FRIDAY HIGH SCHOOL UPDATE

Day 2 was another incredible day!!! The high school and middle school students spent their morning together at Center for the Homeless in South Bend. It was a powerful experience! We heard from a woman, Laurie, who was a resident there. Her story moved me to tears! She spoke about her life experiences and how through poor choices, she lost her support system. Support systems are important in life because it’s those people who will get you through the rough times. Laurie is one of many residents who have completed the programs offered at Center for the Homeless. She spoke very highly of them because they gave her tools to take and use out in the world. Now she feels respected and valued. Her proudest moment was when she graduated from the programs and her daughter was there to tell her how proud she was of her mom. Her daughter was part of that support system she had lost and now she has it back. She smiled as she told us how much better she feels now and that she knows that she is loved and respected. After hearing from Laurie, the high schoolers went into the Garden at the Center and pulled weeds and did other small projects. It was a neat moment for some of our students because a few years ago they had been at the garden site when it wasn’t really a garden yet. Seeing the final product was pretty cool 

After working in the garden we ate lunch. I was so proud of our students because many of them went and sat with residents. It was a beautiful sight to see them asking questions and speaking with people who stayed there. Our students have amazing hearts and that really shone through their actions this morning!

In the afternoon we headed off to the Faith Mission in Elkhart. We worked in the thrift store and sorted holiday decorations. One thing I love about the high schoolers is that they know how to make anything fun! We were lucky enough to get a tour of the Faith Mission’s main building as well as the women’s housing. It was neat to see what they were doing for the community. They serve three meals seven days a week. They get many food donations and end up giving some of the food away to other pantries because they can’t hold it all. That’s a good problem to have! It was neat to hear that Feed the Children has donated lots of food because we were just there yesterday and it tied the two organizations together.

This evening we had fun at the Cove. We watched a great game, the Hawks won!! I loved having random conversations with the students around me. Seth Bible made an appearance as well! The evening ended with an awesome fireworks display set to some 80’s music. Oh yeah 

Now we’re all back at the hotel and looking forward to day three of Move. We’ll be at Manowe up in Michigan. Then we’ll drive back to GCC for church. Maybe we’ll see you at the five o’clock service!

-Stephanie Lancione