 We started our morning a little later today because instead of heading to LifeWise, we went to Bridge Bread. Bridge Bread is bakery that hires people who are experiencing homelessness and gives them a job. They do so much more than just give them jobs, they also help them get apartments so they can become stable (sometimes they even pay up to half their rent). They have incentives for their bakers such as if they show up to work every day on time, they would get an extra $50 on their paycheck. This is a simple skill that is sometimes just assumed that people know. This is an amazing thing that they do and one quote we really loved from our time at Bridge Bread was, "We don't help a lot of people a little, we help a few people a lot." Everyone at Bridge Bread was so nice from the owner to the bakers. They were amazing and what they do is so impactful. At Bridge Bread, they gave us a tour and showed us the entire process. Afterwards, we fed everyone at Bridge Bread lunch, which was pulled pork. After Bridge Bread we went to The City Museum, which was SOO much fun. There was so much to do! There were caves and you could go up into fake trees, crawl down into caves, go underneath the floor, and even go inside a fake whale too! We had so much fun and have learned so much in such a short time. Thank you to everyone we talked to and saw all through this week. We are sad that this is the last day we are here. Again, THANK YOU to everyone this was amazing and we are so glad we got to do this!
0 Comments
 We started our morning like how we have all week before we headed to Lifewise for our service and learning experience for the day. At Lifewise, we started with our learning which was a Monopoly game where everyone was given different rules. This was to teach us about generational wealth/poverty and how if you grow up in poverty its really hard to get out of poverty. After our learning, we came home for lunch and a nap. When we went back to Lifewise, we organized , separated, and priced things for the bodega (it's like a cheaper thrift store with other products that are also new). We also priced things like clothes and toys for their holiday market and organized and sized things like socks and underwear for the bodega. We also reorganized their free bookstand. We were excited to share our donation of underwear with the bodega as well. After our service work at Lifewise, we got ready and went to Amp Up to go on there ropes course and play laser tag. Some of us even got to play in the arcade for a little while. When we got home, we did homework while the teachers made us grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. We ended our night with a reflection and some chill time before bed.
 We started our morning early again today. Some of us set up for breakfast, and some of our group left for Walmart to pick up some stuff for donations. We left for LifeWise to be ready for the daycare students for 10am. Our service activity for today was playing with children that attend the daycare connected to LifeWise. We all had lots of fun and so did the kids. We planned many activities like drawing, puzzles, a ball pit, obstacle course, shadow puppet show, and a parachute game. It was very fun to hangout with all the kids. After the kids left, we had lunch which was the same as yesterday but with a twist! Mr. Berendes made some awesome quesadillas with leftover taco meat from last night. Then, we went back to LifeWise and had our learning session. We talked about food access in the St. Louis area and learned about food stamps (or SNAP). The conversations we had were heavy, but necessary to have us realize that food stamps really help the people who need it. This lead to us creating a meal plan for a week to try and stay within a $160 budget. We then went to a grocery store and tried to find food to stay within our budget of $160. Each group had different restrictions like gluten free/peanut free or your water isn't safe to drink (which led us to budget for buying extra water). This put it in perspective the struggle people in poverty struggle with when needing to feed their family. After our fun day at LifeWise we had a fun night going mini golfing, laughing and hanging out (Mr. B was very confident that he would win, but of course he lost). We came home and had pasta for dinner which was made by Lorelei, Sophia and Ahliyah. After dinner we had a reflection of our day and we had to answer some questions that the teachers gave us. Every night the teachers give us an hour to all hangout without them (they are obviously still in the house with us, they just give us our space) We tell stories, play games, and make shadow puppets.
 We started our morning at 7am . Some showered, while others ate. For a little bit we just hung out and got ready for the day. We left for LifeWise at 8:50am. It was just a short walk across the street! At LifeWise we went through what the plan would be for the day. We looked at some poverty statistics and played an online game called Spent to simulate living in poverty. One thing was having to make hard choices, for example, your dog gets sick but you have to make the choice of getting it treated which is a lot of money, getting it put down for not a lot of money, or letting it suffer. However, you also have to think about your monthly income and all of the other payments that you have to make in a month. You make tough decisions that could lead to you having no money and losing the game. For us it was just a game, for others it's real life everyday decisions that they have to make to keep themselves afloat. After that we went home for lunch. We had a mix of things, but most had sandwiches. After lunch we went back to LifeWise for our service. We spent the day setting up games and activities for tomorrows service, where we will spend the day with some younger kids, (3-5 years old). Then, we helped disinfect some classrooms. We cleaned tables, chairs, and the toys for the kids. After that, we went back to unwind before we headed to the arch. At the arch we walked through the museum and the shop. After a while we met up and made our way towards where you get up the arch. We got in these cool capsules that brought us up to the top. We made it to the top to an amazing view of Illinois and Missouri. After the arch we came home and some had showers while Carson, Liana, and Kalie made dinner, tacos. And that was our first real day of our ACE trip!
