the sixth one about nyc: the free day

folks, friday was our “free day” to spend in manhattan. we had a blast, but it was a long, tiring day. we left at 7:45am and returned around 9:45pm. it’s late, and i don’t have time to really describe our adventures tonights, but i will do so later this week when i return from vacation. check back wednesday night for an update. i will also post my final reflections on the week later this week…hopefully by wednesday night.

here are two final reflections from 3 GOOTH about their experiences this week. hannah and sarah made some deep connections and conclusions that they shared with the group thursday night…which inspired our emotional devotion that night. they decided to write a blog entry together. i will blog more about it from my point of view in my final reflection, because even though it was not the last night, it was our “final” devotion for the week and we couldn’t top it friday night, so we didn’t try!

Sarah Hoyle (9th grade) and Hannah Platt (College Freshman)

This week has been an amazing experience for the both of us. We worked in a group together with three other youth and two adults. Although riding on all the ferries, subways, and walking everywhere was tiring, the work we did proved to be worthwhile; not only for us, but the people we helped. Working in soup kitchens and food pantries opened our eyes to the world outside of Clemmons. While the two of us helped line people up outside a soup kitchen on the last day, we came to the conclusion that these people we were feeding were more than just those homeless people we’d been seeing on the street. They had names. What was once that random person you saw sleeping on a bench became the Johns, Pauls, and Davids that walked through that door. We also came to the realization that we aren’t doing enough back home in Clemmons. Helping feed over 7,000 people here in New York showed the two of us how much a group of teenagers that get along how much we can accomplish. It’s not hard to help out in soup kitchens and if you’re working with people that you’ve become so close to, the time flies by and you don’t want to leave. GOOTH has grown so much this week; with each other and in our faith.

Brittany McGowan (college freshman)

This week has really opened my eyes as well as many others of the members of GOOTH this week. I spent my time on Manhattan and every day I went, along with 4 other youth and 2 adults. I went to different sites in many different boroughs throughout the week. I spent two days at two different soup kitchens, and two days at food pantries. On Monday I helped to serve lunch to the different people. The one thing that stuck out to me while there was that we served everyone like it was a restaurant. It helped us to actually be able to interact with these people. It made them more real to us than just faces. Another day that stuck out to me was Thursday’s trip to a food bank. We helped to bag food that would be given out to the people coming through later that day. When everyone got to the food bank we helped to hand out the food. We were encouraged to not only hand out the food but interact with the people. We were told to talk to at least say good morning and smile. Not only did I feel like we all benefitted a lot of people here, I also feel like our group itself was benefitted. We learned about a lot. One thing that was mentioned several times was that homeless people are not the only hungry people. Hungry was defined as those people who cannot afford to provide a healthy meal for themselves on a regular basis. We also learned a lot about each other as we spent time in groups with people we did not normally see on a regular basis. We have become stronger as a group. While we were here for others, we also ended up helping ourselves. It has over all been a very rewarding experience, and while I’m happy to be coming home to see everyone I am really going to miss everyone here and the bond that we have created.

the fourth one about nyc: the rainy game

Tonight was baseball night…there was a rain delay, but it was the best part! here are three more reflections from the GOOTH…

Adam Chatham (9^th grade)

Hi, during the baseball game it started raining badly. Lucky for me I was under a roof. Before the rain started we all went and got food and free baseball caps. Some of us went to get them signed but the hat was ruined by the rain. I think after 30 minutes of the rain me and two friends were getting bored. They had to cover the field and wait for the rain to stop. Stephen suggested we take a look in the gift shop. By the time we got there we realized that there was nothing there we could afford and the rain was still pouring heavily. So we played a game where we had to guess the prices of items. We first did the hat. I guessed 30 dollars and Stephen said 20. It was 15. Then we went to the t shirts. I guessed 25 and Stephen guessed 30. Well it was actually 40 dollars. We started to talk about how overpriced things are here. When we got to the jackets we made guesses and we were way off. The hoodys were 80 dollars. Finally we went to the replica Yankee shirts. They were over 200 dollars. We all started laughing. After that we went back outside and the rain had stopped so we took our seats and started watching the game again. The Yankees had a shutout going when we left.

Alyssa Brown (12^th grade)

Today was a busy day; my group went to a clothing bank at an old army terminal in Brooklyn. We sorted through tons of clothes, first men’s then women’s clothes. The clothing brand Chaps (for men) had just donated a boatload of shirts, jackets, sweaters, pants, etc. Most of the clothes that were donated were used as samples and were made in foreign countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan. In order to get import taxes reduced, the factories cut minor holes in the clothes and we had to throw those clothes away because they sent a message of inferiority to those receiving the clothes. We also bundled a ton of women’s sweaters and on our break, we went down to the pier and saw the Manhattan skyline. When we got back to YSOP headquarters, two social workers talked to us about working with homeless people and how they lobby the NY State Congress to pass laws in favor of homeless/low income people. It was a pretty long seminar but also inspired me to want to help and volunteer more. Then we came home and went to the baseball game which you already read about and now we are about to go to bed to get ready for tomorrow!

