By: Jess O’Keefe

Some students spent spring break on the beach working on there tans, while others flew 4,000 miles across the world and froze their butts off in Alaska. Luckily, I was one of the chosen few with a frozen butt. This spring break I spent a week in Juneau, Alaska doing service work. Myself, along with 7 other Saint Leo students, two advisors and one alumni, did everything from feed the homeless to help renovate one of Juneau’s local parishes.

Day One: Friday

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Although Governor Sarah Palin was unavailable, the group was able to meet with Lt. Governor Sean Parnell

After the exhaustion of our multiple flights and layovers finally began to dissipate, I awoke to find myself in a children’s classroom. The hostel that we were suppose to stay at locks their doors at 10 p.m., so considering our plane didn’t even touch down in Juneau until 10:45, staying at the Hostel wasn’t going to happen. Luckily, our advisor, Mr. Peterson, knew people and we were able to stay in the classrooms of Saint Paul’s Church and school.

The next morning, we woke up to the smell of some amazing doughnuts and bagels, and after eating breakfast, we are off for our first day in Juneau, Alaska. First, we headed off to the Macualay Salmon Hatchery, where over 125 million salmon are housed each year. Since we came in off season, the salmon were just babies, so they were about the size of my pinky.

After, we went to the Mendenhall Glacier, which was one of the most breathtaking and incredible sights I’ve ever seen. We hiked a few miles across a frozen lake to get closer to the Glacier. This is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. After that, we swam at Juneau’s local indoor pool. This was a very eye opening experience for the group. It was here that we were really able to see the community aspect that is so alive in Juneau. Everyone knew everyone! The local laundry mat owner was swimming laps with the heritage coffee shop worker while all the different school kids played catch in the pool. Mr. Peterson, who is from Juneau, knew at least someone everywhere we went, which only reinforced the importance of community. We ended our day at St. Paul’s parish by attending their Stations of the Cross and soup and bread dinner.

Day two: Saturday

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

The group spent their first night in Alaska sleeping on the floor in a classroom at St. Paul’s School.

As Mr. Peterson, who formerly became known as Petey by the group, lead us up a hill and down a snowy ice covered trail, we found ourselves walking along Preservance trail. This is the first trail where gold was found when Alaska was discovered. That afternoon, we all worked at the Glory Hole, which was a homeless shelter located in downtown Juneau. Some of our group stocked and organized the food pantry, while others cooked dinner. The shelter was about to undergo some serious construction, so chaos was all around. As we fed the homeless, I took the time to step back and watch. Since I feed the homeless in Tampa a few times a month, I thought it would be good to step back and watch the others who had never fed before react. It was awesome to watch others let their guard down and open up to these complete strangers. That night, the Knights of Columbus invited our entire group to a St. Patrick’s Day dinner with tons of Corn beef and cabbage. It was another opportunity where we were able to see the strong community within this small Alaskan city.

Day three: Sunday

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Right to left: Jessica O’Keefe, Justin Bell, Danielle Moskover, and Brittainy Toner cook at the homeless shelter.

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Can’t do this in Florida: Taking a break to make snow angels

Sunday morning, we arose and attended Mass at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, which was followed by the Knights of Columbus Pancake Brunch. We could tell that the Knights of Columbus really liked us. At the brunch, I met a parishioner named Tom Annsiworth who happened to be a meteorologist with N.O.A.A (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). He read in the church bulletin that we were coming and was really interested in our group. He came over to our table where we were eating breakfast and spoke with the group. He said it was so great to see college students involved and offered to take us all to see a play while we were in town and get a tour of N.O.A.A.
That afternoon we attended St. Paul’s Catholic Youth Ministry. We hung out with about 15 high school students from the Juneau area. We shared the experiences we’ve had at Saint Leo University. We talked about the SERVE program and the importance of volunteering in general. After that, we went to St. Ann’s Cathedral. Their outreach ministry put on a program dealing with the abuse of alcohol and drugs, a problem very prevalent in Alaska. There was a guest speaker, Heather, who was an alcoholic/heroin addict and celebrating six years of being clean. It was one of the best guest speakers I have ever heard because it was so real. Nothing was rehearsed or planned. She stood in front of us in sweats armed with a cup of coffee and just spoke from her heart.

