SamanthaThomas

Samantha Thomas

2-10-09

Reflection 3

Today was a day of clarification for a couple of teammates and I today. We were assigned to work in the clothing closet where the men of the program at the Nashville Rescue Mission can receive any needed clothing for six out of the seven days. Today, we had to sort tee shirts, dress shirts, pullovers, jackets, pants, dress pants and shoes into their corresponding sizes. While sorting through the second-hand clothing, I realized how much better I had life than almost 500 homeless that live in Nashville. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to come from wearing decent clothing with no holes, no stains, and no wear to wearing what these men wore every day. While so many of the girls on the trip wear their Aeropostale and Gucci and still find discontent in their appearances.

Speaking of which, I must vent because to be quite frankly honest, I don’t believe many of those girls feel any different than when they arrived. They signed up for the free trip and not the free mission trip. Sometimes I have found myself becoming quite frustrated when I see how lightly they are taking the situation. It’s as if they aren’t even here in Nashville with us, but rather with each other on some joy ride. Some of them seem almost afraid of the individuals in the program because they won’t so much as make eye contact or say hello. And even though sometimes the workload varies from group to group from day to day, there should be an equal impact. It really doesn’t matter whether that impact is on a personal level with some of the individuals of the program or whether it affects the large group of homeless through the sorting we have done in the warehouse. I’m just hoping to see more out of these girls by the end of the week.

However, back to my initial reflection, I have found that these people that work at the shelter are the people who will remember your name the next time they see you. They aren’t like those who see your face and then immediately after can’t remember what letter your name began with. But also in addition to your name and your personality, these people are genuinely thankful for every minute of work that we have put in at their shelter. The difference is clear when taking a glance around in the once extremely cluttered and unsorted basement we were working in. Now, there are general locations for every item. Everyone knows where the sheets, blankets, toiletries, general appliances, etc belong. Everything is beginning to find its place in this huge space. Everything is finally beginning to make sense. Why we are here. What our purpose is. How we are affecting these peoples’ lives.