Spring Break in the City - Santa Barbara
Who: Students from Westmont College.
When: March 14-18, 2011
A Little History:
Spring Break in Santa Barbara was started just 3 years ago, in the Spring of 2009, by a small group of Westmont students who decided to change open up an option to students to serve in the community in which we actually live. A large part of that is to engage students in ministries that can happen not only over the short week of Spring Break, but for the rest of the year as well.
When: March 14-18, 2011
A Little History:
Spring Break in Santa Barbara was started just 3 years ago, in the Spring of 2009, by a small group of Westmont students who decided to change open up an option to students to serve in the community in which we actually live. A large part of that is to engage students in ministries that can happen not only over the short week of Spring Break, but for the rest of the year as well.
Who do we serve:
As a relatively new ministry, SBIC in SB is still changing with every year. This year, only our third year, we are focusing our attention on 3 teams: East side, West side, and Streets.
East side works in the what is referred to as the East side of Santa Barbara, an area of lower income housing and made up of mostly Hispanic families. The team will be working with Cleveland Elementary School for the second year now helping out at their “Rainbow Camp”, one week of their 3 week spring break. The principal at Cleveland loves Westmont students and tells that the kids still talk about the week we spent with them last year. Activity wise, we played water balloons, planted a garden and taught them about healthy and growth, helped teach reading, did daily crafts, helped improve English through conversation (60% of students entering Cleveland do not speak English), and so much more. This year, in fact, we have been informed that we are allowed to talk some time during the day to talk about God, which is a big step for a program held at a public school.
As a relatively new ministry, SBIC in SB is still changing with every year. This year, only our third year, we are focusing our attention on 3 teams: East side, West side, and Streets.
East side works in the what is referred to as the East side of Santa Barbara, an area of lower income housing and made up of mostly Hispanic families. The team will be working with Cleveland Elementary School for the second year now helping out at their “Rainbow Camp”, one week of their 3 week spring break. The principal at Cleveland loves Westmont students and tells that the kids still talk about the week we spent with them last year. Activity wise, we played water balloons, planted a garden and taught them about healthy and growth, helped teach reading, did daily crafts, helped improve English through conversation (60% of students entering Cleveland do not speak English), and so much more. This year, in fact, we have been informed that we are allowed to talk some time during the day to talk about God, which is a big step for a program held at a public school.
West side is a team that works, again, in what is called the West Side of SB. Similar to the East side, West side is also home to most of the lower income housing, especially apartment complexes. One such complex is the Village, a shining light in a neighborhood full of run down, neglected apartments. The Village is a special complex particularly designed for single mothers, with low rent, but safe, clean, well-maintained living areas. Jeff Shaffer, a local, has been working with and through the Village to help the area with things like Kid’s Club. The Spring Break team will partner with Jeff for that week and help him out in the Village, tidying up the area, volunteering to do families’ laundry, and most of all playing with and loving the local kids.
The Streets team works mostly in downtown Santa Barbara, again with Jeff Shaffer, who has been ministering to our friends without homes for many years. This week kind of brings together some of the already existing ministries of not only Westmont students, but locals, to show care and attention to the people living on the streets of SB. They prepare and share meals and show love and care to people who dwell on the margins of society, who are for the most part, completely ignored. Last year part of the week was that the team brought a large piece of cloth canvas and paints for the group to paint and express themselves. This was a way to show them that we care about their voice and who the are. The banner is still hanging a local nonprofit.
The Streets team works mostly in downtown Santa Barbara, again with Jeff Shaffer, who has been ministering to our friends without homes for many years. This week kind of brings together some of the already existing ministries of not only Westmont students, but locals, to show care and attention to the people living on the streets of SB. They prepare and share meals and show love and care to people who dwell on the margins of society, who are for the most part, completely ignored. Last year part of the week was that the team brought a large piece of cloth canvas and paints for the group to paint and express themselves. This was a way to show them that we care about their voice and who the are. The banner is still hanging a local nonprofit.
Overall, this week is an awesome opportunity to see the side of Santa Barbara that it tries to hard to keep hidden. We want to show the students at Westmont that they can become involved right where they live, because there is so much need for their youth and enthusiasm. We are so excited for this next year, God is already opening up so many doors for us. We have already had 2 leaders of local groups call our director and ask if we can add a team to come and work with them for the week (we are still figuring out if we will have 5 teams instead of 3). Another door God has opened for us is that this Santa Barbara initiative has been absorbed into the Urban Initiative Ministry on campus, which not only explains the long title, Spring Break in the City - Santa Barbara (They also have trips to LA and San Francisco), but also means we are now an official part of Westmont Ministries (trips also planned for L.A. and San Francisco). Association with U.I. streamlines processes making them easier as well as guarantees Westmont’s support.