There's something about getting into a car with 12 near-strangers to serve that's an experience like no other — an experience centered on learning, growth and development. Serving in northeast Missouri — primarily in Knox County — this weekend was an eye-opening experience for us Foxy Knoxys. We learned a lot about the communities in which we served and were able to make small but noticeable differences at the places we visited.
After a solid drive Friday evening through rural Missouri, we arrived at the Kelly family's household in Kirksville. We are incredibly grateful for the kindness, generosity and hospitality of these two Mizzou alumni. We loved talking with them and their children (one who's a freshman and the other who's a senior and future Tiger — truly a Mizzou family!) and playing with their dog, Drake, in our free time after service.
We kicked off the weekend Saturday morning at the Helping Hands Mission in Kirksville, which, among other services, provides free lunch to community members, runs a thrift store and assists community members with various services. It was very evident from every interaction we had how meaningful their work was to the community. About half of our group worked with Deb to sort clothing to put in the thrift shop. Deb was so kind and knowledgeable about the community and the service focuses Helping Hands addresses. Jay and Caylin created price tags for the items; Tara swapped out winter clothes with spring and summer ones in the thrift shop; Martise, Jessica and Gabrielle vacuumed for a while; and Emily and Ashley organized the pantry, alphabetizing the items.
Ali and Katie washed windows and talked extensively to one of the mission's founding sister. She told them how the mission came to be and about various services they provide, including giving books and school supplies to children, holding women's meetings and teaching people how to do their taxes. She also talked about the people Helping Hands serves, who include people who are homeless, people who have recently gotten out of jail and African immigrants.
After a quick packed lunch in the car, we traveled to Scotland County and began service there at a clothing depot in Memphis, where we swapped out fall and winter clothes for spring and summer ones. (Several people in our group loved hanging up the tiny baby clothes.) We really liked how accessible the clothing was to community members; anyone could get clothing there for 10 cents per item, but if someone weren't able to pay, the depot would give them the clothes anyway. While we sorted clothing, we learned a lot about the city's history, especially from MU Extension's Chris Kempke, who served alongside us the rest of the afternoon.
Our next stop was the Scotland County Courthouse, where we painted the room in which people (including the Kellys' daughter) take their driving tests. We made the room look brighter and cleaner with the fresh coat of white paint. This was a very "poco a poco" service project because it was something the MAB fall weekend group was going to do but didn't have enough time for. It was really cool to be able to pick up where another MAB group had started and continue to build our relationship with that county!
Then, we cleaned a train depot in Scotland County. This is where we first learned of Ella Ewing, a giantess who was more than 8 feet tall. She's quite a pride point for Scotland County, where she lived and built a house with 10-foot ceilings.
That night, we bonded over cooking Mexican food and playing Headbands, a game where you had to guess a word on a card on someone's forehead.
After a great night's sleep, we served at the Knox County Historical Society, helping the volunteer members box and move items to its new location a few blocks away. We all loved looking at the cool, interesting historical artifacts: clothes, photos, newspapers, written records and even an old record player. We were honored that we were trusted to handle such important items to that community, and we enjoyed learning about the history of Knox County. Brent and Don from the historical society, who led us through our volunteering, kindly bought us lunch, and we enjoyed talking with them about Edina's history. All in all, we had a great weekend and were so glad we served with them!
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