After breakfast and morning prayer, we walked to the Catholic Cathedral of Camden where we split up into three groups for our morning volunteer service. One group did the sandwich ministry and handed out the coats that students have collected this fall to bring to Camden. They served homeless men and women who lined up for food and clothing for over two hours.
A second group went to New Visions, a homeless shelter where people can spend the daytime. The homeless often spend their days being pushed from one public place to another, never really able to rest. This place gives them a warm place have a meal, look for a job, take a shower, and to feel safe.
Our group sat and talked with them with the morning, listen to their stories, and learning about what their lives are like.
The third group was ready for manual labor! We raked leaves, cleaned up trash, and then the heavy work – moving huge blocks of granite that have fallen from the old convent building. The boys even built a granite stand for a large cross that was placed in the cathedral lot – a reminder of God's presence even in a very broken place.
After lunch we went back to holy name school and played with the kids at recess. After recess, we came back to the house to talk with Rick, a young man who shared his story of drug addiction. He was a powerful speaker, and helped us to understand a little of the plague of drugs that cause such pain in Camden.
Later we were broken into family of five students, and we went to shop for our dinners in the local corner stores. Each family had one dollar per person, and that was all they had to buy their dinner. It is an interesting and very eye-opening practice to try to shop on such limited funds, which is what most people in Camden have to eat for each meal.
After shopping we went back to Holy Name for after school care, and now the kids are cooking their "family meals". This evening we will have Mass together in the house chapel, and another time to reflect.
We are all weary from working so hard, but it has been a very wonderful day.
What the teachers and students from WA are doing is wonderful. It lets them be a part of the larger world, and to see what that world entails - a world so very differnent than what they are used to. In helping others, hopefully, they will learn a little about themselves.
ReplyDelete“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou