NYC - Health

Sorry for the delay on our posts, everyone! Wireless and time have been hard to come by.

Travel and our first day of service:

Leaving the parking lot at MU on friday, the 12 of us and all of our stuff were tightly stuffed in our 12 passenger van, and Drew said, "this is possibly the most asinine and awesome thing that i will ever do...but i am gonna love it." That night, the Ellison's welcomed us into their home (at 2am) in Ohio and fed us a wonderful homemade breakfast.

On Saturday evening we arrived in New York City and drove our lovely 12 passenger van into the city. After we rounded up all of our stuff and hustled it into Saint Paul and Saint Anthony's, we walked around the streets and grabbed dinner at Artie's. It was a late night filled with bonding and ASB fun, but we got up early on Sunday, got groceries and coffee and went to the Palm Sunday service at our church. We thoroughly enjoyed the pastors and their real life donkey. The service was very untraditional and their choir was very professional. Being our free day, we walked to Central Park and through Times Square. We finished the night grabbed pizza at a local favorite and ice cream at the drug store then headed to our church where we bonded over a massage train and question game.

Bright and early this morning, after navigating the Metro, the twelve of us began volunteering at God's Love We Deliver where we will be working all week. The organization, a not for profit, provides meals for people all over the city with nutrition specific health conditions like AIDS and cancer. Starting out, none of us knew what the organization was about or how organized they were but were amazed that they trusted 12 college students from MU in their kitchen to actually prepare food. After putting on hair nets and baseball caps, some of us chopped celery, assembled boxed frozen meals, and sealed them for delivery. We broke for a wonderful lunch prepared by the chefs then headed back down to the kitchen and continued to chop veggies, peel parsnips, and assemble and seal more than 1,200 meals...all while belting out nineties tunes on the radio. The chefs and other volunteers were so happy to have us and enjoyed our energy and we all look forward to the days to come!

After volunteering, we made a trip to the 9/11 memorial. It was a different experience for everyone and we all realized how real the events of that day were. The things that have been built, and the plans they have for what is to come are completely amazing. After the memorial we came back to the church and everyone helped cook a family meal together. Following that we reflected on the past few days and have expressed our excitement for the days to come!

I think it is safe to say that now we are more than just "weekend friends," we are... ASB-NYC!


Whachuuuuuu kno bout ch33zz3c@k3