Thursday, June 26, 2014

9,000 Pounds & Counting, and the Tale of the Couple That Almost Got Engaged!

We are hoping that the title alone caught your interest, but if not, here is what we have encountered since we last blogged for you on Tuesday.  Wednesday, we ventured to "A Caring Place", a daycare for the very spirited elderly and young adult people who go here from 9-4 each day when their families cannot watch after them.  Bradley and Cody were very upset that we never got to wheelchair race with the 6 empty wheelchairs, alas we had much more important things to be a part of.  Some of the group colored and put together puzzles with some of the ladies, while others played Uno, or talked to a Benedictine brother.  After an exciting, and also very loud, morning, we went to the Activity Room where we talked about current events, weather, and this date in history.  After that, we played a rousing game of bean bag toss using both baskets and hula hoops.  I would like to say that our group did better than the elderly people throwing the bean bags, but we actually did terrible.  Then, we listened to a lovely classic Dolly Parton religious CD.  THE ENTIRE CD.  Next, we went to lunch at Holcomb Gardens located at Butler University where we met the aforementioned couple in the title.  Megan got everyone convinced that this man and woman walking were going to get engaged right in front of us.  They walked around for a while and then sat down, but he stayed standing, and EVERYONE was getting so excited thinking he was going to pop the question.  He did not.  He actually just put his hand in his pocket and then sat down.  (We should mention that we were watching all of this from our spy gazebo located about 20 feet from the bench they were sitting on.)  So, a few minutes passed, the boys came back for a water break, while the girls explained the situation to them.  THEN, he put his hand in his pocket AGAIN, and EVERYONE knew that this was the moment.  He was going to pop the question and we were going to see it...UNTIL HE PULLED OUT HIS PHONE!!!  We were so upset.  So, we thought maybe we needed to inspire them.  The first thought was serenading them with "Kiss The Girl", which only made them look at us.  So, armed with an iPhone and the same song, the boys casually walked into the woods behind them to let the song permeate their brain, and, hopefully, inspire that man to propose already!!!  It did not work.  Our last attempt was to blare the song out of the van speakers as we drove away slowly.  No results were yielded from this experiment, but hey, maybe we got them thinking about it.  The rest of the day was spent watching a movie with "A Caring Place", playing at the pool, and leading Night Prayer.

This morning, a man armed with a megaphone and a loud voice, woke the entire building and surrounding communities up.  His name is Scott Williams in case you need to file a noise complaint :)  I (Megan) actually jumped so much that I fell out of bed...and I was already awake.  We got breakfast, had morning prayer, and then jumped in the C.I.A. mobile to head to Gleaner's.  This is where we went into beast mode and sorted through 9,000 POUNDS of assorted processed foods!!  It was absolutely incredible to watch us all work so hard to accomplish so much!  Once again, we completed more than they thought that we could!!  We even did so much that there was another group of volunteers there left with nothing to do when we left for the day. (And honestly, when they got there, we totally got competitive, even though we were working on the same thing.)  One of our youth ended up with three "boyfriends", because she had thrown food into the aisle on accident and all three boys took the blame for her!  How chivalrous!  All of us feel extremely tired, but completely rewarded in our accomplishments today! We all really liked today the best, but as a whole, the entire week has been nothing less than amazing, awesome, and spectacular.

It was awesome to see all the food that was donated to give to the people that really need it. -Cody S.

Who would have thought I would have had fun organizing pounds of food? Clare M.

The boys left without even telling me goodbye...some boyfriends.....-Mary M.

Did you know that they made chocolate twizzlers?!?! -Christa P.

There was so much food thrown away!- Kaitlynn M.

Note to self: Rolling down a conveyor belt is not a good idea. And Gleaners is not a place to pick up girls
-Bradley B.

Hello Again From Patrick Thee Van,
Yesterday, we were very excited and honored to be the only group that was sent to Holy Family Family Shelter, the only homeless shelter that offers full stay and service to entire families, helping them avoid the peril of having their family split up, many times having their children taken from them. We started our day with a tour of the campus given to us by the director, who was very excited to have us. Our first job was a fun one, running the on-site daycare center for the families to leave their children while searching for jobs and housing. For the two hours we were there, we enjoyed each other's company, taught the kids our favorite camp games, such as "Pterodactyl" and "Down By the Bank," and tried to keep one particularly enthusiastic child we were watching from losing his mind as he refused to lose (you go, kid!)  After everyone went to lunch, we were divided into two sorting groups; clothes and toiletries. The clothes group finished quickly, sorting donations and filling orders. However, the job of the toiletries group involved meticulously sorting garbage bags full of hotel shower bottles, disposable razors, and other wonders. Just as our spirits were dwindling, we finished the job, packed up. and were greeted by a wonderful, warm, sunny, day at the pool.

Love,
Thee Van Patrick
Spank, Goldie, Bax, Ninja, Giggles, Squeak, Haps, Combine, Aye, Goldie, and Kirby

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Van 3 Finding our Way!

