AkeyaCarterBozman

Akeya Carter-Bozman

Reflection Day Four

March 11, 2009

Today my group worked at the Music City Mission, which is ran by a pastor and his congregation of forty to fifty people here in Nashville. The mission serves homeless and low income families and individuals. The mission also works in conjunction with the thrift stores in the area in efforts raise money to keep the mission going. Music City mission services people from all around the world, refugees who have escaped many different backgrounds come in to receive services. Some of the services offered at Music City Mission are counseling (personal and family), clothing, food basket, starter home furnishings, and life skills training. The only problem the mission really faces is that most of the people they serve is Spanish speaking, but the director of the mission and his workers don’t understand or speak a word of Spanish.

Our task today was to prepare and restock the clothing floor and we also made food baskets for all the family’s who came in to utilize all the services. I felt great to watch to organize for the mission. We finished the children’s closet, two food pantries’s, and over sorted two rooms worth of clothing.

As I have worked throughout the week I have grown to understand and not judge people. I had a real problem with being judgmental. I met a social worker today who absolutely loves his job! We talked for what seemed like hours over lunch about the highs and lows of the profession. He did leave me with one piece of advice he said that I should find my own way in the field, and treat people with respect, love what I do. This was the highlight of my day.