 We have arrived! We settled in quite nicely to our home away from home for the next week- Rutgers House. We each got our room assignments and then met as a group to figure out who is on breakfast, lunch, and dinner duty for the week. Some of us are a little unsure of our cooking abilities, so look forward to dinner updates. We each have a job for a the week (blogger, dishwasher, errand runner, etc). We are all looking forward to starting our day at LifeWise tomorrow and then we will be adventuring to the Arch in the afternoon (a lot of us are looking forward to this).
Today is the last day of our trip! We started the morning bright and early with the wake up call at 6am. We then cleaned and said good bye to the convent! We got everyone into the vans and headed off to the first of two services today. Our first was at the Hill and Dales community center with clients on the autism spectrum. We created games and activities for them the days prior and brought them with us! We created games with a camping and nature theme! We had a taste testing game where they got to try sweet and salty foods, feed the bear game where they threw the balls into the cardboard bears mouth, a scavenger hunt with items found outside, rock painting, would you rather, and finally a trail mix craft! The first group was younger kids, they had a blast! We enjoyed learning about the system they use to teach the kids and how it is more like playing then traditional teaching! Then around 10:30 we were done at the community center and we were surprised with a scavenger hunt! Team 1 won, which was Madeline, Aubrey, Kalena, and Marin! They all got ice cream from McDonalds! (Don’t worry team 2 also got ice cream). After finishing the scavenger hunt and leftovers for lunch at Cleveland Park we were off to the next location! We traveled to another location owned by Hill and Dales also for clients on the autism spectrum but high school/middle school age! We brought some of the same games mentioned earlier and they also had lots of fun with them!! They also showed us some of their games and how they learn life skills, such as clocking in for work and taking peoples coffee orders. After saying goodbye to the clients and staff and the center we stopped at McDonald’s for team 1’s prize and to get fueled up for the long drive home! We are so grateful to Hills and Dales for letting us help them out and learn so much!
 Today was the River Rockets Baseball game! It was a bright and early morning, we woke up about 8, half the group went shopping to get materials for the next day, and the other group started on making pancakes for breakfast, and packing lunches for today! The shopping spree was a success! Madeline made very good pancakes, while Aubrey and Gabby made delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Once the shopping group got back to the convent we got to work on our posters for tomorrow, and made all the games. Reese and Gabby got to work on the Feed the Bear poster, Cali, Myla and Aubrey were working on the would you rather's and sweet vs salty. Once we finished all of our jobs we got to eat a wonderful breakfast! Marin and Kalena got to to work on the dishes while the others were finishing up the posters. A little after breakfast we had to pack up for tomorrow to head home. Some of us were already packed up, and we just relaxed for a little bit. We grabbed our lunches and headed out to shopping! We were headed for a coffee shop, but once we got to the shop it was closed. We decided just to go hang out at some shops, and we all went our own ways to go to some boutiques! We met up later and stopped at a coffee shop and many of us got coffee, and tea. Once we were down with our shopping we headed to the Eagle Point Park! We found a nice sunny table to sit down and eat our lunches. It was a beautiful park, were you can see the Mississippi river! We headed back to the convent once agin to pack up so more. We got in our vans and headed to the residental center for our tour! We got to see/learn many new things! It was very cool to see new things! Once we were done with the tour, we got back in the van for our long car ride to the game! We got to the baseball game, and it was so much fun! Our clients were very friendly and happy they saw us again! We got two suite rooms for the game. The best part was the fireworks at the end, everyone loved it! We got to see many smiles today! It was a long car ride home, everyone slept though. We are very excited for tomorrow to help the kids! 
