I went to St. Joseph’s University for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) training with Cabrini university. CRS is a worldwide organization that has different branches of chapters spread out in the world. CRS Ambassadors is an organization that has campus chapters across the United States.
I have been to different places where I talk and serve about helping people who do not have the same necessities other people have. However, by going to the training there were numerous students in one room who just wanted to make a change like me. There were students from local colleges like Stockton, Immaculata, Arcadia, Cabrini and St. Joseph university.
It was a humbling experience to see youth care about so many major issues in the world and see how we can come together to address problems. At the training, we focused on human trafficking, global hunger, immigration and climate change. I talked in front of my peers about these issues in our world. On that day, I felt the most in controll.
I’ve had never been the one to talk a lot in a setting, only to be the one to listen. However, I spoke my mind on these horrible situations that people go through. I also added my own personal experience to the discussions.
In high school, I was a part of an organization that recovered food waste and distributed to the homeless in the Kensington community of Philadelphia. Our organization came up with a solution to feed the homeless twice a week every Tuesday and Thursday.
It’s heartwarming to see that I am not the only young person who cares about these situations. The training was held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., just full of information and personal stories to make the world a better place than it is.
The training has gotten me to open to new people and engage in conversation on certain events for the Cabrini chapter of CRS. I should mention that, this is not my first CRS training. Last year Cabrini held a a regional training session on our campus but this time we went somewhere new.
Another experience added to my growth. Cabrini CRS Ambassadors held a hunger banquet, FoodFast, for students on campus last year. People can get to see how the lower, middle and the upper class really are.
At the hunger banquet, Cabrini CRS Ambassadors had three groups: lower, middle and upper. The upper class were treated as if at a fancy restaurant with silverware and a steak dinner. The middle class was given a modest dinner. While the lower class had tortillas and searched for their water. Ideas like this come from bright intellectuals coming together to teach the world a lesson. From my standpoint, CRS Global Ambassadors helps us to be a better person who serves this way every day. Since the beginning of freshman year when I first started with CRS, a quote has spoken to me that resonates with me every day: “If I don’t leave this world a better place than what I found it, then I didn’t do anything meaningful.”
Students that were there at the training can take away from this experience the generosity of people’s hearts. People can learn other ideas from other students who were speaking at the training. Most importantly, I came away knowing that you can always make a change no matter where you are and your voice can be heard. Personally, the CRS family is a great family to be a part of. I agree more students should join.