Day four: Monday

It seemed as if half the trip’s participants were so willing to see Governor Sarah Palin that they were willing to pretty much do anything to meet her. The other half of the group could have cared less. I, naturally being one of the urged members to see the Governor, arose early that morning and walked to the Governor’s mansion. Our group was told by locals that if a person rings her doorbell, she usually answers. I felt that was pretty farfetched, but I thought what’s the hurt in trying. Sadly enough, she was not there, but we were told to try her office and we could possibly get to see her. Unfortunately, her schedule was too jam packed and she was unable to meet with us.

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Hiking (and posing) through Alaska.

After that, we headed back to the homeless shelter to help out some more. When we went back to Glory Hole for the second time, I began to realize the vast difference between the homeless in Alaska compared to other places I’ve volunteered. I have been feeding the homeless ever since high school. Growing up in New Jersey and feeding in New York City and northern New Jersey, I learned a lot about homeless. Even though not all homeless people are the same, I had a general idea of how they acted and what they needed. After coming to Florida, I began to feed in Tampa and realized the difference between homeless in Florida and homeless in the NJ and NY area. But after feeding the homeless in Alaska, it is completely different from anything I have ever experienced. The alcohol and drug problem in Alaska is far worse then any other place I have ever fed. The homeless shelter that we volunteered at in Juneau, The Glory Hole, is a shelter that houses about 30 homeless people and feeds breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack around to 70 homeless a day. Although it is great that Glory Hole can house and feed so many, the shelter becomes a hang out during the day where drunk people just sit and wait all day. This caused our group to think about ways to improve this problem.

That night, Marilyn Monagle, a worker from St. Paul’s parish and the main coordinator for our trip, took us all out to dinner at Bullwinkle’s pizza. It was a relaxing time and Mr. Monagle, Mrs. Monagle’s husband, joined us as well. It was interesting to just talk with a couple from Alaska and get their perspective on life in Alaska.

Day Five: Tuesday

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Clockwise: Jessica Moreria, Danielle Moskover, Cristina Polston, Jen Garcia, Jessica O’Keefe, Brent Freese, Brittainy Toner, and Amy Persuad at the water.

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

Courtesy of Jess O’Keefe

Mount Juneau in Juneau, Alaska.

We spent the morning working at St. Paul’s parish. They were under construction renovating the place for the coming of their new Bishop. Some of us were put to work shoveling unwanted snow, while others cleaned out storage closets and rearranged its contents.

That afternoon we met up with Tom Ainsworth at N.O.A.A, which is a part of National Weather Service. There we got a tour of the weather center and learned all about Alaskan weather. For the first part of our trip we stayed at Juneau’s International Youth Hostel. However, they had a four night limit so on our fifth night, we stayed with a family from St. Paul’s Parish. They were a true Alaskan family who served us all Moose meat for dinner.

Day six: Wednesday

We started our last day in Alaska back at the Glory Hole. We organized all their clothes donations. After that, we met with Sr. Josephine, an Eskimo nun who works in villages throughout Alaska. She came and spoke to the group about all the cultural differences within the different villages and performed storytelling through dance. She also treated the group with a delicious salmon spread and crackers.

For our final night in Alaska, we went with Tom Ainsworth to see the play “Battles of Fire and Water.” It told the tale of the battles that took place between the Tlingits and Russians in Sitka in the early 19th century.

Overall, this trip is something I will never forget. The experiences and the people I met will be carried with me for the rest of my life. The time I spent in Alaska opened my eyes and made me realize that in the end, we are all human, no matter where we are from.