Work Day 1

Yesterday morning we split into groups to work at Harvest Hope, Diligent Hands Gracious Hearts, and Project Host.

At Harvest Hope food pantry, the supervisor summed up their mission: "If people are hungry, we feed them." In the city of Greenville, 47% of children are on free or reduced lunches at school. This organization receives food donations from local grocery stores, businesses and community members. Volunteers sorted food donations, preparing them for distribution.

Tamika, Shawnta and Jessica sorting food at Harvest Hope

Lindsay and Hannah checking expiration dates on donated food

Day One group at Harvest Hope

Diligent Hands Gracious Hearts is an organization that does many different service projects around the Greenville community. The group that volunteered there on Monday mowed lawns and started a painting project for elderly in the community who were not able to do it themselves.

"The Lawn Ladies" riding to their site in the back of the truck

Andrea gettin' her mow on

Project Host is a soup kitchen that serves a free meal to about 200 people in need Monday-Friday. These 200 people come into Project Host during a one hour time period. We helped with preparation for the meal, served it to those in need, and cleaned up after the meal was over.

The Frazee Dream Center was started 6 years ago by Jenny and Matt Reeves. While initially wanting to run the center on the side, a few months after opening it the Reeves sold their landscaping business and decided to make Frazee Dream Center one of the main focuses of their life. The center is a free preschool and after school program for 60-90 under resourced children. Matt explained during our training that there can be little moments which can change a child's perspective on different aspects of life. For instance, many of the children who attend the center come from single-parent families and do not know anything different. The Frazee Dream Center strives to create those moments for its children in everything they do. We played with them during game time, helped individual children with reading and homework, and helped serve supper.

Frazee Dream Center logo

Lindsay and Silver with some of the Frazee children

ASB members playing "pretzel" with some of the Frazee children

Angela and Jamie at dinner with the children

Yesterday definitely excited us to continue working with these organizations throughout the week. We returned to the bus smiling, with many stories to tell from our experiences that day. :)