Experience the City. Encounter its People.: Experiencing Manhattan by Subway, Bus and Ferry

Who could I be?

This blog was created by a former volunteer with the help of the volunteers and sisters involved in the 2010 Charity in the City summer program, sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of New York for women ages 18-30.

As a volunteer last year, I found the experience of service in the city remarkable because it challenges volunteers to ask the question pictured in the mural above-- Who Could I Be? They ask this question of themselves, but also from the humbling perspective of the people they serve over the course of two weeks. People on the fringes of their communities must ask, "Who could I be if I had a home? Or if I had an education? If I were healthy?"

At the end of the program and long after, we as volunteers ask the question with greater consciousness of others, and consequently of our own gifts, graces, and privileges. Who Could I Be? becomes How Can I Be?

Then, with greater strides, our journeys continue.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Experiencing Manhattan by Subway, Bus and Ferry

Saturday, Sister Charlotte led the group on a subway, bus and ferry tour that included Central Park West, Columbus Circle, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Times Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central Station, Staten Island Ferry, the South Street Seaport, and the High Line.

The subway tour took place the day after the farm experience, so using public transit was a great way to put into practice what we learned from Sisters' Hill Farm about environmental sustainability. Volunteers also commented that it was enriching to see the city "from the inside out--with and through its people."