By Savannah Greene

NEW YORK CITY MISSION TRIP

In June 2010, I participated in a New York City mission trip through my local

Presbyterian Church

The objective of the mission trip was to reach out to people not only through

helping provide food, shelter, clothing, and much more to people less fortunate

than us, but also through communicating and interacting with them as well.

OBJECTIVE

Our group participated in a different service projects throughout the city everyday for five days. The

following places are where we assisted and communicated with various people.

Local Soup Kitchen: Helped serve soup, food, and water to people in need of a meal and sat down to eat

and talk with them Homeless Shelter: Assisted in cleaning the rooms and

distributing clean blankets, pillows, and sheets to people with no where to sleep for the night

Central Park: Made sandwiches and passed them out to many homeless, hungry people

Food Pantry: Bagged grocery bags full of food and delivered them to many families

Garden: Assisted ex-convicts in gardening in a local park through a program committed to aiding former prisoners in finding jobs and value in their lives, and

socialized with these people

PROJECTS

The experience of working with others for the purpose of helping others less fortunate

than me was an amazingly rewarding experience

Not only did I feel good about providing people with necessary items for their survival

such as food, water, and shelter, but also with simply talking to them and getting to

know them and their storiesGiving a simple sandwich, meal, or small talk

to someone could easily make someone’s day or bring a smile to their face and made it

that much more worth it I hope to someday participate in another

service project like this one in the near future

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

I used to have a misconceived conception of homeless people and ex-convicts, but after this

mission trip I realized that everyone is human and should be treated with care and respect. Although some are, not everyone who is homeless is a drug

addict or made bad decisions that led them to where they are now. I learned that many of these

people had hard lives with many forks in the road. Despite their misfortune, many remained hopeful and were trying to get their lives back together.

LESSON

MY MISSION TRIP GROUP