly inspiring and humbling.
The real story here is not the work we did, but rather how God worked that week. God used the stories of the people I met to constantly remind me of how blessed I am. The entire week was a lesson in humility and gratitude.
Needless to say, student-led mission trips are one of my favorite things Grove City College has to offer. The experiences I have had, the people I have met, and the friends I have made through these trips have been among the biggest blessings God has given me in my time at the college. I would absolutely recommend them to anybody looking for a way to serve God by serving others over school breaks.
