Memphis 2 - Health (2)

Hello Everyone!!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts this week, we've been crazy busy with so many things here in Memphis! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday have been jam packed with service, exploring Memphis, and really getting a chance to bond as a trip.

On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to get tickets (way up in the nosebleeds of course) to a Memphis Grizzlies game! Sadly, they were beaten pretty soundly by LeBron and the Cavaliers, but it was an awesome experience and quite a few of our participants very first NBA game! For dinner that night we stopped by Huey's downtown (just off Beale St.) after being told by just about everyone in Tennessee that it was the best place to grab a burger. Overall, spending time in bustling downtown Memphis on a warm and breezy spring evening was incredible, and something that we are so fortunate to have experienced!

Thursday was yet another busy day filled with service at LeBonheur - and we didn't even have to GPS our way there this time! All of our participants got to spend time truly 'communicating love', whether it was in the Creative Arts Room, serving on the Hospitality Cart or Beverages Cart, or as a Unit Buddy, we each were blessed with the opportunity to really get to know the little patients. Now that it's further on in the week, it's really cool to start to recognize faces and families, and have them know us by name as well. Again, maybe it's just the Southern hospitality, but I am blown away by the honest to goodness, kindhearted nature of EVERYONE here. LeBonheur and its families have welcomed us with open arms, and we have done our best to return the favor. 

LeBonheur on Friday was a bittersweet day; none of us is ready to leave just yet. We decided to surprise our volunteer coordinator Timorie with flowers, cookies, a thank you card, and even one of our MAB "LeBesties" shirts! She was thrilled and thanked us for being such an easygoing and dedicated group all week. The rest of Friday was spent volunteering one on one with patients in Dialysis, floating as Unit Buddies, and distributing items from the Beverage, Hospitality, and Craft carts. After doing these volunteer rotations all week, we've formed some really meaningful connections with the very special people of LeBonheur. Some days, it might not have felt like we were doing any earth shattering, life changing service, but even just sitting with a child while the parent finally has a chance to shower, eat, or take a nap is HUGE. Friday, I offered to sit with a little girl with epilepsy so her mom could run and get breakfast, and her mom literally threw her arms up in the arm and said "Hallelujah! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I need this". Offering a simple coffee or hot chocolate from the Beverage Cart (with Timorie's awesome dad, Gordo) also made a sincere difference for the exhausted families we met. As one father put it after accepting his coffee, "Thank you" and after a slight pause, "I mean that."

For our final night in Memphis we tried Jerry's Sno Cones for the first time, which specializes in an ice cream/sno cone 'Supreme'. It sounds kind of like a weird combo, but it was amazing!! After a delicious spaghetti final supper at Germantown Pres, we headed to Overton Square in Midtown Memphis. Overton Square is a newly redeveloped area filled with cool shops, restaurants, and artwork. They even had built in cornhole boards and bags for us to use! It was a fun last night together, capped off by a trip to Muddy's Bakery for some AMAZING cupcakes (can you tell our trip loves food?).  

As we prepare to leave this morning from our fabulous home for the week, Germantown Presbyterian, I am saddened to end this Week of Hope that has taught us so much. When a group of 11 strangers travel 6 hours together to a foreign city and spend a week in service together, it takes a really extraordinary group to gel like our trip did. When I say we have genuinely became a family this week, I am not exaggerating for the sake of this blog in the slightest. I know in my heart that when we return to Columbia, 'Memphis 2' will not fade away and disappear. If anyone can 'Bring it Home', it's this group of awesome Mizzou students. (I mean, look at that jump pic!)

y'all come back now, ya hear?

xo- Memphis 2 

Memphis 2 - Health (1)

11 strangers picked to live in a church….

 HI EVERYONE! Nice to meet ya'll. We are Memphis 2, and we are so excited to tell you about our time serving! So, 11 of us took off on Saturday afternoon to head down South to serve at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital for the week and we are staying nearby at a church in Germantown (not Pennsylvania), TN. Yesterday was our first day at the hospital, and we had a morning full of training and then that afternoon we started our first shifts! Timorie and Allison are our volunteer coordinators and are so sweet and welcoming to us. We are their 3^rd week in a row of "alternative breakers," so they know exactly how this works and have been very organized.

