CCASL’s New Mission

CCASL is developing a new mission trip called Justice in January. It is an eight-day trip from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15 in which participants will stay in the Hill Top neighborhood of Tacoma, Wash. The registration took place online in October, and nine students signed up to attend.

Since this is the first year for this trip, students will only go to one site, but in the future, CCASL hopes to expand the program to include multiple sites.

There are three student leaders, including Conner Brenes, Lauren Mills, and Nate Garberich, and a program coordinator on the leadership team for the program. Mills and Garberich led Mission: Possible trips last March and Brenes is leading a Mission: Possible trip this year.

The difference between Justice in January and Mission Possible is that there are four core values in Mission: Possible — justice, simplicity, spirituality and community —  while the focus of Justice in January is to look at the social change model and service in leadership, Garberich said.

 "This trip is going to look at leadership through different frames, look at the individual, the group, the society and how we can help bringing about change that is positive. So we are going to look at leadership and service, and how we can lead in social change," Luisa Gallagher, coordinator of student engagements said.

The group will stay at the Tacoma Catholic Worker House, Garberich said. The Worker House movement was started by Dorothy Day. Tacoma's Worker house is essentially a large house that has several rooms for people who are in transition, coming out of prison or homelessness. Garberich said the group will stay and volunteer at the Catholic Worker, along with a nearby L'Arche farm, which is a community of developmentally disabled people.

Garberich said he is looking forward to this trip since it has a different perspective, with the added focus on a leadership. He also hopes participants can grow in self-awareness and gain a better understanding of the impact they can have on the Northwest.

"I hope that participants will grow in awareness, that they will take the relationships they have built on this trip, and bring those types of friendships and collaboration back to campus," Gallagher said. "It is my hope that when they come back to campus, the participants will be able to connect on a different level and use that to help bring about change on campus, to help serve our community here in Spokane."

The registration fee for Justice in January was the same as Mission Possible at $125. However, the total cost of the trip will be $260 per person, which is cheaper than the $650 cost for Mission: Possible, primarily because the Justice in January students will drive to Tacoma while several Mission: Possible groups fly to their sites.