I've now officially completed two full "normal" weeks at MFP. I say "normal" because although we have a general schedule of what what nights we offer services and how long, I can't say that this is a 9-5 job schedule. This seems like something that could really start irking some people. I've really begun to enjoy this ambiguity, however. It's safe to say I don't usually go into work earlier than 9 or 10 most days. This means that I get mornings to myself. I've found this incredibly beneficial for my own well-being. I generally set my alarm for a few hours before my start time at work; I try to read a devotional given to me by my advocates (Thanks Elvera and Bev!) and eat breakfast by myself. I then usually go for a run in either Loose Park or Mill Creek - both of which are absolutely fantastic parks for runners. My joints have appreciated the track-like path they offer at both parks and my senses have been stimulated by the friendly people and beautiful fountains and flowers. Needless to say, I'm very able to focus on myself for at least a few hours of the day. I've come to crave this most days when I wake up because the rest of my day is filled with talking to clients and my co-workers.
Because we offer so many different services, I plan on expanding on some of these more and more with each entry I write. For this entry, I'll focus only on our distribution nights. These nights are our "long" nights when most of us don't get back to Kansas City until around 9 at night. We offer youth group for 6th through 12th graders from 3-5. Right now, I and two of my co-workers are leading these. We are currently in the middle of a service project. The youth have been planning a way to collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. These pop tabs will eventually be given over to the organization and then traded in for money to support the services of the Ronald McDonald House. In the first leg of this project, the kids were able to hear about what the charity does (offers a home-like setting for families of children who are receiving services at Children's Mercy Hospital). They brainstormed ideas of how to collect tabs to support the organization. Then, they started decorating containers to collect pop tabs and making posters to inform people in the community about their project. I'm excited to see where they'll take this project. Next week we will finish making posters and containers and then begin distributing them to community businesses.
Later on in the evening we also provide clothing and food distributions. We get both food and clothing donations from communities groups as well as some state providers. These donations are then set out by us and by other community volunteers so that migrant farmworkers and their families have access to gently used clothing and food bags full of pasta, cereal, and canned goods. While this is all going on, clients are also able to seek legal advice from my boss, Suzanne. She is available all evening and it is basically first come first service.
I've found that these nights are a great way to meet people and stay in touch with clients that we don't see as often as others. I'm excited to see how my relationships with our clients change and progress as well as how our project adapts to new challenges and situations, as it always seems to be doing.
Prayer requests for this week:
1. I did my first transport of a client and her family from Waverly, MO to Kansas City, MO by myself and didn't get lost! I'm so excited and thankful that this went well!
2. I'm trying to stay as involved as I can with my house-mates. Because I work a lot of late evenings, this has become somewhat challenging some weeks.
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