Dallas -- "I Woke Up Today"

Today Team Dallas woke up bright and early to a beautiful, sunny day in Dallas. We started the day at 9 a.m. at the Resource Center, an organization that has a focus on the HIV+ demographic. It took us a little bit to finally find out first stop, the food bank, but we didn't mind because the drive was full of beautiful homes and parks. At the food bank half of the group was dropped off and the other half went to the sister site of the Resource Center, the hot meals facility.

At the hot meals facility, Jordan, Sarah, Sara, Kate, Kailyn, and Ashley had a memorable day; from meeting Doris and Tony, dedicated volunteers for the organization, to getting appreciative back rubs from people coming through the line.They were all impacted by the people and in turn impacted a lot of lives, serving over 100 people(Kate was also privileged enough to get a recipe from Doris, which apparently never happens).

The food bank was also a unique experience. Alex, Michelle, Kristina, Eliot, Katie and John spent their time helping people through the process of getting checked in and weighed and then on to picking out groceries for the week ahead. Charles, a volunteer of 6 years, shared his story of coming out and his life in the gay community in Dallas. He opened our eyes to how blessed we are that times have changed and people are more accepting and open to all different kinds of people.

We regrouped around 1:30 and moved onto our second organization of the day, Dallas LIfe. Dallas Life is a Christian-based organization that offered a 4 stage program to addicts, the abused, and the homeless. Here we all served the residents dinner. This is one of the largest programs of its kind in Texas and has had over 11,000 people graduate its program (which means they move out of the facility to have families, homes, jobs, etc).

Needless to say working one on one with these people made this an extremely emotional day. We were all showered with hugs and thank you's and were touched by so many individuals. I think it really hit us at the Resource Center when people our age walked through the doors; you just step back and think "Wow, this is real, these people might not ever get a chance to do the things that make our lives so fulfilling." Kailyn was touched when she asked "Hi, how are you?" and the man simply smiled and replied "I woke up today." Eliot was literally moved to tears when he was surrounded by people who were running low on time, but still took the few moments to smile, joke and ask how their friends' families were doing. Seeing these people, who could have just given up, as such strong and optimistic people made all of us realize that living each day to the fullest really counts. It made all of us step back and truly understand how blessed we are to have a life full of opportunity ahead of us.

We also received a heartfelt letter from Reconciliation Outreach in the mail today from our friends Brenda and Dawn. This just helped pick us up from a rough day and remind us that we are making a difference in the lives of the people we have met while here.

As a heads up to our families and friends, feel free to comment on our blog to share your thoughts or reactions.