#8 Looking over Philly

The first thing that I learned from the service work that helped me understand Philadelphia better were the variety of statistics dealing with those living in some of the low-income areas on the edges of Philadelphia. The lady from the Salvation Army recited off quite a few statistics dealing with things from average income in the area in relation to the poverty line. Needless to say, the people in the area were well below said poverty line when it came to income. While I understand that’s not all of Philadelphia, it puts the work we are doing for those people in a different light I would say. I also remember hearing statistics in relation to sex trafficking and abuse and the new facility they had opened up not too far from the warehouse we were working in was helping to combat some of those things. Even better was that they were seeing success with the programs. The last job we did at Front Step was also interesting seeing as we were surrounded by the neighborhood and those in the neighborhood could easily talk to us and such. While cleaning the park, people from the area were grateful for the service that we were doing and some said they were even encouraged to try and do more now due to the maintenance work we did. Between these two events, I think that even though some areas struggle, they want to make a change. It is almost like they need a nudge to get going sometimes though.Read more