We are Van "FRAANK".  No, it is not misspelled.  The double "A" evened the letters on the back window doors.  Highlights of our days..............................

Day 1 we served at Morning Dove.

  • did a lot of "DIRTY WORK" - shoveled poo
  • painted poles and added stripes
  • Maddy got stung by a bee
  • met the awesome cat named sunshine
  • met ponies Latte and Starbucks
  • we got lost


Day 2 we served at St. Lawrence Kid's Center

  • played with kids - they were awesome and befriended us
  • most of them are from lower income families but are still so happy and carefree
  • after lunch during their nap time we cleaned the gym - even the under side of the bleachers
  • we waited for the tornado warnings to lift
  • we watched John Q
  • we got lost


Day 3 we served at Midwest Food Bank

  • a local food bank that provides food for lots of churches and non profit organizations
  • many of the volunteers are recovering drug/alcohol addicts who eat, sleep, live ,pray, read the bible and volunteer together
  • we had a gourmet lunch - hamburgers
  • the happiest from the volunteer was contagious
  • we got to load trucks, run assembly lines, and help people to pick out food
  • we helped unload a semi of frito lay chips when we got caught in a rain storm
  • when we asked where they got the food, they said from God!
  • we discovered Nathan laughs like a dog, british accents are not cool
  • we have never laughed so much with new found friends
  • we ALMOST got lost
  • P.S.  Alex has a nun homie. She is awesome!


Van 3 - Sarah S "the ginger", Alex, Nathan, Mason, Sarah C, Rachel, Sarah W. Abbie and Maddy

Game of Foods at Midwest Food Bank

Yesterday !Vandos! went to Midwest Food bank. While we were there, half of us repackaged rolls and the other half was kept on their toes while picking food to go back to local food pantriesand other organizations. Near the end of the day we were all packaging up all the goods and putting them into the cars. Katie C and Bekah R were having fun while placing all of the food into the cars and making a game out of i,t "tetris", to make all of it fit perfectly. All together we worked really hard and got to see how we could over come difficulties. Together we made it through the storms and didn't have problems with the tornadoes.  We got to play games while waiting for the storms to pass before we got back to work.  By the end of the day, we saw how well off we are and that we should be thankful for it. (hi mom!-Bekah and Katie)

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Van One at Morning Dove Riding Center

Hello From Team Patrick!

Today, Team One took a perilous journey to the Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding Center... twice. While it is true that our fearless leader Ashley left the waivers at the Inn, the second round trip both improved group bonding, and raised core morale. Once in the groove of things, Team Patrick really found out what we were made of, separating into two camps; guns and scrubs. For the guns, our day involved shoveling manure, cleaning feed buckets, and moving rubber mats. For the scrubs, painting stakes. Either way, it was dirty and hard work for both parties, and the workers at Morning Dove seemed very happy to have us and were very pleasant and hospitable.

While we all were ready for a shower, a snack, and a nap, God had a different plan for us today, sending a tornado warning and a thunderstorm, which kept us at the ranch for another hour, accompanied by the handicapped children who we were volunteering for. However all things considered, it just made getting back that much sweeter. Most of the team is currently sitting here contributing and joking around, the attitude is positive, and we are excited to watch a movie and go to Mass.

With Love Parents,
Team Patrick (Thee Van)
Spank, Bax, Giggles, Ninja, Combine, Aye, Haps, Squeak, Blondie, Goldie, and Kirby

Simon Says! (Van #4's take on the last day and a half of Homeland Mission!)

Hello everyone!  This is Van #4 here!  We have had a very busy 2 days here at Homeland Mission!  On Sunday, we met everyone, decorated and named our van, and played some getting to know you type games.  Our van and group name is....drumroll please...C.I.A. or Catholics In Action, or as we also decided yesterday "The Struggle Bus"!  So exciting to have such a wonderful group and group name.  

Yesterday, our first adventure in serving was to Fatima Retreat House located right next to Cathedral.  We met an intern named Simon, and all day we did what Simon said.  As we talked during a meeting, it was decided that in all actuality, we just played a giant game of Simon says yesterday, which is 100% true.  We got to talk a lot with Simon and were asking him why he was interning, and he said, "I'm not really sure, but it's a good place."  After we took all the furniture out of all 63 rooms, we then washed the baseboards and vacuumed them all.  We did it in about 2 hours, and so then we went to lunch outside by the Labyrinth, and when we came back we stripped the beds, flipped the mattresses, and put the sheets back on in all 63 rooms.  We did that so quickly that they had us polish furniture in the chapel, lent roll the pews, clean windows, and vacuum cobwebs.  After that, Simon said that we were so efficient they were going to have find more things for us to do.  So, we went outside and picked up sticks, trash, and dug weeds and roots out of a rose bush.  Once we accomplished all of that, we came inside to have ice cream and talk about the day.  You may wonder why we have termed ourselves "The Struggle Bus", and well, the simplest answer is that we broke a few things as we were working in the rooms at Fatima.  Some people broke a picture frame, a few lamps were casualties in our service, and a good old 1930s vaccuum just stopped doing its job.  We also had to teach the boys a few things about flipping mattresses and making a bed.  Let's just say, they had the mattress pad on top of the fitted sheet.  One of the many things we did that made us laugh throughout the day was pranking each other or just trying to scare each other.  The best one was when Megan hid behind the door to try and scare the boys.  Well, Cody saw her and didn't say anything, but Bradley was completely oblivious to her being there.  So before they left the room, she screamed "Ahh!!" and Bradley literally jumped and slammed the door in her face!  So funny.  All in all, it was a great day, and Fatima was so appreciative and so amazed that we completed all of that in one day, and so were we!  We met a lady who volunteers all of her time to keep the grounds so beautiful at Fatima, and we also got to serve each other by working together as a team.  I (Megan) am so proud of our team and how well we are meshing together!  You are doing such great work, and you have already been Christ to so many people.  We're off to work with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful today, so keep us in prayer as we will do the same for you!!  


