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Gophers Foreign Tour Blog - Community Service
8/28/2023 12:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Grace Grocholski shares her experience in Athens, Greece.
The University of Minnesota spent 10 days between Croatia and Greece during the month of August. Throughout the tour, the Golden Gophers gave back to both the communities of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Athens, Greece. Maggie Czinano and Grace Grocholski documented their experiences and give a glimpse into their time giving back.
August 26, 2023 - Welcome back to the blog Gophers! My name is Grace Grocholski, or GG for short, and I'm here to provide all of the details from our time serving and giving back the community of Athens, Greece.
This morning we took a short bus ride over to a local social solidarity initiative group called 'The Other Man' in Athens, Greece, to prepare food for those in need. Due to recent fires throughout the country, more people in Greece than ever have been put out of their homes and are struggling. Our time volunteering was such a rewarding and emotional experience. Our tasks consisted of cutting all kinds of veggies, making sandwiches, writing notes, cooking a giant stew and interacting with some of the individuals we were helping. There was no shortage of thank you's and grateful people while we were helping out.
My time specifically consisted of making tons of sandwiches and I had a ton of help from my teammates packaging them up. We used a supply chain method at our station in the back. While we were making these, one teammate had dropped a glass pitcher. She felt terrible, but the amazing organizers of the shelter started cleaning it up and said, "Your help is more important," while making sure she was okay. This story just shows how amazing these people are, and is a true example of how grateful they were that we were there. I'm so glad that I got to be a part of that with my teammates.
Whether it was cutting onions or passing out juice our team did it with smiles on our faces. Fulfilled is the word I come up with to describe the looks on our faces while giving back. Another moment that I enjoyed the most was was interacting with one of the chefs. While the language barrier did exist, he allowed us to help making a massive pot of stew and talked to us about basketball. We also had the chance to write short notes to the people that would go on the food containers that were passed out. We wrote both in English and in Greek (admittedly utilizing Google translate). Both of these experiences really helped connect us to the people around us even more.
From this experience in Athens I am bringing back with me the mindset of the amazing people we worked with. Their selflessness and the giving attitude will stick with me. Lastly, I am so thankful that the University of Minnesota provided us this opportunity to not only travel to Croatia and Greece, but also have enough time here to be able to give back to communities that truly need it. The memories we made with both our teammates and the communities of Dubrovnik and Croatia are ones that I will carry forever.
To those that followed our time overseas, I thank you as well. Myself, along with all my teammates, cannot wait until we can get back to the United States and play in front of you all at the Barn this season. Until then, Ski U Mah and Go Gophers!
Grace Grocholski
August 26, 2023 - Welcome back to the blog Gophers! My name is Grace Grocholski, or GG for short, and I'm here to provide all of the details from our time serving and giving back the community of Athens, Greece.
This morning we took a short bus ride over to a local social solidarity initiative group called 'The Other Man' in Athens, Greece, to prepare food for those in need. Due to recent fires throughout the country, more people in Greece than ever have been put out of their homes and are struggling. Our time volunteering was such a rewarding and emotional experience. Our tasks consisted of cutting all kinds of veggies, making sandwiches, writing notes, cooking a giant stew and interacting with some of the individuals we were helping. There was no shortage of thank you's and grateful people while we were helping out.
My time specifically consisted of making tons of sandwiches and I had a ton of help from my teammates packaging them up. We used a supply chain method at our station in the back. While we were making these, one teammate had dropped a glass pitcher. She felt terrible, but the amazing organizers of the shelter started cleaning it up and said, "Your help is more important," while making sure she was okay. This story just shows how amazing these people are, and is a true example of how grateful they were that we were there. I'm so glad that I got to be a part of that with my teammates.
Whether it was cutting onions or passing out juice our team did it with smiles on our faces. Fulfilled is the word I come up with to describe the looks on our faces while giving back. Another moment that I enjoyed the most was was interacting with one of the chefs. While the language barrier did exist, he allowed us to help making a massive pot of stew and talked to us about basketball. We also had the chance to write short notes to the people that would go on the food containers that were passed out. We wrote both in English and in Greek (admittedly utilizing Google translate). Both of these experiences really helped connect us to the people around us even more.
From this experience in Athens I am bringing back with me the mindset of the amazing people we worked with. Their selflessness and the giving attitude will stick with me. Lastly, I am so thankful that the University of Minnesota provided us this opportunity to not only travel to Croatia and Greece, but also have enough time here to be able to give back to communities that truly need it. The memories we made with both our teammates and the communities of Dubrovnik and Croatia are ones that I will carry forever.
To those that followed our time overseas, I thank you as well. Myself, along with all my teammates, cannot wait until we can get back to the United States and play in front of you all at the Barn this season. Until then, Ski U Mah and Go Gophers!
Grace Grocholski
It's bigger than basketball 🤗
— Minnesota Women's Basketball (@GopherWBB) August 26, 2023
The #Gophers got up early today to go volunteer at a social solidly initiative group called 'The Other Man' in Greece to prepare food for those in need 🇬🇷🤍💙 pic.twitter.com/N4DrgZWAPd
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