Sarah Hoyle (9^th grade)

So, I guess none of you blog readers have heard from my group yet. But Jill, David, Hannah, Katie and our leaders Sam and Jennifer and I are all in a YSOP group on Manhattan. On Monday, we worked in a place called Food Change where we made food to ship out to different agencies that would distribute it to hungry people. Hannah, David and I chopped 250 POUNDS OF POTATOES! It was actually really fun. We also chopped some carrots and onions and celery and other vegetables to put in a delicious pot of beef stew. We had lots of fun. On Tuesday we worked in the Love Gospel Church…yea. It was defiantly a new experience, but there were WAY too many volunteers. 52 in a room half the size of the church fellowship hall. When we prayed as a group right before we served the food, there were lots of AMENS shouted. It was intense. We had the job of resetting the tables after they had been cleaned as the guests were leaving the soup kitchen. Then today our group worked in a place called Furnish a Future. Apparently it was on the Today Show, and for good reason. This two story warehouse building was filled with furniture and other necessary household items that had been donated and would be given to individuals who were starting in a new home from being homeless. I thought it was really great that there was SO much new/slightly worn furniture to give out. We had the job of putting the finishing coat of varnish on about 20 nightstands. During lunch break we walked around the neighborhood and it was very interesting to see the differences between each block we walked. We saw a VERY fresh poultry house that had chickens and rabbits sitting in cages to be slaughtered for meat. You definately don’t see places like that on your average street in Clemmons! This has been such an awesome experience for me and I’m really looking forward to these last few days!

the third one about nyc: a long day

Today was a busy day for both groups, but a later night for the Manhattan group. With quick showers, long devotions, and late arrivals, the opportunity to blog tonight was slim. So, Stephen has some thoughts to share, and I’ve taken the opportunity to tell about my day

Stephen McCoy (8^th grader)

Today we worked with Project Hospitality’s food pantry. There were two different times for the food pantry, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I helped out with carrying the baskets of food that people had collected. Just one thing, IT WAS H-A-R-D! Some people had so many things in their baskets that the heaviest ones were probably at least twenty pounds. And, I had to carry them downstairs. I’m sure I got my month’s workout in just that period of time.

After the food pantry closed for the morning, we all had/served lunch. I had another job where I had to carry things. I had to carry the dirty trays to the kitchen, where they were washed and dried. Then, I had to carry the clean trays back to the dining room where they were stacked up for the next time.

At about one, the food pantry opened back up, only I wasn’t a basket carrier this time. I was the official “Card Carrier”. I carried the cards that people brought down with their food that told us what all they could take home. Then, after they finished checking out, it was my job to take those cards back upstairs.

After dinner, the Staten Island group went into Manhattan, to do some sight-seeing along the river. On our way back, some of the girls headed into a J. Crew to do some shopping, so everyone else was waiting outside.

New York has been so fun, but I can’t wait to get home.

My story

Joey, Jacob, Chelsey, and me helped a man move from one apartment to another. The man had been a client with Project Hospitality, and when his apartment was declared unlivable because of mold in the basement, PH found him a new place and offered to help him move. It was hot! And, like everyone else who is moving on short notice, he didn’t have everything in neat boxes, ready to be moved. We had a sit around for about 20-30 minutes, waiting for him to put things in bags, clean up, etc. So, we moved it all, then it was time to do the furniture. It wasn’t much furniture, but they were heavy and awkwardly shaped. The man lived in an old house that had been divided into apartments. Although he lived on the first floor, everything had to go through 3 doorways, that were in a tight zig-zag formation, before zigging down a flight of stairs, only to zag back on the sidewalk and go down 3 more stairs to the street sidewalk. We got it all in the truck, finally, after much “Is this going,” and “I don’t know,” and “This goes…no wait, bring it back in here.”

We then went to unload it. Luckily, his new place was on the first floor. And one of the windows was accessible from the street. And by accessible, I mean that I could lift something over my head and Jacob could pull it in the window. So, we moved half his stuff in through the window…including a 32-inch TV and a mattress. We took a break for lunch, and the two guys from the agency that we were working with took us to Papa John’s for lunch. Ram and Tyrone were a blast to get to know. One was a 40-something immigrant from Trinidad, and the other a 20-something black man. As different as the two were, they worked well together, and we could tell they enjoyed working together. They are the handymen for PH and basically take care of the 50 apartments PH manages. We had fun over lunch sharing stories, getting to know them, hearing about their work with PH, and gulping down nearly 6 liters of soda and tea.

The man who we helped today was very nice…strange, but nice. He is a Muslim, although we aren’t sure he is practicing…he seemed very selective about what parts of the lifestyle he wanted to follow or not. But I guess that’s not a lot different from many Christians…including ourselves. He thanked us very much, while offering us God’s blessings, and respecting our difference in religion. I think he truly believes that we pray to the same God, as do I. He was very proud of his daughter, and told us about his life and how he got to the point he is at now.

