DC mission trip
Hello readers! My name is Ava Sparico, I am going into my junior year of high school and I am currently sitting in the common area of the Washington Seminar Center. A group of youth and adults of our church are doing mission work in our nation’s capital for six days. Washington D.C. is a historical place and a place full of faith but it is also very fast moving and active. The people of DC want to take action and solve some of our biggest problems that include poverty and homelessness, which we can see with our own eyes. I have only been in the city for two and a half days now but I have already gotten a feel of how these people use their God given gifts and voice to make a change and rise up against ignorance and denial. This is the most important city of politics and they use their convenient location to be heard by various representatives of the US government.
I learned many facts and huge points of debate and discussion regarding the way our government handles foreign affairs in just one meeting with a group called ONE. ONE is a non profit, organization that focuses on using your voice in order to be heard about many topics especially the foreign aid budget and ending extreme poverty and preventable disease. ONE was my favorite part of the trip so far and their mission really connected with me, I could see myself working there in the future. Our group was able to meet with several of their leaders to discuss their mission, ways we can help, learn about how the foreign aid budget works and to receive some talking points when we go to visit our state representative, Rob Whitman, later this week.
As a group we have been trekking out in the heat and onto the metro early each morning to do mission work including handing out popsicles, sandwiches, chips and brownies to any homeless people we see hoping to help them cool off. There weren’t a lot of homeless people but I think it’s important to be aware of those around you and what kind of impact you can have in just simplistic gestures. On Monday we visited D.C. Central Kitchen, which is a huge kitchen below a homeless shelter that gets daily volunteers and regular staff to help cook many meals for lunch and ship out to local homeless shelters. They cook a lot and they do it fast but in this process they help train homeless people who have been accepted to learn the craft of working in a restaurant environment. They learn simple kitchen safety rules, various recipes, ingredients, proper utensil use and learn the skills to become a chef, a restaurant manager or any restaurant job. Not only are they cooking meals for the homeless but they are giving the information and tools needed to start a career for them selves.
We have seen much of this great city and have learned about the many groups that help to fight homelessness and poverty. Within our own group we have listened to each other and discussed our differences each night. Shawn has focused on a topic each night that all stem from our differences and how we should celebrate them. We have watched others talk about racism, seen our own privilege and played games that show us what life is like in a certain aspect of someone using food stamps. I have learned about my fellow youth and one thing has become extremely apparent to me. That our generation, the “millennial” are growing in a time of rapid change in all aspects. We are the future and we are the ones that have to make a drastic but positive change in the way that we treat others and how we care for others. Using your voice to help others recognize an issue is how you begin the process of making change.
