Our #MYSERVICESTORY for the week comes from Caitlin Drake, a sophomore Early Childhood Education major and Spanish & Peace, Justice & Human Rights minor from Stow, OH!
At which service sites / community partners have you served or been a student liaison?
I have served at Northeastern Reintegration Center, Intergenerational School and Cleveland School for the Arts, and the Fatima Family Center.
"My first service site at JCU was at the Northeastern Reintegration Center, a women's correctional facility. I will admit, at first I was nervous about going into a prison to do service, it was something I had never thought about doing. With the women in the prison, we did a weekly Bible study and talked about spirituality. Seeing the women grow in their faith and open up to talking about God was one of the most amazing things to see. We built strong relationships with the women and they looked forward to seeing us every week. Their strength and courage in their faith through extremely difficult and emotional times inspired me. I felt I was there to help them in their faith and grow closer to God, but what I found was that ultimately, that was what they were doing for me. From this experience, I am more open and willing to talk about my faith and relationship with God with anyone, including strangers. This service site also showed me that prisons are filled with real, genuine people; people that have families they love, that have goals they want to complete, and the desire to be forgiven.
Each week we feature stories of students who have made service a cornerstone of their JCU experience. Complete the form to show us how you #ServeCLE! We’ll share your story on social media and in our weekly e-newsletter. If you’re a CSSA student liaison, you’ll earn points for your mentor group! Submit your service story at https://jcu.edu/myservicestory
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