While our group worked very hard today, we had a great time and are thankful for the opportunity to do it. Chelsey commented in the vehicle on the way back, “It was really cool to get to talk to the guy we were helping and work with him, cause you don’t always get to see the people you may be helping.” The other three of us agreed with her.

Our evening was a lot of fun…we did more than go into a J. Crew store! After going to a restaurant that seated 18 with 15 people, we decided to take our food “to go” and eat it on the ferry. That was one of the highest moments of the excursion…we had a blast, eating our Italian dishes on the promenade of the ferry, in booth-type seating that allowed us to sit in a group and enjoy our food, without being strung out in rows. Then, we walked along the south shore of Manhattan before walking past the old piers, to the South Point Shore (or something like that) where parts of NYC that dates back to New Amsterdam (well, maybe not the buildings, but this is the spot!), have been remodeled into a shopping and restaurant district. Very cool. It was neat to walk down the stone roads and see the buildings brought to life. They even have some decommissioned ships floating in harbor in a museum fashion, with a small artifact mariner museum. We had a great view of Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge. Last night, we all saw the sun set from the SI Ferry. Tonight, our group saw darkness overtake the city after the sun went down, and the lights “come on” on the NYC skyline. The group of 12 lined the back of the ferry and remained there the whole time as it pulled away from Manhattan, passed the Statue of Liberty, and drove towards SI. It was a very peaceful end to our busy day.

the second one about nyc: first exposure

i don’t have much time to make any opening comments, because curfew is coming up…so, here is what a few of the youth had to say today…

Reva Manikas (12th grade)

Today was day two of our trip. The Staten Island group was assigned to Project Hospitality (PH). When we arrived; we were then split into three sub groups. My group and I stayed at the food pantry. Mondays at the food pantry/soup kitchen aren’t as busy as the rest of the week. Today we helped get the area ready for the chaotic day to come tomorrow. I enjoyed the volunteers at PH; they had a sense of humor and you could clearly tell they were truly New Yorkers. The only thing that was really frustrating was the big walk up the hill back to the church. After the PH group were reunited with the rest of the Staten Island group and were able to get some rest in before meeting the YSOP group in Manhattan. We took the ferry to Manhattan then walked around the LONG way to see Battery Park and on through NYC to go to the Stage Door Deli. The Sandwiches were extremely big, so I had to share. They were fabulous. After dinner, we visited the Financial Center and took pictures looking down at Ground Zero. That was the best part for me. 8 years after, there is still construction going on. It looked as if it had happened just a week or so before. After visiting the World Trade Center, we toured down Wall Street and downtown Manhattan. Lastly, we got onto the Ferry and headed to the Church. Although everyone was exhausted and tired from walking around, catching subways, and working hard, I know that we all are extremely excited to be in the Big Apple, NYC!

Kelly Norris (9th grade)

Today, after going learning about Project Hospitality, the agency The Staten Island group divided into three groups. My group went to help out at their summer reading program. When we got there we met some awesome kids who were there to learn more about reading. I helped some younger kids with their reading packets that they had to complete. It was really cool because they were all so nice and great to work with. I don’t think I’ll ever forget trying to explain fact and opinion using a piece of blue yarn I found on the table. It worked pretty well though. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the smiling and laughing kids there. Afterwards we had our free time in the city. We walked through Battery Park, ate dinner and saw Ground Zero. On the Ferry ride back to the island we stood out on the back deck. The view of the skyline was amazing! The work is hard and we walk, a lot, but all in all, it’s a great experience.

Ian McElwee (11th grade)

After waking up at 6 in the morning, boarding a ferry and the subway with the morning work rush, we finally arrived at YSOP and started our service adventure into New York City. We started with a breakfast orientation and talked about what it meant to be homeless and to serve. After the orientation and discussion, our three groups split up and went to different agencies all around the city. My group (Ian, Patrick, Tyler, Sara Morris, Niki, and Bill & Cathy Teller) went to St. Johns Bread and Life in Brooklyn, after getting lost in the subway. St. Johns is a soup kitchen along with other services (group help, library and homework help, Medical Aid, and Legal Aid just to name a few). We arrived just in time to serve lunch, and from 10:30 to 12:30 we served about 300 people. I helped cleaning the dishes while others in the group helped serve food, distribute drinks, clean tables, and clean up outside. The whole experience gave us an opportunity to really see that when the YSOP people said that 1 in 6 people in New York City go hungry every day, they weren’t exaggerating. Every day the agency serves 600-1000 people for breakfast and lunch. After talking about our day at YSOP, the whole group met at Ground Zero and walked around. We walked down Broadway and marveled at the buildings and how tall they are. The ferry ride back gave us a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline. The first day of service was a new experience even for those who have been on a mission trip before.