When: 16 January 2015
Where: Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
From: Amanda Gingrich & Kylee Groon
I hope you know how scared we were the day we were chosen to be site leaders. Don't get us wrong- it's exciting- but incredibly scary in its real form. Then we met each other and suddenly things started falling into place. Although we are two very different people, we quickly learned how complimenting we were to one another. Planning, dreaming, laughing, waiting, more waiting, and more planning brought us so close which in the long run helped prepare us for this incredible adventure. We had absolutely no idea how wonderful that adventure would be- but we could only hope for the best.
Then came the process of picking you, and what a process that was. With the help of cookies, wine, and most of all pizza we sorted through hundreds of applicants looking for the perfect ten. When we had finally selected you all, we felt as though we already knew you…Facebook only playing a minor role. The reality of this trip was slowly sinking in so we knew we had to step up our A game. #sorryaboutthefirstmeeting
Wednesday night meetings @ 9pm absolutely suck. To be honest though, it was the best part of our day. We know we forced you to share things you normally wouldn't, and take selfies you normally wouldn't but we hope that looking back now you understand how crucial those meetings are to this experience. Imagine spending this week with these same twelve people with absolutely no foundation. Do you think we would be sitting here writing you this sappy letter? Probably not. So really it all comes full circle and everything we made you do was way worth it. We so enjoyed your dedication and presence each and every week and it truly meant the absolute world to both Amanda and I. It's the little things ya know?
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital was just about the luckiest hospital in the world this past week for having the ten of you sitting before us serving it's patients. Honestly, we've never been more proud of a group of individuals than we are right now. Seeing you all get up every morning and put on your best (non-tired) game face for these kids is truly inspiring. It makes us want to be better people. We have been so thrilled at the courage and vulnerability you all have shown this past week. The ability to look past the tubes, wires, and illnesses of these children to see them for humans not any less deserving of love than anyone is such a powerful and special gift that each of you hold inside of you. Seeing you all take an interest in not only the service but in each other was something we hope-at the very least- that you bring home. Genuine connection with people is so important in life, love, and the pursuit of happiness or should we say, the pursuit of "Le Bonheur". We are so overjoyed to call you our participants and so incredibly impressed with your hearts of service.
Each of you are so unique and Amanda and I could not have been more lucky to have chosen ten of the best people at the University of Missouri. This trip has been full of so much laughter, love, respect, connection, failure, triumph, encouragement, positivity, sadness, and most of all hope. You ten are the reason why MAB is such a highly acclaimed organization. Your passions are all so different yet all come back to the same thing- that this world we live in is more than a Friday night party- it's about people and more so, the connections we make with them. So we want to thank you. Thank you for being the ladies and gents of Memphis 1. Thank you for giving it everything you had and so much more. And most of all, thanks for only Touching "Juance".
We, Kylee and I, hope that you all have enjoyed this adventure just as much as we have. We hope that going back to school is a breeze knowing you have 11 new people to turn to when it seems like no one gets just how funny the word crutches is. And lastly, we hope that you continue to give this world 100% of you 100% of the time.
We love you, the ten people in this room, more than Uncle Lou's and Elvis' lips combined.
-Amanda & Kylee
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