 Today was the Hills and Dales staff picnic! We got up nice and early and were on the road fast after breakfast. We drove to the Miracle League Park. Once we got there while waiting for the crew from Hills and Dales to show up we played wood chips on the play ground. Once everyone showed up we all introduced ourselves and got to work! We started to set up tables, chairs, food, and general cleaning too(: The event started at 11 but most of the clients and staff started to show up around 10:30. Myla, Cali, Gabby, and Kalena started by serving food. The options were pulled pork, fried chicken, potato salad, beans, and chips! The others; Aubrey, Madeline, Marin, and Reese all started with clients. They hang out with them while eating or played on the play ground! Kalena saw one of the client she helped yesterday while serving food! There was lots of familiar faces from past days and years among all of us. After serving food for an hour we switched and Myla got in the Miracle League Mascot suit! Homer made quite an appearance with all the clients. Myla was a little toasty in there but all worth the while. Mrs. Martin then had to leave for a warm trip to Florida so Mrs. Hoffman and Mrs. Schuh joined us! They got there just in time for the baseball game! Everyone played baseball; clients, staff, and others in the park! Jack the Hills and Dales CEO announced it all! There was also an ice cream truck from 11-1, some of us did not get ice cream sadly. Once the client and staff joint games were done we played a Dubuque vs Green Bay game! Happy to report Green Bay won!!!!! We then helped packed all of the chairs, tables, and tents. After that we said good back to Miracle League Park and hello to Betty Janes Candies. We all got ice cream and some of us got candies! We then discussed the plan for dinner and headed back to the convent! The plan for tonight is make your own pizza. We did unfortunately have an incident with plastic in the oven which made the whole floor smell but other than that the pizza was great! We got the smell out and everyone is safe and sound(: Mrs. Deavers then sat us all down and taught us about autism! We watched lots of videos and talked more about how it looks different in every individual with autism. We then headed out to the elevator! Fenelon Place Elevator Company was amazing, it over looked all of Dubuque! We then came back to the convent and played night games like candyman and sardines. Today was an amazing day(:
We started off the day today by splitting up into our groups for our activities. Some went on runs/walks in the morning while others slept in. We split up and rode in our vans to the museum and the mall. The museum group had a blast with the kids. We got to touch many creatures including starfish, stingrays and sea anemone. We headed over to bowling with the hills and dales group. Bowling was so much fun with the group, many people got many strikes and spares. We had subway as our lunch and it was very tasty due to we were very hungry. It was a blast with the group. Mrs. Martins group went to a selfie museum, they also had a blast there. It had many cool rooms in the building including the money room, a unicorn ball pit room, lip couch, basketball room, graffiti room, a piano room and more. The clients were a blast to hang out, they were in love with taking pictures with us. We then headed over to Pizza Ranch for lunch. The food was very good, we had very good pizza, we also had desert cinnamon pizza which was also very good. We went to the arcade for a few minutes and played a few games. We then all came back and laid down for a few minutes once we headed back out. We all got back in the vans and went to this beautiful beach, finley's landing. We had a lot of fun there, we swam for a little bit and then took a nature walk. We also took a river bath, and washed all of our hairs. We sat all of our towels down and ate our baggy lunches on the sand. Once we got into our vans we hade to decide what to do! We had many options, we decided to go mini golfing! Mini golfing was very fun. Gabby won! We got back into the vans once again and headed back to the convent. We settled in for the night, and wrote in our journals. We are very excited for tommorrow to serve at the picnic!   
Today is the first day of our trip to Dubuque Iowa helping out Hills and Dales! We left for out trip around 1 and took 2 different vans. To communicate between the two cars Mrs. Martin brought walkie talkies! the fellows with Mrs. Deavers was a blast! We played/did many things in the ride. We played the picnic game, I spy, spot it, abc game, card games and more! The best part of the ride was when we found a roll of duck tape, we covered our hole faces in duck tape, and were telling each other a bunch of jokes. Gabby was the best at making people laugh! We also stopped at Kwik trip on the way there and, got smoothies while the other van got chips and taco dip.The drive went great and we were in Iowa by 5. Last year the Dubuque trip stayed in a retired convent, I am happy to report we are staying in another one this year! The suite is HUGE, includes 18 rooms with multiple beds in each. After we met with the Hill and Dales crew to go over plans over this week we went inside made a plan for food and sent a team out to go groceries for the week! While waiting for the others to get back games of Uno were played and Trolls was watched! Tonights dinner was dinosaur nuggets and corndogs with mac and cheese, we also had grapes, snap peas, and the best watermelon ever. We all sat and ate like a family! We are now watching the rest of Trolls and preparing for tomorrows activities. Stay tune for the fun activities of tomorrow!
|
RSS Feed
