Sunday,
June 30, 2013
Monday,
July 1, 2013
“Every now and then there comes a time
when I wake up completely and totally confused for no reason. I have no idea
why, but when this happens I'm not even sure how to pour a bowl of cereal.
Monday morning happened about the same way. A bright light woke me up at about
6:30 (Eastern Time) followed by the voices of the adults telling us to get up
and get ready for the day. I looked around and realized I was sweaty, covered
in some dirt, and lying on an air mattress covered with flowery sheets. I
looked out the window only to find bars on them and multiple padlocks on the
door. That morning I was confused as to if I was in prison or New York because
why would we be sleeping like this? Everyone got ready and went to the rally
point at YSOP. We got split into groups of 5-6 people and were assigned a
destination to travel to. My group consisted of myself, Sha, Rebecca and Meaghan
Glenn, and Stacey and Megan Carter. After arriving at the correct subway
station, we started to wait for the next train to come, only to find out we
could literally not fit inside because there were so many people, so we waited.
Then the next train came, we couldn't get on that one either. The third time is
a charm so we squeezed ourselves on and arrived at the designated stop.
Rebecca, Meaghan, Sha and I got out, but Stacey and Megan weren't with us. They
had to wait for another train since they couldn't fit. The next train arrived
and we were all together again. We walked to the food pantry where we were
supposed to work and found three other people waiting for our assistance.
Nivea, Mark, and Sophia. They gave us instructions and as soon as they did we
went to work. Sophia and Meaghan went outside in the pouring rain to hand the
struggling people numbers that tells them when they can have their turn at
getting food. Because it was the beginning of the month and it was raining, not
as many people showed up as usual. The one thing that surprised me was how
grateful and respectful every single person was toward the volunteers. The only
people who didn't say thank you were a few people, only because they couldn't
speak any English. After all the people left, the time was only 10:30. And,
since we were supposed to work until at least 2:30, we asked what else we could
do. They told us there wasn't anything else to be done that day except restock
the cans in the back room. After we had done that we sat down and talked to
Nivea and Sophia. Sophia started coughing and wheezing and told us not to worry
because she just has a lung condition. Curiosity got the best of us so we had
to ask. Sophia continued to explain how she was in an accounting section of a
building that collapsed one day. The day was September 11th, 2001. Sophia was
on the 77th floor when the plane rammed into one tower killing many
people she held dear to her including her boss. She then told us a fireman had
ran 77 floors to where she was and brought her back down and put her in an
ambulance. Sophia was in and out of consciousness, but remembered when the
building came crashing down and when the paramedic ran away from her aid to
save himself. The rest of the story is history and now she has devoted her life
to helping people in need. She works in the food pantry every Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday. After we had our lunch, Nivea and Sophia tried to give
us a tour of the church, but all the doors were locked. They kept us busy for a
little while longer, but then told us we needed to explore the big city. Of
course, being from Kentucky we are directionally challenged and don't ever know
where to go so Sophia followed us until we got on the right path to the subway.
So much excitement had happened already and it was just after 12:00. The rest
of the day we walked, rode subways, walked, rode more subways, and walked some
more. Everyone was exhausted, hot, and ready for bed. For dinner we went to a
place where Harry Met Sally. We ate at Katz's restaurant and I'm sure Ronnie
would love to tell anyone who asks about the pastrami sandwich. We wrapped up
at the restaurant and walked back to the subway, got on, then walked to where
we were staying. I laid down on my air mattress after a long exhausting day and
started to think about things, like, why am I so selfish and why am I so lucky
to have what I have? I went to sleep in the hot room protected by bars on the
windows and my last thought of the night was, at least I have a bed to sleep on
and protection if I need it. The next morning I woke up knowing where I was and
knowing what I had to do. I wasn't confused, I wasn't dazed, but I knew God
woke me up for a reason that day.” Cameron Quisenberry
Tuesday,
July 2, 2013
“My group went to Immaculate
Conception, where we met Sister Shiney and served food to people and organized
their pantry. Afterwards, we went back to YSOP and made tacos and other food
for guests from a homeless shelter.” – Meaghan Glenn
“On Wednesday we went to help two
sisters, giving food to homeless people. We work hard but it was fun because we
met a lot of people who came to eat, some people are nice. Two sisters that we
helped were very nice to us and nice to everyone who came to eat. They are
always smiling and talking to people. I like that place very much.” Tee Gay
Thursday,
July 4, 2013
“Thursday we went to the subway and
rode the train. We went to the beach and had lots of fun. That night we went to
see fireworks. It was my first time to see fireworks ever and in New York City
it is very nice.” - Hser Wah
“We all went to do our separate
activities, then most of us went to a bridge to watch the fireworks display.” –
Alex Luallen
Friday,
July 5, 2013
“On Friday, my group and I went to Broadway Presbyterian Soup Kitchen where we served breakfast, prepared and served lunch, then cleaned up. Afterwards, we went to the YSOP meeting place to discuss and wrap up the week. Later, we went to the Yankees Stadium and ate dinner while watching the game. We finally took the subway to the house we stayed at and got packed and ready for the morning.” – Maya Holcomb
“On Friday, we volunteered in the
morning at a soup kitchen, then we went to baseball game. We watched half of
the game, I loved it.” – Sha Moo
Saturday,
July 6, 2013
“Today we had to be packed up and out
the door by 11 to catch our plane back to Nashville. We got to the airport kind
of early so we sat around the airport for about 2 hours. Once we finally took
off it was a smooth ride until we hit some storms about an hour outside of
Nashville. We finally landed and drove safely back to Owensboro.” – Maci
Quisenberry
