Get Out and Serve Day

Today was Westside Christian's Get Out and Serve Day where the entire school spends time volunteering for 30 different agencies throughout the area. Families are encouraged to participate, so Peter and I joined in. A few weeks ago the different agencies all came to Westside to share about their programs, and then the students got to choose their top 3 locations where they wanted to volunteer. Conner's first choice was to serve at the Portland Rescue Mission which serves men who live on the streets. When I heard that this was the agency that we would be serving at, I was feeling a bit nervous. I used to feel very comfortable being around homeless people, but I had become fearful. Well....today was an amazing experience. We spent the first hour learning about the Portland Rescue Mission, how it refers to all of the people who enter their buildings as "guests." The people who work at the mission love these guests like you wouldn't believe. They help meet their basic needs, help them with drug and alcohol addiction recovery, give them a place to take a shower, use the bathroom (very simple things that we completely take for granted). They taught us that the main cause of homelessness is broken relationships which I had never really considered. Conner had a great time with his friends while painting a stairway of the shelter. When he left he said that the experience really changed his perspective of people who are homeless, and he said that he couldn't wait until the next service project. Thanks to everyone who sponsored him for this service project - he met his funraising goal thanks to you, learned a ton, and had a great time serving.