San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco on Sunday where we were put into groups.  Heather and I ended up being in the same group along with two other leaders and 11 kids (4 from our group and the others were from other states).  We learned what we would be doing for the week, ate dinner and get settled in.

Day 1~Monday

We worked at the Salvation Army Warehouse. I never realized how much the Salvation Army does for the community.  We delivered meals to some people that lived in Government housing.  It was me, Shelley, and Svea along with one volunteer man.  I think he really trusted the area because he walked WAY ahead of us and never looked back.  I made sure the girls were right with me the whole time.  I mostly waited in the lobbies so the girls could have the experience of delivering the meals.

When the meals were delivered we had the wonderful opportunity to sort through left over bars of soap, bottles of shampoo and conditioner that were donated by local hotels in the area.  And, I must say, when I say left over I mean USED.  Yep, there were bars of soap we were digging through that had hairs stuck to them.  Our task was to pick out the ones that were half decent, re-fill half bottles to make them full and put together hygiene bags.  There are two days a week that families come to the warehouse with a case worker and they get to shop.  These hygiene bags were one of the things they got to take home with them.

Day 2 ~Tuesday

This day we headed down to another part of town to the Salvation Army Day Camp.  As we drove down the main street of this poverty stricken area, I couldn’t help but notice the men lined up down the street.  They kept waving their hands at us. I couldn’t figure out if they were flirting or if they thought we were a  bus and wanted a ride.  Finally I asked Heather what that was all about.  She then told me that they were looking for work for the day.  They were hoping a construction crew would come by and need their work.  As soon as she told me this I had to fight back tears as I tried to imagine living like that.  The tears welled up as I thought about the uncertainty of whether or not they would make enough money to have food on the table for dinner that night.  I think the things that always hit me the hardest on these trips are the things I can try and relate to the most.

At the day camp we organized  a worship time for the kids and basically just talked and hung out with them the rest of the day.  Several of the kids I talked to lived on that main street where I saw the day laborers.  So, the chances of them being the children of some of those men were very high.  So sad.

Day 3-Wednesday

We went back to the Warehouse this day.  I got to go to some of the rooms where we delivered meals this day.  I remember two instances very clearly.  One man we delivered food to said, “Thank you so much.  God Bless you.  If it weren’t for you guys I wouldn’t be eating today.”

The other time  I got emotional this day was outside and apartment building a homeless man came up to our group and made eye contact with each one of us asking for spare change.  Unfortunately, none of us had any money on us.  I looked him in the eye with sincere apologies and said I was sorry.  He looked back at me and said, “Please, mam, my feet, they really do hurt.”  I looked down at his feet and he was wearing sandals that were at least two sizes too small and his heals were hanging off the edge.  I couldn’t stop the tears this time.  I felt awful and helpless.

When we got back to the warehouse we sorted through HUGE boxes of clothes that were donated for the people to come shop through.

Day 4~ Thursday

We went back to the day camp this day.  The story that sticks out to me from this day was the story I heard from a sweet little five year old boy, Chris.  We were at the park.  Shelley had been sitting under the playground with a group of kids for awhile, so I decided to join her.  There is where I met Chris.  I talked to him about random stuff for awhile when I asked him if he lived with his mom and dad.  He said not my mom, they broke up.  I said Oh but you still get to see her, right?  He said “No, never.”  I asked him why and he said “She’s in Heaven.”  He then went on to say that she had 101 dalmatians and that they ate her and all her bones.  Shelley then said that he told her his mom was shot by the cops.  Tears flooded my eyes as I thought about these things he was saying.  I don’t know which parts of his stories were true.  But, it would be my guess that most definitely some of it is true.  How sad it is to know that there are kids out there in this world growing up in homes like this.  It really was heartbreaking for both Shelley and I to hear.

Summary of the week~  I was most amazed with some of the changes I saw amongst the kids in our youth group.  I really think of each of them as our adopted teenagers or our little brothers and sisters.  To see them be emotional about the things they were seeing was absolutely amazing and rewarding in itself.  To see walls of prejudices broken down in them.  We had kids getting their hearts broken seeing some of the things they saw.  We had kids chatting the homeless, watching movies with the homeless, witnessing to the homeless, exchanging e-mail addresses, one girl washed the feet of a homeless lady and gave her a pedicure and manicure.  We had kids stepping up as leaders amongst all of the church groups volunteering to help wherever or whenever needed.  They weren’t afraid to share their stories at night when we had group time.  I learn from these high schoolers and its so great!!

If you are one of the students that was on this trip and you are reading this I hope you know how proud I am of you and how Blessed I feel to be a part of each of your lives.  What a Blessing~I love you all!!

~ by tshasthoughts on July 2, 2008.