Blogger 3/26
Today's Author: Dani Grucky
We woke up early to start our day off with a wonderful breakfast including eggs by Chris and cereal choices that included Lucky Charms and Cheerios. We got changed quickly into our working clothes and packed the cars. In the minivan, we decided to bring back our 90's childhood and listen to the Backstreet Boys. Our first stop was the Children's Hospital to pick up lunch, which we later discovered to be delicious sandwiches and snicker doodle cookies. Once we picked up our lunch bags we returned to the school for Day 2. Ryan greeted us around 8:45 AM and went over the game plan for the day. We all put on our gloves and continued to pick out the rest of the weeds and turn them. This was yet another perfect opportunity to bond with Ryan and discover more of his inspiring agricultural knowledge while we worked in the garden. Unfortunately, Jade then came to the group and said she couldn't hang out with us for the day, but she would be back tomorrow. Around 11:45 AM we all gathered for lunch, including Ryan, where we found out more about the children at Cloverdale and their high risks. He explained that racial segregation in the classes was a problem and participation from many children was minimal. We also decided to take skit videos of the gardening action that we plan on sharing later.
Around 12:45 PM Lulu, who teaches the children in the classroom about gardening, met Chris, Dani, Liz, and Katie. She took the four to the classrooms to help out with the games she had planned for the sixth graders. Through the three classes we saw the racial segregation that Ryan had talked about was definitely noticeable. The first class was extremely rambunctious and a challenge to calm down, but after a couple explanations of expectations from Lulu they settled down and went outside to play name games and discuss their favorite fruits and vegetables. Although there were challenges with many kids, we did notice a few had the potential to become great leaders in the future. At about 3:30 PM when classes were over Chris, Dani, Liz, and Katie joined the rest of the group in the garden. The stories shared created a sense of humbleness in the entire group.
The rest of the group had finished weeding out the final three beds and turning all six of them. We all had a group talk one last time with Ryan for the day, packed the cars, and returned back to the church. Although we did plenty of hard work during the day, the 3-on-3 basketball series continued, with Brian's team taking the series lead 2-1. Other people decided to shower and start cooking dinner. For dinner, the ladies made a salad that included lettuce from the garden at Cloverdale, sloppy joes, baked beans, and cheese quesadillas. We joined church members who were having a Faith Promise soup dinner. This is a weekly pledge that some of the members give throughout lent.
During dinner, Brian brainstormed the idea of going rollerblading with the group tonight. Around 7:30 PM we arrived at "Arkansas Skatium" and rollerbladed for a couple of hours. We danced, skated and bonded and then headed back to the church. We arrived at the church around 10PM and impulsively decided that Sonic sounded like a good idea. Sonic was about four minutes away so it was not an inconvenience whatsoever. Once we got there we ordered our shakes, packed in the Yukon and reflected on our day. We all discussed how eye opening this whole experience has been and how we are truly blessed, but so incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to serve. Then we headed back to the church and decided to clean up, brush our teeth and call it a night. We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings us and hang out with Ryan, Lulu, and Jade another day!
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