Another Day, Another PB & J

Hello readers:

You might hear a complaint or two in this blog. Don’t get us wrong—we know that we have it so much easier than all the people we’ve been helping, but here in DC it’s hotter than I don’t know what. When you walk outside, you sweat, no matter what. To make things even worse, we’ve had to wear the same unwashed T-shirts every day for three days now, and we get to wear it once again tomorrow. In fact, I can now just stand my T-shirt in the corner every afternoon—no hanging or folding required. The most difficult thing for me to deal with so far, besides the sadness and disbelief of the conditions in which so many Americans live, is the number of rats that reside in the courtyard of the church where we’re staying. I’m pretty sure that Sunday night was the first time I’ve ever seen a rat in person, but I’ve seen plenty of them now. I’ve been surprised by their size, which I’d say is about the size of an average clothes iron, and their fearlessness. I keep trying to remember that at least I don’t have to sleep with them. We’ve had so much fun and fulfillment this week, though, that little things like these don’t matter. The challenge now, as one of the people with whom we worked yesterday told us, is to keep up our work from now on—it must become a regular part of our lives.
—Ben

Now you’re going to hear from Megan about what her group did today:

Erin, Vicki, Cara, Samantha, Kristy, and I traveled to The Milestone House. At The Milestone House we were greeted by a vibrant man named Mr. Barry. We had heard stories from other groups about Mr. Barry, but were pleasantly surprised by his kindness and warm smile. He showed us the facilities and described to us how the Home was operated.

Milestone House is an apartment-style building which houses around 35 people. The people who live in Milestone House are those who were homeless or those who are getting back on their feet. To live in the House the tenants have to pay one-third of their wages up to $650. One tenant now makes enough money to get a real apartment still chooses to live at the Milestone House. He does this because on Friday or Saturday evenings Barry drug tests all of the tenants. By remaining at Milestone House, this particular tenant feels as though this requires him to stay clean and drug free.

In the Milestone House, four tenants have their own rooms, share a common area, a kitchen area, and share two bathrooms. The building was bought in 1995 from the government for $1. As a former crack house, much work needed to be done in order to make it suitable for residents. The Milestone House borrowed $1.8 million dollars from the Fannie Mae Foundation and received several government grants. They proudly will pay off their ten-year loan to the Fannie Mae Foundation next month. Also within the building are a modest library, a computer room, a computer repair room, and a state-of-the-art gym. The computer repair room also functions as a classroom, which is open to the entire community to learn more about computers and the way they function. The gym was furnished after a wealthy benefactor won unneeded gym equipment from the Price Is Right.

After the tour was complete we split up into two groups of three. The best group, Vicki, Kristy and I headed upstairs to do some much needed cleaning. A tenant had vacated the apartment and now it needed to be cleaned in order for one of the sixty something people on the waiting list to move in. The furniture needed to be cleaned, the small refrigerator needed cleaning as well as the floors to be swept and mopped. Kristy, eager to not have to mop, volunteered to clean out the refrigerator. BIG MISTAKE!!! Upon opening the refrigerator, she was surprised at the disgusting state. Inside she found trays of old, yellow water, grease, and molded remnants of someone’s lunch. Vicki tackled the floors, only having to re-sweep and mop while Kristy spilled the trays of water from within the fridge. Vicki also tackled the film that remained on the windows. I wiped down the furniture and continued to gag as she wiped out crumbs and hair from within the seemingly endless number of drawers.

Meanwhile, Erin, Samantha and Cara cleaned the conference room. The conference had been damaged last week by a fire within the building on the third floor. A mop was left in the water heater closet to dry. One of the tenants forgot to take it out of the closet throughout the night. After several hours it fell and the mop end landed right near the pilot light of the hot water heater. That immediately set off the sprinkler system. Gallons upon gallons of water spilled out into the floor which traveled all the way down to the basement workout room from the third floor. The conference room had been painted and by a group preceding ours. Erin, Sam, and Cara now cleaned off the furniture, windows, floors, and an adjoining bathroom. The conference room houses a small kitchenette. The day before we arrived, Barry informed us, the garbage disposal had broken. He asked of us only one thing, PLEASE DON’T USE THAT SINK. So naturally what does Miss Cara Boyd do? Well, everyone was advised to bring a water bottle. Cara brought probably the biggest cup I’ve ever seen. We were about to depart the Milestone House, Cara decided she no longer needed her water because our work there was complete. So she turns before any of us can stop her and dumps out her cup. From below the sink, we all hear the water spilling out onto the freshly mopped floor. We quickly ran to the broom closet and got the mop back out and cleaned up the floor before Barry returned. We now closely monitor Cara and keep her on a leash. We then said our good-byes to Barry and had our picture taken with him outside of the Milestone House. Tomorrow our group will head to Food ‘N Friends to serve food for those with HIV/AIDS and other terminal illnesses.
—Megan

This is Ben again, to tell you what my group did today. By the way, I’ve tried to get everyone to write this blog, but there are not many takers. I think it’s nice to see other people’s point of view, because they notice and experience things that I do not, so maybe, before the trip is over (one more day, really) you’ll get to hear from almost everyone. Until then, though, you’ll have to get your information from me.

Hannah, Chris, Madison, Jessica, Kay, Allison and I went to Food and Friends, an organization that feeds people with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging, terminal illnesses. This organization does not rely on donated food, as many of the homeless shelters do, because all their clients are immuno-compromised due to their illnesses. Food and Friends is a beautiful facility that seems to do everything to perfection. They have an extremely nice kitchen, where Hannah, Chris, Jessica and Kay helped prepare meals. Allison, Madison and I did some administrative work. When it was time for lunch, the three of us took a break and went to get our peanut butter sandwiches that we pack every day for our lunch. One of the employees there saw what we were about to eat and insisted that he bring us something from upstairs. So we had no choice but to eat lasagna, vegetables and apple cobbler from the kitchen. Our group members who had been working so hard in the kitchen got a cookie from the head chef, and were sent downstairs for their PB and J sandwiches, just as we were finishing up. Needless to say, they were a little angry, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles (no pun intended).

If you would like more information on Food and Friends, you can visit their web page at http://www.foodandfriends.org/.

After we finished our work for today, we were able to do some sightseeing. We began at the Holocaust Museum. If you ever have the chance to visit this museum, please do so. I cannot say that visiting this museum is a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it is something everyone should see. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that so many people could be coerced into believing that it is acceptable to kill people, not just because of their religion, but for their race, their mental and physical disabilities, their sexuality, or any other reason for that matter. The museum is truly an overwhelming experience, and I could never, ever describe it adequately.

Afterwards, we had a “Monuments by Moonlight” tour of the nation’s capital. It was great fun riding in a trolley and seeing the city. We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial (which is incredible), the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the White House, and many other important sites.

Tomorrow is our last full day in DC. Be sure to check out our latest adventures soon!

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: The kids in front of the Washington Monument.

Photo 2: Chris and Madison having fun at Food & Friends.

Photo 3: Ben's group finished with a day's work at Food & Friends.