Hello Supporters!
This is a photo of our group enjoying a quick snack lunch outside of the Colorado History Center, a beautiful and powerful series of interactive museum exhibits about various cultural aspects of the State’s history. It offered us some clues toward the question of root causes of poverty.
From here, we needed to split the crew into two groups to meet the size needs of the service sites we were attending. The first group headed out to a nursing home, where we were met by a representative of Bessie’s hope, an organization committed to bringing care and joy to residents of nursing homes who receive very few visits from family and friends, if any at all. We were given an orientation and then helped lead a program with some of the residents, whom we called our “grand-partners.”. We learned how to warmly greet them, engage them in conversation, led the group in singing, helped them with a fan making craft project.
The other group visited a Catholic Charities soup kitchen, where they helped sort donated clothes and prepare for and serve the evening meal. They served over 250 people.
From our afternoon sites, we immediately joined up for the urban walking tour, led by our staff contact at Denver Urban Ministries. It was hot and we were all very tired. This impacted our experience by sensitizing us to challenges that those on the streets face, with no relief from the elements, the sounds, the glare, the constant movement of a city at work, and the feeling of hunger (the tour was from 5-6:30, and so we knew we would be eating dinner late). Our eyes were opened during this experience.
We enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner, followed by recreation, and our evening reflections. We all agreed tonight that this is definitely an “urban plunge” experience. In just three days in Denver we have seen and experienced so much, and tomorrow is another full day! More to come tomorrow.
Signing off,
Your good and faithful servant (Katie)