WCLP’s Spring Break in Hartford

During March vacation, Westminster Crossroads Learning Program (WCLP) held its first “Spring Break in Hartford,” a week of community service activities performed by nine Westminster students, two alumni, WCLP Director Todd Eckerson and WCLP Assistant Director Mary Eckerson. “Spring Break in Hartford” is WCLP’s answer to the question: Why go somewhere warm and sunny when there is work to be done in Hartford?
 
The first project was at Ebony Horsewomen (EHW), a stable located on Vine Street in Hartford, backing onto Keney Park. EHW provides afternoon and summer programs for young people in the community. The WCLP volunteers tackled the job of renovating an office in the upstairs of the barn. After emptying out the space, Sam ’12, Austin’15 and Evie’16 Pope along with Mae Mullen ’14 took charge of the painting. Meanwhile, Katherine Eckerson ’16, Ana Wigmore ’16, Leo Aber ’16 and Tim Harris ’16 cleaned the old furniture, organized donated riding pants, swept the barn and labeled grain buckets. After a long hard day at the barn, everyone headed over to Jumoke Academy, where they provided tutoring, cleaned and organized a science closet, and assisted teachers with paperwork.
 
Day Two saw the completion of painting of the office at Ebony Horsewomen. As soon the brushes were cleaned and the office reassembled, the volunteers tackled cleaning a storage room. They sorted through hundreds of donated riding boots and helmets in addition to computer printers, old televisions, old riding costumes, bridles and various other horse leathers. They paired riding boots, organized the helmets and inventoried the supplies. To finish the day, they journeyed back to Jumoke Academy.
 
On Wednesday, two new volunteers, Jack Werner ’16 and Travis Percy ’14, joined the group, which started another painting project of two administrative offices in the upstairs of Loaves and Fishes. The group sanded and washed walls in preparation for painting and then divided up the work, with all of the volunteers taking ownership of their part of the project.
 
Ana and Katherine were happily engrossed in the detail work of the trim along the floor and bookcases. Mae handled the trim along the ceiling as well as the cutting in. Jack served as the roller, rolling ceilings and walls, and Travis tackled the trim on the windows. After a few hours of painting, the volunteers cleaned up and headed to the Hartford home of Maggie and Rees Pinney, who fed them a wonderful lunch. They then took off to Renzulli Academy, where they helped a sixth grade class work on their National History Day projects. Travis and Mae assisted two students with the final organization and planning of their poster presentations; Ana and Katherine helped students who were performing a play; Tim provided his technical expertise to a student who needed to edit an iMovie; and Jack had his hands full keeping two boys focused on completing their annotated bibliographies. Once again, the day finished with tutoring and organizing at Jumoke Academy Honors.
 
Thursday began with a wonderful visit to Hartford Artisan Weavers Center (HAWC), a nonprofit organization where Mae’s mother works. HAWC teaches blind people and senior citizens to weave. It is an amazing place where colorful yarns, threads, and textiles line the walls and huge looms with beautiful works in progress fill the room. The group heard from one artisan about feeling great joy and accomplishment in being able to create beautiful woven pieces. After lugging several large file cabinets into the basement area, the group ran back down the street and worked for a few more hours on the Loaves and Fishes painting project. After a break and lunch at Lena’s, a well-known pizza place in Hartford, the group closed the paint shop and headed over to Jumoke for tutoring and other work.
 
Friday started with a trip to Brookside Bagels and then to Home Depot to pick up the last painting supplies. After this, it was over to Loaves and Fishes to complete a four-hour painting job that turned into a three-day project!
 
While it was a long difficult week, the group completed its work with its ever-cheerful attitude, hard work and commitment, not only in completing the projects but also in completing them well. WCLP hopes to make the “trip” every year and thus continue to expand Westminster’s reach into Hartford. If any alumni, parents, or friends of Westminster are interested in being a part of “Spring Break in Hartford 2014,” they should contact Mary or Todd Eckerson, as help will be needed!