It was great getting to help the Fatima Retreat House accomplish so many things that would've taken them a long time to do. - Abby G

I loved being able to help with gardening and seeing tons of new bugs.- Kaitlynn M.

My week was off to a great start when I slammed the door in my retreat leaders face. I guess it only gets better from here. -Bradley B

It made me feel really accomplished that we could do so much more than expected at Fatima. We had a lot of fun doing it also! -Clare M

We were basically laughing from start to finish. I'm not sure if we were just having a lot of fun or if we were just really exhausted. -Christa P

I really enjoyed being part of the struggle bus. It was a lot of fun working with everyone to accomplish our work efficiently. -Mary M

Van 4's time at the Fatima retreat house was an extremely fun experience for me because it was a lot of breaking things and laughing the whole day. -Maggie M

I had a lot of fun and it was nice having ice cream. -Cody S 








Monday, June 23, 2014

Homeland Mission Project Day 2

Today our group, Van Dos, went to A Caring Place. It is a caring facility for elderly people and those that need assisted living at a cheaper rate than many nursing homes. We were able to observe the dignity of the human person by realizing that, no matter the age difference, people are the same and all deserve the same amount of respect as everybody else. These people are very interesting people and often have stories to share so if you ever have an opportunity you should definitely talk to them. We did their daily routine with them.
While we were at A Caring Place, some of us got to play Uno with some of the folks there.  The game got pretty intense and competitive.  We also got to play Bingo.  Who knew that Bingo would almost cause a riot among the older people?  The favorite line of the day for the whole group was when Palmer got a bingo and said, "I'm so excited I have to pee!" Unfortunately, this was his last win of the afternoon and from then on, Tommy became his number one enemy because he was the caller and wasn't calling the right numbers on Palmer's card.  We had a lot of fun getting to hear the stories from the people here about their families, youth, and passions.


Homeland 2014 Day 1

Group 5, Hank the Tank:
The theme we kept in mind while working today was "Life and Dignity of the Human Person." Today, we shoveled mulch on top of newspapers to create a natural compost to kill the grass in that area to make way for native shrubbery to create a prayer garden. Working hours in the scorching sun, smelling mulch, and laying down newspaper really brought us together as a group. No amount of ice breakers can bring people together like working together can. #HankTheTank #HomeLand2k14














Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Van 2: Day 3

Van #2:  Rebeca K.; Gabe P.; Clare M.; Jackie P.; Lillie P.; Matt C.; PJ C.; Alex L.; Christin B.
So far this week has been an eye opening experience.  The first day when we were pulling weeds we all complained, but then we found out that there was only one volunteer that was in charge of the yard work.  She works 30-40 hours a week and that changed our whole perspective of the value of our work.  The next day, we went to Gleaners food bank.  At the end of the unloading 13,204 pounds of food we found out that would feed around 2,000 families from just one days work.  Then today, we went to Joy's House and found out we had to do yard work again in the mornng, but we had a more positive attitude.  We worked inside in the afternoon and saw the guests which then made us appreciative of the work that Joy's House does.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Fatima Retreat House and Other Fun Activities

Day 2
·         We went to Fatama retreat house and painted a whole room in 2 hours…. Beat that!!!!!
·         We swam at a neighborhood pool and played mafia in the park.
·         We had a discussion about vocations with representatives of each vocation (the Priestly, Married, and Religious Vocations).  
·         We ended with adoration, which was a very calming and spiritual experience.

“We really felt the appreciation in the environment that we worked in.” –Maggie G.
“Some of the speeches during our discussion were so moving; it really touched a deep chord.” –Katie C.
“During the discussion, we found that God can speak to us in many ways, some even unlikely.” –Rose M.
“I love painting, but painting in a space that others are using to become closer to God is even better. Today was really fun with all of the bonding….. and the ice cream machine at the retreat house didn’t hurt either!”- Suzy G.
“loved painting and helping the refugee center and really appreciated the priest that took time out of their schedules to share how they knew they were called to the priesthood”-Brice M.