With vinegar stained hands, we are truly feeling our impact here in Fairview! First off and most importantly, welcome to Nashville our beloved site leader Jamie! We picked her up with open arms from the airport this morning, so naturally we had to celebrate at the world famous Pancake Pantry in downtown Nashville. After stuffing our faces with fluffy goodness and cinnamon cream syrup, we headed back to home sweet home to get ready for our day of serving.
Today's biggest project started with a trip into Nashville (two times in one day..just call us the urban travelers!) to retrieve spare change from the main office of Boys & Girls Club. A mall in Nashville donates all of the fountain money (make a wish!) to the Boys & Girls Club of middle Tennessee. After hauling coolers of pennies and dimes back to Fairview, a few of us got down and dirty, scrubbing each coin with vinegar so that they could be deposited into the bank. Ms. Tammy explained that this type of donation can surmount to $2,000, so we felt great about the difference we were making!
Dan and Justin got makeovers and outfit transformations from 2nd grade friends, (follow us on Twitter for pics), we moved couches and re-organized teen hangouts, and Jamie even learned how to play pool…and won!! Carly and Megan are starting a handprint project for culture on the walls and hope to finish tomorrow! We have loved getting to help them with homework, even if that means all of us prying our brains, re-living our y-axis and slope days.
After a fabulous dinner cooked by our two men in the kitchen, we got to really reflect on our trip here thus far. Within our group, there was a lot of discussion of the incredible need in Fairview, TN. These children are going through very real life situations, things we have never even had to face in our lives, even though we are 10 and 12 years older than most of them. They have such incredible potential in their life, but what they truly need is love. With only four women on staff, it is hard to imagine how hard it must be for them to run this club without our help. In our discussion and mutual realization of the need, we are not leaving this issue behind when we return home. Rather, we have a profound understanding of the importance of education and community engagement, and we will take this back to Columbia with us. This trip has made us incredibly aware of the quality of the upbringing we have all been blessed to have and are ready to pass our knowledge on to future generations.
We look forward to our next two days at Boys & Girls Club, thanks y'all!
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