Over fall break, Y-Serve and the Office of Faith and Spiritual Life coordinated a small group of EMU students to travel to D.C. to live and serve with L’Arche Greater Washington, D.C (L’Arche GWDC). 

As stated on their website, L’Arche GWDC “is a community of people with and without intellectual disabilities sharing life together. [They] celebrate the unique value of every person, recognizing and accepting [their] need of one another and building relationships that transform all of [them].” 

Currently, L’Arche GWDC houses 13 core members–the name given to those with intellectual disabilities–throughout four homes. 

During their stay, the group, composed of first-year Jocelyn Jones, Senior Nicole Zheng, and Graduate student Luis Padilla, spent their time organizing and inventorying for the residence. Together, the group and core members cooked meals and hung out with one another. 

Though these fall break service trips are still a relatively new Y-Serve opportunity, the trips taken during spring break have been around for a long time. 

The service trip held this fall was Y-Serve’s first since celebrating their 100 years on campus. The group, which was first founded in 1922, is the longest running organization at EMU.

When asked if she’d suggest these service trips to others, Nicole Zheng gave a quick “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Her experience with the positive environment and friendly residence of L’Arche GWDC, as well as the opportunity it gave her to gain a better understanding of relationship-building and the importance of having patience, was enough for her to encourage others to go on Y-Serve service trips. 

Regarding the significance of service, University Chaplain, Brian Burkholder, says these trips not only allow, “students [to] connect more deeply with one another when they pull out of the ordinary and immerse in a new setting together,” but also gives them the opportunity to get, “to know themselves and their sense of calling and vocation better by trying something new in a safe environment.” He explains that serving with, not serving for, organizations like L’Arche GWDC is the model for Y-Serve service trips. Everyone is a learner. Even when we only get to serve with others for a few days, he believes this has the “potential to impact and encourage one another.”The upcoming Y-Serve spring break service trip is scheduled to take place from March 4 through March 11, 2023. If interested in getting involved with Y-Serve, email y-serve@emu.edu.