We were going to visit a Boys & Girls Club this morning but when we arrived, we found out that the boys and girls were in school, as their spring break starts next week.
Pastor Jackie (the pastor at our wonderful host church, Central Christian) gave us a great opportunity to volunteer with a church pantry that distributes donations of food and clothing to low income and homeless residents and families of the Huntington area.
Some of our team members worked on sorting the clothes. Others helped to carry groceries. Two of us sorted baby clothes and items. Working in the clothes pantry seemed to address the issue of poverty rather than the issue of nutrition and health. In general, we expected to see more obesity and struggles with diet. Instead, we have consistently seen that the ongoing and underlying issue is poverty. You can definitely see that money is a big problem in the city. People don't seem to have the money to buy the basics. It goes back to the first day, when before we could even unload our vans, a gentleman approached us asking for money. It is very visible and it's saddening.
Over the course of the week, we hope to reflect on how the financial struggles people are experiencing in this area may result in poor health and diet.
In the afternoon, we went on to School Age Connections at a local elementary school. Right when we first got there, the boys were so enthusiastic and grabbed Enoch to play football with them. Then Ben joined as well, while the rest of the team spread out to play soccer, start circle games and check out the playground. Afterwards, we went inside for snack time and that was when the kids definitely began to open up. We noticed that the milk and pretzels that teachers gave to students for snack were both healthy and appealing. During the rest of the play time, students were all over the place and so were we, which provided many great opportunities to get to know them. We were glad to see kids being active because it is a big part of our mission this week. School Age Connections was on point. We are looking forward to learning more about the program tomorrow and seeing the kids again later this week!
Written by Ugochi and Sonja
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