By Nick Cerofeci
Staff Writer
Thirty students in three periods of beginning journalism, along with a few students from the Mira Costa High School Newspaper, La Vista, took a field trip to Skid Row on Dec. 9 in order to help the homeless by donating clothes, food and other useful items.
Michael McAvin, the teacher and advisor of the students, has been taking students on this field trip for the past ten years. He claims that the field trip has an incredible outcome every time for the students.
“I feel that it is completely eye-opening and beneficial for the students,” McAvin said. “Through this incredible experience they can see what poverty looks like at an extreme level.”
McAvin stated that the field trip started when one student wrote an article on Skid Row, which talked about how Skid Row needed food and supplies. From then on, McAvin has been taking the students on this field trip to help out with the homeless community through the students donating clothing, food and other necessities the homeless need to survive.
“We are trying to help fill the need that the missions have for food and clothing,” McAvin said. “We have so much in this community. People are living on the streets and we can help keep them warm and eat so they can get their lives together.”
According to sophomore Beckett Navarrette, the facility they went to in order to donate was amazing. He stated that it was an amazing experience that was all about supporting the homeless population. They had a barber shop, a medical center, a dentistry and even more things geared to helping the poverty stricken.
“It is important to give to other so people on the street that shouldn’t be there in that situation can have a chance to get an education, medical treatment, something to eat and a better life for themselves,” Navarrette said.
The security during the trip was mandatory in order to keep the students safe. According to Mailan Nguyen, a security guard escorted the students, traveling by bus, into the facility.
“When we parked we saw homeless people walking around us and looking through the windows,” Nguyen said. “It was a little odd, but we still felt very safe over the time we were there.
Freshman Valor Gosch stated that the whole experience was very shocking. He stated that seeing people in Los Angeles, just a little bit away from Manhattan Beach being that poverty stricken was very eye-opening.
“The field trip was much more sad than light hearted,” Gosch said. “When you would look out you’d see the tents on the side. There were all these people without any homes or families, just problems.”
McAvin stated that on their first field trip to Skid Row, the kids learned how lucky they were and how rich they were compared to the poverty stricken children. They saw children just like themselves that don’t even have without a house, or warm clothes or food.
“When they see hundreds of people living in tents on the sidewalk it is shocking,” McAvin said. “When they see mothers with children who have no homes it teaches them that people very close to us need help and hopefully it impacts them to want to help them.”
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