Today, we worked at the salvation army and Nevins volunteer center.  At Salvation Army we helped bundle together information kits for donors, and we also helped families sign up for gifts.  Wrapping up the bundles was SUPER intense, and races were held to see who was the supreme bundle packing champion.  At Nevins we helped paint bathrooms, and now we're all basically professional painters.  While we were painting someone broke a sink, but I'm not WILLing to say who may or may not have broken this sink.  The Nevins volunteers were really nice, and they were WILLing to put the sink back in place.  All in all today was a great day, and we got to help out a lot of really cool people.

October 6, 2016

         The Accessibility Awareness Alternative Fall Break group boarded vans to leave the University of Tennessee campus at 6:30am this morning. After four hours of forming connections with one another, napping, and even freestyle rapping, we arrived at the Christ Lutheran Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team was promptly scheduled to complete a service project after a quick lunch and set out on our first service experience of Fall Break.

        At 2:00pm, we met a representative from Love Inc., an organization which seeks to aid "individuals living with severe needs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community that no social service agency or ministry is able to serve." The group was tasked with constructing a ramp attached to a porch for a family whose members use wheelchairs and other forms of mobility assistance. By learning to use power saws, nail guns, and various construction tools, we were able to successfully create a ramp (pictured below) that the family we served can utilize for years to come. 

         We had the opportunity to learn the story of some incredible individuals, who have made a positive impact on our lives, and truly make a difference in theirs. While it seemed like a significant amount of time was spent humorously navigating from one location to another, the Accessibility Awareness group formed meaningful connections in Charlotte in just the first day of the trip.
         Stay tuned to keep up with the upcoming projects of our team,

         The UTK Accessibility Awareness Alternative Fall Break group