Hi all!
Well, we are wrapping up a great week in Philly. It's been a really nice week of learning and growing from our experiences.
Friday started off pretty typically. 3 of the work groups experienced the west philly exploration day, one group did breaking bread, and my group worked with the organization that sells newspapers to support the homeless. Personally, I found it to be the most profound experience of the week. It was so fascinating to experience being so completely ignored on the street by so many people when all we were asking for was a dollar for a newspaper written by homeless people! We all had all sorts of stories of what people would say to us as they passed by or occasionally stopped.
For the evening, we had another service where they had prayer stations set up for us to move through, a la Soulfull. It was a great way to silently reflect and process everything we've done this week. After, we had a surprise Rita's party with 5 flavors of water ice. This was when many people said goodbye to our new friends from Connecticut.
We wrapped things up with a really lovely goodbye to two of our youth group family members, Christine and Alex Kleinheksel. They are moving to Shanghai in August, but rest assured, they will always have a home here with us.
Saturday morning rolled around and we loaded up for the ride home. A few stops for lunch and paper plate awards later and we are about 90 minutes out of Ann Arbor! See you soon!
Look for a photo dump from the whole week later tonight or tomorrow morning!
Jack Teener
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
PHILADELPHIA 2018: DAY 5 (Thursday)
Hi all!
We are back to our normal work schedules today. It is getting significantly hotter and will continue to be so.
My group had the bright and early call of 5:45 AM to head to MANNA. This is an important and very prominent organization in Philly that acts as a nutrition counseling and food delivery service primarily for people with terminal illnesses. It was calming to be up before the city and be greeted by a light mist. We had a very productive few hours filled with packaging food, loading delivery trucks, and preparing food, mostly before the rest of our group back at BSM had even woken up!
We then went on the mural tour that I touched on yesterday that most groups will have done at some point during this week. We finished up doing a simulation of poverty in the city that was meant to show the experiences of budgeting for costs of raising a family.
Other groups did Breaking Bread, worked at Beacon Church, and went to West Philly, which I have touched on previously. The week is coming to a close, and it's safe to say that this experience has been really special for all, in no small part thanks to the INCREDIBLY hardworking staff here at BSM!
#RadicalHospitality #haveaseat #bsmyi18
P.S. reminder that I will be doing a photo dump for these last few days once we get back!
We are back to our normal work schedules today. It is getting significantly hotter and will continue to be so.
My group had the bright and early call of 5:45 AM to head to MANNA. This is an important and very prominent organization in Philly that acts as a nutrition counseling and food delivery service primarily for people with terminal illnesses. It was calming to be up before the city and be greeted by a light mist. We had a very productive few hours filled with packaging food, loading delivery trucks, and preparing food, mostly before the rest of our group back at BSM had even woken up!
We then went on the mural tour that I touched on yesterday that most groups will have done at some point during this week. We finished up doing a simulation of poverty in the city that was meant to show the experiences of budgeting for costs of raising a family.
Other groups did Breaking Bread, worked at Beacon Church, and went to West Philly, which I have touched on previously. The week is coming to a close, and it's safe to say that this experience has been really special for all, in no small part thanks to the INCREDIBLY hardworking staff here at BSM!
#RadicalHospitality #haveaseat #bsmyi18
P.S. reminder that I will be doing a photo dump for these last few days once we get back!
PHILADELPHIA 2018: Day 4 part 2
Several other groups went on a mural tour around the "Gayborhood" neighborhood. Philly has the most murals of any city in the US, so they did not disappoint. Many take on social justice issues in execution. I could stand there and look at some of them for hours.
One group also painted chairs for use by BSM, in an effort to further encourage their efforts to introduce creativity and color into the space to create a welcoming and open place to be for all guests.
Our day off covered a large amount of ground and resulted in an exhausted group. We took a bus up to the art museum to explore the river front and check out the "rocky steps". We then bussed to the Reading Terminal Market and ate dinner there. Many opted for Philly classics like Cheesesteaks. We then walked to the plaza containing the Liberty Bell and independence hall and got our U.S. history lesson in. Finally, we walked to the beautiful south street neighborhood and enjoyed another Philly classic, Water Ice. In total, we walked around 9 miles!
That's all for now. Hoping to post about today (Thursday) later tonight. Again, I'll be posting many pictures from the coming days at the end of our trip.
-Jack Teener
One group also painted chairs for use by BSM, in an effort to further encourage their efforts to introduce creativity and color into the space to create a welcoming and open place to be for all guests.
Our day off covered a large amount of ground and resulted in an exhausted group. We took a bus up to the art museum to explore the river front and check out the "rocky steps". We then bussed to the Reading Terminal Market and ate dinner there. Many opted for Philly classics like Cheesesteaks. We then walked to the plaza containing the Liberty Bell and independence hall and got our U.S. history lesson in. Finally, we walked to the beautiful south street neighborhood and enjoyed another Philly classic, Water Ice. In total, we walked around 9 miles!
That's all for now. Hoping to post about today (Thursday) later tonight. Again, I'll be posting many pictures from the coming days at the end of our trip.
-Jack Teener
PHILADELPHIA 2018: Day 4 (Wednesday- late!)
We had a very packed and busy day yesterday, so I did not have time to post, but here's a quick update on what we did. Also, I will probably start posting less pictures on here for the next few days because I am typing these posts from my phone and it gets quite tedious to attach photos. I am planning on doing a big photo dump as a final post once we return home :)
We all started in our separate groups and worked in the morning. My group went to the Mill Creek Urban Farm, which supports its community with healthy food options and urban farming education. We got to harvest vegetables which was very exciting.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
PHILADELPHIA 2018: Day 3 part 2
(...my last entry didn't completely post...)
Another group spent their day working for the lunch program, which I talked about yesterday.
Another group spent time at Beacon Presbyterian Church in Fishtown. They spent time playing with kids and cleaning up the church, much like a Zeba trip would typically do. It has one of the few lawns in the neighborhood, making it an important and special place for families in the area. (Pictured in previous post)
The last two groups spent time at the MEEP urban farm and Philly FLIGHT which I touched on yesterday.
See you tomorrow!
-Jack Teener
Another group spent their day working for the lunch program, which I talked about yesterday.
Another group spent time at Beacon Presbyterian Church in Fishtown. They spent time playing with kids and cleaning up the church, much like a Zeba trip would typically do. It has one of the few lawns in the neighborhood, making it an important and special place for families in the area. (Pictured in previous post)
The last two groups spent time at the MEEP urban farm and Philly FLIGHT which I touched on yesterday.
See you tomorrow!
-Jack Teener
PHILADELPHIA 2018: DAY 3 (Tuesday)
We had another productive day here in Philadelphia. We are particularly looking forward to our afternoon off tomorrow where we will be exploring Philadelphia.
My group spent the morning learning the history of the West Philly neighborhood, culminating in the infamous MOVE bombing incident. We then took the subway to the actual row of houses where the bombing took place. It was a very educational and moving experience, and fortunately all groups will get the chance to go as well this week. Here's our group picture.
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