Over the upcoming spring break, Elizabethtown College students will have the opportunity to spend their time on a service trip to Atlanta, Ga. Faith and Action and the Chaplain’s Office are partnering with the Andrew P. Stewart Center, the Park Avenue Baptist Church and a number of other ministries in Georgia to help serve the underprivileged populations there. The trip will include 15 spots for students and cost approximately $275 per student.
Amy Shorner-Johnson, assistant chaplain, is one of the people in charge of planning the trip. The past two years the trip has gone to Miami, Fla., but this year another group has booked the trip and is headed to Georgia.
Like in Miami, students will work with children in an after-school program designed for high risk students and students from low-income families. The students will be working at the Stewart Center, which according to its website, is a faith-based nonprofit organization “committed to providing a rich environment where children, youth, families, volunteers and staff can grow intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically.” The trip will span from Friday, Feb. 28 to March 9 including travel days.
Aside from volunteering at the Stewart Center, students will visit the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Centennial Olympic Park. Students will also take a tour of the World of Coca-Cola factory and spend an evening out on the town. The trip has been going on for a number of years now.
It started because a group of students wanted to serve in a location that fit with their faith background. “Faith-based service is going beyond just doing something good, or even doing something to make oneself feel good,” Shorner-Johnson said. To her, it is about recognizing the humanity in everyone and recognizing that everyone is wrestling with difficult questions. Once this is recognized, she believes students are able to “learn how they can advocate for other people and share love and hope in places that experience the opposite, as well as live their faith.”
For more information or to sign up, students can contact Shorner-Johnson directly or visit the Chaplain’s Office website for the direct link to the application.
