July 23, 2010… The work is moving along very well thanks to our ambitious and pro-active Building and Grounds Ministry members. Everyone contributed to the preparatory work and planning but a special thanks must go to members; Laurie Gabrielson, who arranged for and supervised the painting,  Mike Schultz, who acquired the bids for the ceiling work and helped to supervise the installation, and Jerry Snider, for the electrical work including installation of the new lighting fixtures.

A.J. Prepared the framework for the refurbished cabinets and he has installed one of the doors to give us an idea what the finished product will look like. Additional shelving units will be installed behind the door in the foreground and in the space at the far end of the unit.  The 2 center units will have doors but they will be without shelves in order to allow space for the preschool "cubbies" and for hanging some of the Christmas Pageant costumes etc.

The fresh new ceiling has been finished in the lower level commons area as well as the hallway to the nursery and the long hallway to the garden room and kitchen area. It was necessary to lower the ceiling slightly (4 inches) to allow space for our fellow member and electrician, Jerry Snider, to install the new light fixtures.  I think you will all be very pleased with the bright, cheerful space when we are finished.

Watch for later updates…the next phase should begin the first week in August and will include a bright, new tiled floor.

After some museums this morning, we’re now waiting at Amtrak for our train to depart. We all made it and are ready to go, thanks to the valiant efforts of Heather, who, after being separated from the rest of the chaperons, successfully led the entire group, with luggage, to Amtrak via the subway. We’re full of new ideas and experiences, ready to get home and share our trip with the congregation on Sunday!

Thursday, July 8th

This was our last day of service in New York City. Our groups went to "Hour Children", a halfway house; A Jewish Soup Kitchen where around 100 were served; "Part of the Solution" soup kitchen and pantry (several of our small groups worked there this week on different days); and Neighbors Together Food Pantry. Following that, we had a closing session at Youth Service Opportunity Project (our coordinating host). After that we went to dinner, some Italian in Brooklyn, and some in the Upper East Side. Finally, we went through Central Park (it was cooler this evening), and had some time for reflection on our experiences this week. We’ll be unlikely to update again before we get home Saturday Evening, but plan to do a little sightseeing in the morning (museums and  U.N.), then head for the train around 1 pm.

Wednesday, July 7th

Today, William turned 17! He celebrated by sweating as he did hundreds of dishes at "Part of the Solution" soup kitchen. Way to go, Will! Otherwise, we split into groups this morning and went to our work sites, which were each soup kitchens. We returned to YSOP headquarters and listened to Leia speak to us about being homeless in her childhood, and her success in getting a Masters Degree and working for Americorp helping others. After that, it was a free night, and all of us wound up going to Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, saw NBC headquarters. Some of us broke off and saw the Whitney Museum of Art, and Greenwich Village. Luckily, it was a little cooler today!

Tuesday, July 6th

It was brutally hot, with a high of 103. But we got out to our work sites which were food pantries and soup kitchens, and did our work. When we returned to YSOP, we held a Dinner Party for guests from a local men’s shelter. We all had a great time cooking dinner, socializing, playing games, and learning a lot about the guys that came over. It was late by the time we got back, and didn’t get a chance to add a blog entry, but did manage to have group time to discuss our experiences.

Monday, July 5th

We woke up bright and early to start our week of mission.  We began at the YSOP headquarters for an hour long orientation.  After that, we split up into our small groups and headed to our work sites. Matt’s group ran into several difficulties while trying to use the subway and ended up just walking the mile to the Holy Apostle’s Church, located close to Madison Square Garden. This is the 2nd biggest soup kitchen in the whole US. We were to jobs such as food line, cleaning tables and filling up lemonade jugs. The church was highly efficient and the volunteers loved to be there. We served 1247 people in just over 2 hours!

Brad’s group went to Fraternite de Nortre Dame, which was a soup kitchen run by nuns in Manhattan.  The nuns spoke Spanish and French, but very little English which made it a challenge to understand their directions.  The kitchen was closed to the public, so the jobs didn’t involve serving people directly.  Some jobs included organizing their basement, watering plants and food preparation.  

Heather’s group went to The Bronx to work at the POTS (Part Of The Solution) soup kitchen. The kitchen worked like a sit-down restaurant where servers brought the food to the hungry at tables. The servers helped 190 people total and we had a fun time interacting with the locals and those running the POTS kitchen.

