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Mission Trip 2008 - Staten Island New York - 
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The Church's Big Day Finally Arrives
On Sunday June 1st, the congregation turned the first shovels full of dirt towards the building of our new sanctuary, office space and classrooms. We are excited about this new space and look forward to worshipping God in it and learning about Jesus and God's word so that we can continue to go out into the world. We believe that we are called to act as God's hands in the world around us through mission and outreach programs such as this year's mission trip to New York. |
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OUR DEPARTURE
Sunday, June 8th. Well, we are on are way. The van left from the church parking lot at 8:00 a.m., before the first worship service. As we take one last look at our church (above), our thoughts turn to the journey ahead and what awaits us in NY at its end. Project Hospitality will be a new experience for us, and very different than our trips to Kentucky or Florida. The group is excited for new experiences and opportunities (but not the 9+ hours in a van!) Pray for us as we traverse the wild and rocky, orange barreled roads of Pennsylvania. "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
~Mark Twain
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WE ARRIVED SAFELY
We arrived last night about 6 p.m. after a relatively easy day of travel. We met Gretchen Boeskool at the Project Hospitality site, and she gave us a very brief tour there and at the church where we are staying. The place where we are staying is in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church (below on the right). We are sleeping in the two rooms off the side which used to be the nursery. |
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The first group, made up of Aurora, Terry, Shanice and Kim went out onto the nearby streets to post fliers for an event Project Hospitality is hosting in the park this Saturday. We went into store after store to ask if we could post the flier in their window. Nearly everyone said yes and it seemed clear that Project Hospitality has a good reputation in the area. Did we mention that TODAY'S TEMPERATURE REACHED 99oF. Next we took 20 lb. boxes of ricotta cheese and broke them into manageable sized bags for people to pick up at the food pantry when it is open tomorrow. That took the rest of our afternoon, as there were a lot of boxes and that is a lot of cheese! (Left) Aurora and Terry making bags of cheese. What a mess!
The other group, Kelsie, Sarah, Jim and Wendy, spent their day at Drop In Center, where they helped cook and prepare food for the clients who came for lunch (~ 64 people). After lunch was served, they packed lunches for another group of clients, and also made sandwiches for dinner. For a while, two inthe group sorted, hung up and organized clothes for the clients to pick up later this week. The director of that particular service said that our group had done so well that she was ahead of schedule and would have an extra hour to take care of some office and paperwork she needed to do!
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After getting a quick orientation in the food pantry (bottom left), we helped people for three hours as they chose items from the pantry. Clients were given a “shopping list” based on income and family size and we assisted them as they made their choices. A family of six, for instance, could choose five pounds of pasta, rice and / or hot cereal, but an individual would only get one pound.
All of the group came down a little before noon to help serve the lunch (bottom right); we were ready to serve about 200 people. After the lunch service was complete, we too got to eat: chicken salad, corn, lettuce salad, mixed fruit and cupcakes.
When lunch was done it was time to re-load (left). We helped unload one of the worker’s vans full donated “day old” baked goods from a few local bakeries to be sorted out tomorrow. After the van was empty 20 cases of juice, 20 cases of chef Boyardee, 6 cases of jalapenos and 15 cases of cereal went back inside to be delivered to another of their pantries.
After the pantry closed for the day we had a chance to sit down with three people who talked about their issues with addictions, alcoholism and homelessness, and how Project Hospitality is helping them move on into a new life. We are TIRED. And blessed. There is still much more to tell you.
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More work in the soup kitchen as Terry and Shanice mix mac 'n cheese by hand. In between job tasks we were able to enjoy some ice cream. It is hard to get many pictures as we work. We've been asked not to take them when clients are around - which is a great deal of the time!
We had some unplanned excitement early this morning as a fallen tree took down a power line. This, of course, sent several emergency vehicles our direction and some where in all that commotion the side view mirror on our van was knocked off. More tomorrow. |
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Yesterday in addition to the van mirror mishap, Terry had an allergic reaction to a few bug bites, which gave some of us the chance to go on sightseeing trip to the local emergency room. So, this morning, Terry and Kim went to take care of the van and find a pharmacy. Terry is feeling much better now and the mirror is replaced on the van. The remainder of the group worked at the Bay Street food pantry where they helped out just as we had done on Tuesday. A truckload of food had arrived so they helped unload the truck, then prepared lunch.
After the errands were done, Terry visited the local library and then got stamps for our postcards. Kim, went back to the Bay Street food pantry and helped serve lunch (left). The food pantry is not open in the afternoon on Thursday, so after we cleaned up, we unloaded a van full of bread (lower left) and then headed back. After a quick stop at a local pastry shop for some cannoli (yum!), six of us got ready and headed to the beach (Wendy, Kim, Aurora, Jim, Kelsie and Shanice). Sarah and Terry went out to dinner with some of Sarah's family that lives in the area.
Tomorrow we head into Manhattan to see the sights and go to a museum or two. This is likely to be our last message until our return home, since tomorrow is a "play" day. Thank you again for all your support, your emails and your prayers. They have all been felt and much needed. |
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Today was our time to visit the city, well the Manhattan Island part of NYC. We had a very good day and I think everybody got to see the things they most wanted to see and now are we ever tired!
We went to see Rockefeller Center (lower left). We could not actually go to the Statue of liberty, so Jim and Wendy were very resourseful and made do with what was available (left). We also dropped by to visit the downtown Presbyterian Church on 5th Street (below). As you can clearly see it is a small church, er..relative to the other buildings found in Manhattan that is.
We had dinner at "Fred's", which turns out to be the owner's dog's name. It was an excellent meal and we had a chance to chat with Robert again, our fellow volunteer who we met at the soup kitchen on Wednesday.
The feet are tired, and we still have a few things to do to get ready to go. Thank you again for all your support. We'll be home tomorrow evening, and we look forward to telling you more on Sunday June 29th at 9:45 a.m. for the stockholders breakfast. |
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