Second Day
Our second day started late last night when Penny woke up to a fire! We were all sleeping on the roof because the church was over 80 degrees. Only some of us woke to the fire and those that did questioned if it was even real or just a dream. The picture doesn’t do justice- the fire reached 2 or 3 stories tall!
In the morning we split in to two groups. One group went to help donation support at Mary’s Place Emergency Center and the other to help in the kitchen at Mary’s Place Day Center.
We met Sarah at the Day Center who was excited to have so much help. We sorted probably 50 large garbage bags full of raw donations! During our lunch break we were talking to Sarah and she mentioned to us that the shelters were out of size 6 diapers and her struggle maintaining a personal/professional boundary. She told us how easy it to just use her own money to fulfill the center’s needs - and how hard it is to try and not spend all of her money doing so! So naturally, as soon as we left, we went to the nearest store and cleared out their stock of size 6 diapers.
At the same time another group headed over to the Day Center, a shelter that serves lunch and dinner during the day, but also the shelter that preps meals for seven other shelters. We got to help prep taco Tuesday for 1,000 different people across Seattle!
The highlight of the project was eating lunch with the people who came to eat. We heard from (supposedly) the original Lisa Simpson - who says her dad was the genuine inspiration for Homer. Another table heard about another woman’s struggle and how helping sometimes hurts more than it’s meant to help.
The donations support team was done early and headed to Denny park to have a picnic. Even Penny joined in the fun after we ate!
Next we all met back at the Seattle Center and started a scavenger hunt that would take us through the city all the way to Pike Street. It was very hot and a little difficult but we all made it!
When we got back to the church we ate dinner with the men who stay here. They were very nice and helped us make dinner, but were also pretty funny! It was awesome getting to spend that time with them, hear their stories, and understand what led them to addiction. We heard from James who struggled for 23 years with addiction. At 15 his step-dad kicked him out and he was on his own. It was eye opening to hear his story- most of the boys are just about the same age.
It was a fulfilling day - and we even got to sleep on the roof again!
– Hunter & Cole