Day 4: May 3rd

Today was the Walk and Roll for Hope which was celebrating their 45^th anniversary! Hundreds of people came to a park in Anchorage to walk, run, and bicycle on three trails that spanned the coast near the city.  We got up early to continue to prepare for the event at 7 AM this morning.  The boys from the Alaskan Military Youth Academy also joined us with the final set-up.  With the run starting at 9 AM, people started coming to the park at 8 AM.  Participants could buy bright green Walk and Roll t-shirts, get free massages, receive certificates after completing the trail, take pictures with storm troopers, and enjoy complimentary hotdogs, water, and coffee. Wartburg students helped with selling t-shirts, writing certificates of completion, and serving hotdogs, water and coffee.  A few students also walked down the trail for a little bit to experience the Walk and Roll.  

“I just really enjoyed myself. It feels so good to give back.”

“It was such a good fundraiser because it brought the community together.  How often do you think they get out into the community? There were so many people at the walk. Everyone was so friendly and just wanted to get to know everybody else.”

After the walk, we stayed to take down the tents with the military cadets and also bonded with them one last time.  We took a group photo and almost had a rap battle and a dance off, but the cadets needs to be on their way.  

Getting back to the house, everyone was exhausted.  A few people had suggestions to hike or cook out, but no one had the motivation to get out of their seats.  Finally, a few students mustered the energy to go to Walmart and purchase food for brunch tomorrow as well as supplies for a barbeque, s’mores, root beer floats, and chili dogs.  The plan for brunch is pancakes and French toast with eggs and sausage.  About half of the students stayed back at the house to journal and relax outside. With the WiFi still a problem, many gave up on connecting to the internet and left to enjoy the Alaskan environment, which is probably for the better. 

After the group returned from Walmart, about half of the students went out to hike Rendezvous Ridge. After driving on a horrific washboard road that almost shook the van to pieces, we arrived at a muddy, snowy trail.  After slowly starting out, the group broke into two groups to conquer a different peak.  Some made it to the top while others did not; however we all enjoyed the trip.  Once back at the house, people changed out of their wet, muddy shoes and prepared dinner.  Everyone was ready to actually unwind and be done for the day.  

(C) 2014. All photos are the property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.

Day 3: May 2nd

Work today was a very different speed compared to yesterday.  While prolonged manual labor dominated the work yesterday, today we got to work both indoors and outdoors in preparation for the Walk and Roll tomorrow.  In the morning, a few students stapled signed to stakes while the rest worked in the public relations office where they organized t-shirts, laminated signs, packed bags, and cut papers. Working quickly and efficiently, we had lots of down time and were still ahead of schedule.

After loading a truck full of tent building materials and signs, we headed over to the park to set up for the Walk and Roll.  Hope graciously bought us a boxed lunch of either wraps or sandwiches and also brought bottled water.  With our bellies full of lunch, we headed over to the truck to unload and built the tents.  After organizing poles and tarps into four locations, a red bus pulled up with a group of Alaskan Military Youth Academy boys to help with the set-up process.  With so many helping hands, the tents were constructed and tethered down in no time and we got to relax out in the sun.  For dinner, we were planning on ordering in pizza to the house; however, Susan recommended we go to The Moose’s Tooth, one of the most popular restaurants in Anchorage and home of Anchorage’s best slice of pizza.  Worried about the dinner rush and the difficulty of seating a large group of students, we call ahead to warn the restaurant, and arrived at 4:30 PM. Luckily, it took only fifteen minutes to get us seated while the general wait time was over an hour. The pizza was “damn good” and “the best I’ve ever had” according to students.  

After a good day of work and play, we headed back the house to rest up, write reflections, journal, and enjoy nature. While in the midst of our relaxing evening, Susan came into the living room and says there’s a moose outside.  Everyone instantly dropped what they were doing, grabbed the nearest camera, and sprinted outside.  It was a younger moose that was just moseying through town, walking away from us.  Everyone was incredibly excited to see the moose so close to our house.

Around 9 PM, we left for Flat Top in a packed van with the tunes playing.  Everyone was having a great time grooving to the music as we drove to the trailhead.  Connor garnered extra laughs since he decided to wear a cow costume to the trail.  At the top of the mountain overlooking Anchorage, we watched the sun set and took some group pictures.  The idea of a jumping picture was posed to the group; however, they didn’t turn out very well.  Nevertheless, the sunset over Anchorage was a beautiful way to end the day and we left for home happy and content. 

Tomorrow is Hope Walk and Roll fundraising event.  A 1K, 5K, and 16K trail will be available along with other activities for participants.   

(C) 2014. All photos are the property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.

