I discovered Urban Servant Corps while on a retreat with the
program I was in last year, Border Servant Corps. While I was in Denver I
really fell in love with the city and the USC people seemed wonderful. After
thinking it over I decided that another volunteer year didn’t sound so bad, I
mean, I’ve done one already so another should be a walk in the park, right? Not
quite it turns out, but I’ll get back to that.
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| USC Logo |
The interview process with USC went great and soon I was
faced with choosing a job site. Did I want to work at a homeless day shelter,
as I did in Las Cruces? Or perhaps running immersion trips for youngsters,
teaching them about the facts of homelessness? How about working with people
who actively inject drugs such as meth and heroin and supplying them with clean
tools to shoot with?
Naturally the last one stood out the most for me. Injection
drug users (IDUs) are a population that I had never knowingly interacted with
and knew nothing about. Plus kids are terrifying to work with, give me a
homeless junkie any day.
I won’t go into further detail about the actual job site and
interviewing process there as I cover it fairly well in my last post.
There were moments in between my BSC and USC year, that
month of being back in Iowa, where I thought I had gone crazy. Why would I work
for free for another year? Why would I put myself through the stresses of
living with so many people again? I would go hang out with my friends and see
their lives and go home to my parents and sit in the living room watching
satellite on the big screen and think to myself, “do I really want to continue
being poor on purpose?” My consumerist self was waking out of its slumber and
wanting to run wild at a local GameStop or Barnes and Noble.
Yet obviously I did it, I drove to Denver. I admit that
there were a few times I almost turned around. Even when I moved into my new
room there were more than a few nights where I was on the verge of leaving.
But I’ve learned that roughing the tough part is usually
worth it.
And has been, for the most part.
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| Thanksgiving with fellow USCers who stayed in Denver for the holiday. |
I am still trying to stop myself from trying to make USC a
Denver version of BSC. I often catch myself fighting rules or community dates
simply because it isn’t what or how BSC would do it. USC is a more religious
organization with much more time commitments and I am still learning to adjust
and accept that.
My housemates are wonderful but it is tough being in
intentional community for a second year. Getting used to a new set of
personalities and habits has been a process as well as getting used to a new
house atmosphere. This year’s house has been much more laid back and content
with just hanging out than last years. Not that it’s a good or bad thing, just
an observation. I know many times I would be begging for a quiet weekend in Las
Cruces last year.
USC is different that BSC but it could be just what I needed
to get out of my rut that I was in last year.
As a reader you have probably noticed by now that I have
started to lose track of where this is heading, a weakness of my resistance to
outlines. Hopefully you got
something enjoyable out of reading this, if you didn’t you should probably
pitch me a few topic ideas.
One final thought.
I got a Denver library card. Therefore I am legit.
Peace,
Travis HP
