Day 3: The Beacon and Open Door

Today was a busy day, though perhaps not quite as packed as yesterday. Our first shift was at The Beacon, a center across the street from CCC that provides various services to homeless citizens. The Beacon is open 5 days a week, taking a break on Wednesday and Thursday for preparations and maintenance. When we arrived, we split into 3 groups and separated out into jobs: laundry, kitchen, and window washing. Laundry folks folded towels, rags and clothes for the center and for the visitors. Kitchen duty involved food prep for tomorrow (we'll actually be going back tomorrow afternoon to serve lunch), and window washing, of course, involved washing the windows. I actually got pictures of us working at this one! I also know there's at least one picture of me floating around with a hair net and apron... who knows when it will surface? However, we worked so quickly that we finished our work rather ahead of schedule and ended up with nothing else to do but head back to HQ a little early. Some of us discussed the strange frustration of knowing there is work to be done in the big sense of the problem, but no tasks to actually do. It can be difficult to want to help but to not have a solution.

After lunch, we went to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center called the Open Door Mission. We worked in the kitchen to prepare an early dinner for the folks there. Food prep = more hair nets for everyone! We served the meal out on the basketball court, and everyone there was immensely grateful and very polite towards us. We didn't get to learn too much about the organization because apparently there was a perfect storm of scheduling involving a program graduation, filming a commercial, and a board of directors' meeting. Still, it was clearly a strong community that we served today, and it was wonderful to see that.

To conclude the ongoing debate between the interns and us about Houston v. Austin food, we ate dinner at a taco place a few stops down the train. Many "this is good but not as good as Torchy's" comments were suppressed when our food finally arrived, and those who dared to try the dessert tacos gave the rest of us wimps the feeling we should have been a touch braver.

Tomorrow is our last full work day, after which we'll jump in the van and trudge through Houston traffic to get back home. We'll see you all back at the church!

~Matt

Taylor rockin some chicken in the kitchen!

Hair nets at the ready.

Noah swiftly swiping inside walls at the Beacon.

Laundry crew!