LOOOONG (but great!) DAY

 Today started before the sun even rose... at 5:30 AM !!!!! Duh Duh DUHHHHHH (think Pum, pum pummmm) !!!! We reheated burritos that we cooked the night before for a quick breakfast before we headed off to glean some kale for the organization After The Harvest (and by some kale we mean A LOT OF KALE). We worked two hours in Arnall Early's field (that he uses just to grow food for After The Harvest!) and gleaned a total of 175 pounds of kale!!! WOW! and we even had help from our supervisor Ricky the orange cat. We then loaded up the kale and went off to deliver it to Community Center of Shawnee in our two cars. After we went on the hunt for a Dairy Queen (even though it was only 10 am in the morning...) to keep with tradition. We ate blizzards, cheese curds, fries, and dairy-free dilly bars and had a great time visiting all while crammed into one corner booth. Our next service project of the day was going to be at Scraps KC, but since we weren't due to arrive until 1pm (and it was only 11 am when we left Dairy Queen) we searched out a park to relax and picnic lunch. We settled in at Roanoke Park. We walked, ate, napped on concrete (very comfy) and said hello to a dog! (Animal count is now up to 2 dogs and 2 cats for the trip for those keeping track). Scraps KC in the afternoon was so fun! They are an organization dedicated to upcycling, helping out the Earth and our community through resource outreach and education. They bring in donations, mostly textiles and plastics, and find ways to re-sell them or turn them into something new! For example, they get donations from Shatto Milk in the form of plastic milk caps and melt them down and reform them into jewelry, keychains, bowls, and more. Part of our group volunteered sorting and dissembling used crayola markers. We sorted the plastic barrel of the marker to be used to reform stuff like the milk caps and the ink cartridges to be used in watercolor kits for school classrooms ("who knew markers had so many parts!" - Melanie). The sorting sounds simple but with our group it quickly became competitive, intense, and chaotic... but in a community building way (no tears but lots of ink stains). The other part of our group worked cleaning and organizing their craft room for use for the public. After two hours of chaotic ink sorting and cleaning, we left Scraps KC (but not before picking out craft supplies of our own...). We returned to our home base at Hollis tired but feeling fulfilled, but the day is far from over! We served each other Communion as is tradition on our trips (and one of our favorite parts of the week), and then sadly had to say goodbye to Melanie and Caleb as they had to pack up and head home :( we miss you guys already!!!! We then ate a lovely dinner of Spaghetti prepared by Barb and Connor, followed by the most intense foosball tournament in the history of the Earth... Howard and Kate vs Connor and Molly... there was screaming, tears (of laughter), sweating, trash talk, miracles, joy, crushing defeats and as I type this the tournament has still not been settled!!! (to be continued in the morning... report to come tomorrow!!!) The score is now tied after 5 games in our best out of 3 tournament ("everyone is shocked Molly and Connor have lasted this long against Howard and Kate" - Molly)("We are so proud of how excellent Molly and Connor have honed their skills and we are not surprised at their victories."-Howard) Our last activity of the night was using the crafts we got at Scraps KC to create our own original art piece (a lot of it was Kate, Barb, and Gene shoutout to Kate, Barb, and Gene for carrying the art project) "It was an interesting challenge of creativity" - Kate. The rest of us mainly played with the supplies while slowly slipping into a state of delusion and silliness (videos to follow later...). Now we are finishing our day out with a Devotion by Kate, Gene, and Stacy and heading to get some rest before our final day of work and final foosball tournament match. Overall, a really fun and busy day! One of the best!

- Molly, Howard, and Melanie

NAP UPDATE: As you can tell we did a lot of commuting today, which allowed for a lot of car nap time and that really helped keep us going after being up at 5:30am... Molly also got in a short 30 min nap before dinner, overall 10/10 day for naps

(disclaimer: pictures not in order) 

Our kale gleaning crew!

The delivery of the kale!

Kate working hard and Molly hardly working (on the art project)

Foosball can bring out the best in siblings...
 
or the worst
Team Howard and Kate rejoicing as the score is tied

The most intense foosball tournament to ever be played

The sorting of the marker parts

Our gleaning supervisor Ricky

Dairy Queen break!

Comments

  1. Brandon StasielukJuly 15, 2021 at 4:28 AM

    Love all the updates. You all are doing great work! Hope Howard enjoyed the Sour Patch Kids! ;). -Brandon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Annie BJuly 15, 2021 at 4:39 AM

    All kale the power of gleaning's fame. . . .

    ReplyDelete

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