 Today, we came in bright and early with a better idea of the hospital, the elevator system (though not completely lulz), and now starting to recognize some smiling faces. We broke off into different areas of the hospital, each of us taking on a different unit or task.

Sam E, Kelly C, and Francine, started off the morning walking around with the beverage cart with a long-time volunteer Gordon. He is an amazing man and we were lucky to be his apprentice for the day. We came around the halls bringing free coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to anyone who needed a pick-me-up. The families, nurses, and doctors were so appreciative of this gesture, which seemed so small, but had an awesome impact. We also learned about the "Le Bonheur" special, which is a packet of hot chocolate, but instead of water, you add coffee. There is a reason it is called a special…… it's delicious.

            A couple floors up, Erin and Shane spent some time in a little tike's room coloring, playing, and even learning sign language! They did so well interacting with this family and now have a cool skill they are coming home with! (Whenever you see them on the street, make sure to ask them the sign for red). This little one was super funny and sassy and brought joy to everyone who had the chance to meet them. Which was cool because 5 other volunteers met with this kiddo too during other activities! Let me tell you, this kid was popular.

            Now, let me introduce you to Francine. She's a quirky child-life specialist major who is also skilled in the art of opera! How do those things relate? Well we found out today when Francine had the chance to sing to not one….but TWO kiddos today. BOTH TIMES FROZEN! (of course). These little ones lit up when she started singing and it was awesome to get to see Francine shine. Everyone agrees that the Child-life specialists who work at Le Bonheur are not normal people but super-human, kid-loving aliens who are basically the rock-stars of the hospital. Francine fits in perfectly.

            Kelly M. and Ellen took some rounds today with the hospitality cart. This cart is so cool! It's a cart full of supplies like deodorant, shampoo, and toothbrushes and the families can take anything they want for free.  So many of the parents and kids were surprised and genuinely touched by Le Bonheur's generosity.  They took rounds through the surgery waiting room and provided a distraction from the waiting game they were currently experiencing. It was awesome to see them take their minds of the stress and start talking about the smells of lotions and different types of shampoos. We all talked later about how something like this could be so overlooked when there are crazy things going on like having a sick child. These little comfort items can mean a lot to families in a time where there might not be a lot of comfort.

            Olivia and Sam C. spent the morning with activity cart, which brings around games, toys, and crafts to kids directly in their room. Olivia talked about how cool it was to see the different kids be creative with their crafts and how unique each child is, even with crafts that have specific directions. After that, they spent some time in the creative arts room, which is open specific times of the day. In here, they got to color, paint, decorate, and play with lots of kids and their families too! They walked into a little guy's room that was playing on an iPad and asked him if he wanted to do an activity (fully expecting a rejecting because of the awesome iPad), and he responded, "YES, I have been SO bored."

            Holly and Nicole spent some time in kid's rooms providing time for families to go off and do their own thing. Many parents don't ever want to leave the kid's bedside or leave them alone. Sometimes this means that mom and dad haven't showered in a few days, or maybe they just haven't seen the sunlight in a while. Unit buddies allow these parents the opportunity to take care of themselves for a little while the buddy makes sure the kiddo isn't alone and has cool stuff to do. Holly and Nichole even had a chance to meet up with a toddler they met the previous day, and saw in that room the pet therapy dog, Jake, doing hard work (aka getting his belly rubbed).

            The afternoon brought our whole group together to make cookies at the FedEx family house, which provides free housing for the families of kids staying at the hospital. This building was beautiful and very impressive, and we were lucky we had the chance to see it! We met lots of families and kiddos there, and of course, we sang more frozen songs. Baking cookies with those families was a very memorable experience, and brought out the kids in us all.

            We don't know if it's the South, or the children's hospital environment, or the church community where we are staying, but everyone has been so kind to us here. Everywhere we go, there are people telling us genuine thank yous and telling us how special we are. They are making us feel so appreciated and loved and we are grateful for this opportunity to serve. Now off to another day! Ya'll come back now.