SamanthaThomas

Samantha Thomas

Reflection 1

2-8-09

Although today is the day after the trip to the Nashville Rescue Mission, I am still feeling the effects of the time I spent there. When I walked in I was a little hesitant because there were around 10-11 dingy dressed men standing outside the front doors. I didn’t know what to think. Many thoughts were racing through my mind. “Should I take my money?” “Would these guys try to steal my things? I mean afterall they are homeless and probably need a decent hoody or a couple dollars.” I know these questions seem a little self-centered, or perhaps a little unsympathetic, but the point of this is to be honest. When we walked into the shelter, we were directed to the top floor where we were checked into the facility and introduced to Willy, our comedic guide. He then ushered us downstairs to the basement of the mission where we were instructed to condense some of the mountains and mountains of donated goods so that they could make room for the women’s ward to sleep since they were remodeling their building. We looked out at the piles of stuff and simply stopped breathing, we didn’t know where to start. Some people began packing thousands of shoes onto palates as some of us began stacking just around 50 mattresses and started folding and piling stacks of hundreds of blankets on palates. Coming off of 2 hours of sleep, it was hard to hold my head up and not crash. Still every single one of us kept working and eventually cleared two very large portions of the warehouse. I found the unpacking and repacking a little redundant, so I volunteered to be one of the five girls to go upstairs and begin serving the members of the program that is ran through the shelter. As I watched many of the faces of the homeless men, I saw histories, lives, and sometimes pain. And although it broke my heart that I couldn’t do more, I always placed my two pieces of bread on the tray and slid them a plate of food so they could have a decent meal that day. I felt great about the few hours I could help. When I thought about it, the few hours we each put in was multiplied by 30-something when we all worked together. It also doesn’t hurt to mention that many of the people who work there daily were great to speak with and laugh or joke around with. I love having new friends like Willy, Clay, Len, Tony, and Chris. J