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 (8th 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.
