This is the official first blog post for our Habitat ABST experience! We are very excited to have you share in and follow along in our journey. Although spring break seems far off, we have been hard at work learning about Habitat for Humanity and Fairfield County. Most importantly, we have been forming as a group and getting to know each other better! We have 13 wonderful participants on this trip who all bring their own talents and unique personalities to the group. My name is Bryton Dybowski, and I am a junior physician assistant major. My other companions on this journey are:
Evan Cook – sophomore, history
Nicole Danylko – junior, nursingMacKenzie Demme – freshman, math
Stephen Hart – senior, biology
Brian Heilferty – senior, sport and exercise science
Marya Hoffman – junior, occupational therapy
Benjamin Knopf – junior, philosophy
Laura Masiker – junior, accounting
Amanda Mock – freshman, physician assistant
Jennafer Skarupski – freshman, risk management
Tonia Sprague – junior, occupational therapy
Val Bacik – faculty accompanier
In our first group meeting, Tonia and Marya graciously led an
icebreaker that helped us to remember each other’s names. After getting
accustomed to one another, we sat down and talked about Coastal Fairfield
County, CT (where we will be traveling) and discussed why this county contains such
a large income gap. We learned that Fairfield County contains what is known as the
“Gold Coast,” which very well may be the richest stretch of land in America. In
the 60s and 70s, many corporations began moving their headquarters from NYC to
the Gold Coast. As businesses continued to move, the Gold Coast became wealthier
and wealthier. We learned that the rich Gold Coast created a disproportionate distribution
of income throughout the county. The local stores only catered to the wealthy,
causing the middle class to virtually fade away while many other people were
left in poverty. We will be traveling
specifically to the city of Bridgeport, which is the largest city in Fairfield
County that also has the most poverty.
We also learned about Habitat
for Humanity during our first meeting. We learned about how Habitat operates, how
to volunteer, and what it takes to become a homeowner. While we are in
Fairfield County, we will be participating in the Collegiate Challenge, which is where groups of students spend
one week working with the local affiliate, community, and partner families to
help eliminate poverty housing in the area. We will be working with the Coastal
Fairfield County affiliate of Habitat for Humanity (CFC-HFH), which serves the
areas of Bridgeport, Stamford, and Stratford. This website for CFC-HFH provides
more information on the affiliate: http://blog.habitatcfc.org/
Our second group meeting brought about another
enjoyable icebreaker, where we got to learn even more about each other! We
played the game 3 truths and a lie, where we all had to guess which statement
was a lie for each person. This game brought about some interesting truths
about people! We learned that Stephen can touch his left earlobe with his left
arm wrapped around his head, and that Nikki has a forensic science minor. The
majority of this meeting had us exploring the themes of Catholic Social
Teaching, specifically the themes “Option for the Poor and Vulnerable,” “The
Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers,” and “Solidarity”. We made
connections between these themes and how they related to Habitat and Fairfield
County. This helped us to connect with the aspects of the trip on an even
deeper level. We also received a rough
itinerary and a packing list for the trip which was very exciting! It made the
trip feel even more realistic and not so far off.
We are very grateful to be offered
this wonderful opportunity. We hope that you continue to follow along in our
journey. For now, we are going to take a quick hiatus to enjoy the holidays
with our family and friends. We would like to wish you a wonderful holiday
season! Thank you for all of your support!
Sincerely,
Bryton Dybowski
P.S. – If you would like to
donate to our group, here is the link to do so: www.gannonalumni.org/absthabitat. Thank you again!!
