Students and adults took off in three different directions this morning to do God's Work with their hands!
The first group included Tara Maish - she wrote this reflection:
Wow! Our 2nd day in New York City and we have already accomplished so many life changing experiences! Today I had the chance to help out at Trinity Lower East Side Soup Kitchen, and let me tell you... getting there was a little more complicated that you would have thought. We ended up arriving 30 minutes late so we had to get to work right away! We were spite into small groups and each had different jobs. Some of us put fruit into cups, others cut meat and a bunch of other mismatched stuff to help out. When that was all said and done we helped serve the meal. I was surprised how steady the flow of people was. There was never a dull moment! After we finished serving all the people we quickly changed the small room into a food pantry. This part was tricky because we had to learn our spot in less than 5 minutes, but we managed to make it through!
Well said Tara!
I accompanied the group pictured below to St John's Bread and Life in Brooklyn. After a long train ride we arrived at this impressive ministry sight. (check them out at http://www.breadandlife.org/)
We all worked with the food pantry. Their system allowed the guests to shop online for their food items. We then filled their orders and delivered their bags to them as they waited in the lobby. We were busy either filling orders, stocking shelves or unloading new donations (including over 5000 cans of ravioli) from semi trucks. Needless to say the work made the time pass quickly. We all bonded with our two staff members from St Johns.
As we made our way back from Brooklyn we stopped in Chinatown for lunch and walked through Little Italy.
This evening, the group split up again to see some fun sights. I joined Allison S. and Kelsey to the top of the Empire State Building ... such a joy to see these sights through the students eyes!
What a joy to continue to see God's love transform the lives of the people we serve - and US!
Blessings and peace!
Pastor Janine
The first group included Tara Maish - she wrote this reflection:
Wow! Our 2nd day in New York City and we have already accomplished so many life changing experiences! Today I had the chance to help out at Trinity Lower East Side Soup Kitchen, and let me tell you... getting there was a little more complicated that you would have thought. We ended up arriving 30 minutes late so we had to get to work right away! We were spite into small groups and each had different jobs. Some of us put fruit into cups, others cut meat and a bunch of other mismatched stuff to help out. When that was all said and done we helped serve the meal. I was surprised how steady the flow of people was. There was never a dull moment! After we finished serving all the people we quickly changed the small room into a food pantry. This part was tricky because we had to learn our spot in less than 5 minutes, but we managed to make it through!
Well said Tara!
I accompanied the group pictured below to St John's Bread and Life in Brooklyn. After a long train ride we arrived at this impressive ministry sight. (check them out at http://www.breadandlife.org/)
We all worked with the food pantry. Their system allowed the guests to shop online for their food items. We then filled their orders and delivered their bags to them as they waited in the lobby. We were busy either filling orders, stocking shelves or unloading new donations (including over 5000 cans of ravioli) from semi trucks. Needless to say the work made the time pass quickly. We all bonded with our two staff members from St Johns.
As we made our way back from Brooklyn we stopped in Chinatown for lunch and walked through Little Italy.
This evening, the group split up again to see some fun sights. I joined Allison S. and Kelsey to the top of the Empire State Building ... such a joy to see these sights through the students eyes!
What a joy to continue to see God's love transform the lives of the people we serve - and US!
Blessings and peace!
Pastor Janine