Jerilyn fearlessly lead her group to the McKinley’s Children’s Garden in the heart of Queens.  There we met Wajeedah and her son Reid.  The children’s garden started when a house was torn down in queens, and a vacant lot was left littered with trash and weeds.  Wajeedah and her family set off to turn this lot into a garden to teach the children in the neighboring school how food is grown.  This transformation has been going on for three years, during which Wajeedah’s husband tragically passed away.  Wajeedah and her son continue to work on the garden everyday, and we were lucky enough to be apart of its growth.  Our group helped water plants, and move wheel barrels full of mulch around the garden.  The work was draining, hauling the 100 degree heat was exhausting, but we were kept going by Wajeedah and her sons spirit.

Sunday, July 4th

July 4th was our free day. Some of us started off the day bright and early with a run through Central Park. Afterwards, the rest of us got up and ready for church at Riverside Church, which is the largest UCC church in the country. We then went to Battery Park and took the ferry to Staten Island, where we visited a September 11th memorial. While on the ferry, we got a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. After returning to Manhattan, we got to spend some time around Battery Park to shop for souvenirs, sunglasses, and ice cream. We then took a stroll down Wall Street. We went to Ground Zero, but we didn’t get to see much because there were fences around the construction of the memorial. After a short break, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy. Some of us went to a Chinese restaurant and ordered a bunch of strange foods, like squid, frog, pigeon, duck, and clams. We got on the subway and arrived in Times Square; the lights were so bright they lit up the streets. We tried to go see the fireworks, but the police had blocked off the streets, so we had to watch the majority of them through two buildings. We decided to head back the the church, but ended up waiting in the humid, stuffy subway terminal for a super crowded train to arrive. So far, this was the most tiring day of the trip.

 Saturday, July 3rd

Our 2010 New York City Mission Trip began with a 2.5 hour delay at the La Crosse Train Station.  Reverend Bill came to see us off without knowing of the train’s late arrival and had to wait several hours.  After being sent off with a prayer and parental well wishes, we boarded the train to Chicago.  On our five hour ride there, we reevaluated our time slot to visit Taste of Chicago and decided it was still worth the walk.  Upon arrival, the group—led by Brad’s swift city walking pace—strolled through downtown until finally arriving at the crowded entrance to the city event.  Our group stood out due to its large size, many backpacks, and awkward uncity-like manner.  At the event, we were bombarded with a busy, chaotic atmosphere of hundreds of people sampling various ethnic foods.  Members of our group purchased twelve taste tickets for eight dollars that could be used to sample all the different foods offered by the many vendors.  We all split into groups and had 45 minutes to explore the park and its food.  After our group’s reunion, we walked back to the train station and waited for our train’s half hour late arrival.  Unfortunately, when we boarded the train, we were split up across three train cars—then began the battle.  Jerilyn wanted everyone in one train car so it would be easier to keep track of everyone and give announcements.  The conductor she talked to felt that she was being unreasonable and asking too much of him and his position.  Finally (this morning), we were all placed in the same car to enjoy the next eight hours of our lovely train ride. 

We have some new tools on our website. This quick tutorial describes how to use them:

Registration

Before you can use the website, you must register, and I must approve it (to prevent spam and illegitimate users).

There are five steps:

1. Go to the lower right of the web page, under the menu, and click Register.
2. Provide a username and your email address, then click Register button.
3. You will get an email from "[First Congregational Church]". Make sure this address is in your address book, or your email system might see it as spam or junk mail. The email you get will have your initial password.
4. I will be notified that you registered, approve you, and you will be notified that you were approved.
5. Go back to the web site, under the menu on the right, and click Log In. Provide your username and password and you will be in!

Adding a calendar entry

1. Once you are logged in, click the "Calendar" button on the left.
2. It will immediately open to the "Add an Entry" screen. Provide a date, time, entry, and optionally assign it to a "General", "Meeting", or "Worship" category.
3. Save your entry, it will now be on the calendar.
4. Only events in the next four days show up on the right hand menu, but if you click the church calendar link on the main website, you’ll see entries farther out in time.

Adding a post

1. Once you’re logged in, click the "New Post" button on the upper panel.
2. It will open an editor similar to Microsoft Word. Give your post a topic and type it up.
3. When you’re finished, click the "Publish" button in the upper right. Your post is now online!
4. To edit a post you’ve already made, click the "Posts" button on the upper left menu when you log in. There you can edit or delete your posts.