Day 2: May 1st

Today was an early morning, arriving at Hope around 8 AM.  Upon our arrival, we were put to work immediately doing maintenance work around the headquarters.  Some students went inside to move office furniture and work on painting the hallways of the executive wing of the building.  The others stayed outside to organize equipment, move unused furniture, hall away garbage, organize and hall tires, and wash vehicles. After one job was completed, another job was waiting to be filled.  In total, we worked between four to five hours.  While the work was labor intensive, everyone felt fulfilled and accomplished. With the prospects of a barbeque on the horizon, we headed to Walmart to pick up some meat since the dinner was a “bring your own meat” event.  

Before starting up the grill, the majority of the students wanted to get out into the wilderness and hike.  The short, two mile hike to Thunderbird Falls and back was a great warm up hike for future excursions.  However, the true adventure was reaching the trailhead.  After asking numerous people, taking countless wrong turns and backtracking over and over, we finally found the path to a beautifully quaint waterfall. 

Because of our misadventures with directions, we started the barbeque an hour and a half later than scheduled. The majority of students got brats and hot dogs while some others grabbed chicken breasts and veggie burgers. However, we struggled to get the charcoals started even with the help of the Irish students and ended up slow cooking the majority of the hotdogs and brats.  Once all the meat had been cooked, the coals finally caught.  Nevertheless, we still were able to us the grill to roast marshmallows.  Two of the European students, one from England and one from Austria, had never experienced s’mores before.  We began by teaching them the ways of marshmallow preparation and roasting techniques.  While we didn’t have chocolate, we used Nutella as a substitute which worked just as well since the almost the whole bag of marshmallows was polished off. 

As the sun hung in the horizon, students broke into small groups. Some chatted with the European students. Some went out for a night on the town. Others stayed in for a laughter filled game of Cards against Humanity.  

Tomorrow we will be setting up for the Hope Walk and Roll fundraising event. 

(C) 2014. All photos are the property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.

Day 1: April 30th

 

For our first full day in Alaska, we had a very busy day; however, it was still relaxing as we took our time going through events.  First, we started the day off with a hike to a lake near our home. However, unbeknownst to us, there were two lakes located in the area.  While we made it to Odis Lake, we did not make it to the lake we wanted to, called Goose Lake.  That hike will be saved for another day.  While the majority of us went on the hike, a few had to stay back at the house and be certified to drive Hope’s vans.  Once we were done with the walk to the lake, we shuttled everyone to the Anchorage Museum.  In the museum, we had the opportunity to read about Native Alaskan artifacts and culture, view Alaskan art, and interacted with physics based exhibits.  Because we only had one van to shuttle the whole group, we decided to stay longer at the Anchorage Museum and save the second museum for another day. 

After the museum, we got lunch at the mall across the street and headed to Hope for the first time!  At the headquarters, we had a debriefing on the policies of Hope and our responsibility as volunteers.  We also got to meet numerous staff members including Katie Johnston (the coordinator for the Hope Walk and Roll fundraising event), Michelle Girault (the Senior Deputy Director of Personnel and Public Relations), and Roy Scheller (the Deputy Executive Director).  They talked to us about the mission of Hope and the organization’s history.  In addition, they also talked to us about our paths in life and what Hope could do to advance our goals and dreams.  The staff of Hope was incredibly friendly and accommodating.  After our meeting, everyone was even more excited to volunteer and help the organization improve the lives of those in need.  

Our next adventure was to plan meals for the rest of the week.  With confusion on groups to buy food, we finally split up and spread out in the local Walmart to by meals.  For the first meal, the majority of us had pasta.  Our culinary expertise was challenged with making spaghetti and gour

met boxed macaroni and cheese.

The gorgeous weather beckoned some to eat outside while the majority of the group went outside after dinner.  We started up a game of “21” with the Irish students.  Make a free-throw, and you earn two points and another chance to make a basket.  If you rebound a shot after the previous person misses, you earn one point; however, you can only rebound the ball after making an initial free-throw.  With the game drawing on as more people joined, we decided to head to the park to play soccer and rugby.  Staring out with a game of soccer, we learned everyone’s names and became instant friends, running and slipping in the torn up field.  The game slowly transitioned to rugby as people began to inadvertently grab the soccer ball with their hands.  While none of the Wartburg students knew how to play rugby, the Irish students quickly taught us how to play.  We picked up the playing style and continued laughing and playing into the evening.  The sun was low in the horizon when the game came to an end.  A few students went back to the house while the rest started a game of pickup basketball.  Some students decided to hike to Goose Lake while others watched the games of soccer and rugby.

For our day tomorrow, we will start our volunteer work at Hope and have a barbeque with the Irish students

(C) 2014. All photos are the property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.