We travelled as members of the team leading 30 seniors from Archbishop Carney High School for an education trip that focussed on service, cultural experiences and the joy of travelling with friends. Chris Seppelt who teaches all of them in his Social Justice-Global Awareness course is the mastermind of the trip. We left YVR on Cathay Pacific on Thursday at noon. From JFK we used cabs to get to the Gerswhin Hotel in Manhattan on 27th near 5th Avenue. It is a unique combination of hotel and hostel which made it much more affordable. On the first night we walked three blocks to the subway at about 10 pm to buy our subway passes for the week and our first ride to Grand Central Station and Times Square. The kids were in awe of this great space and the bright lights of Times Square and found it it difficult to grasp that they were really in New York. By 1 am with the weather turning miserable we returned to our hotel to sleep for a short night.
Friday. We had breakfast at the 24 hour deli around the corner from the hotel. We left in smaller groups to our service assignments.The service locations included, the Sisters of Charity- South Bronx, Part of the Solution [POTS], CHIPS, Neighbors Together, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, Yorkville Pantry and the St.Anne's after school Reading Program in South Bronx. Each morning the groups basically worked at a soup kitchen type of service and met in the afternoon at St. Anne's in South Bronx to be like older brothers and sisters to the young children when they arrive from their school day. They did home work, played board games, used the computers, read, and ran around in the gym with their new young friends with whom they had corresponded. From the beginning there was a lot of joy and laughter. They bonded right away. These beautiful children were first introduced to us in the books of Jonathon Kozol, "Amazing Grace", "Ordinary Resurrections", and "The Shame of the Nation". The faithful witness of Mother Martha Overall and her parish staff has resulted in these children of Mott Haven receiving God's love in tangible ways for many years. When we arrived on this snowy miserable day we were made welcome by Raymond who was working the snow shovel and by the hospitality of Nora, Lesley and Dale.
The session ended at 5:30 with our group sitting at table with the young ones as they prayed and had dinner, Then we were off by Subway 6 to Times Square and had dinner in the area before meeting to attend a performance of Rent, the musical. We walked north in awful snowfilled streets after the show to Rockefeller Center. At the Top of the Rock we got our view of the lights of the city in a snow storm. We returned exhausted after just the first day to the Gerswhin after midnight. To make it to the end of the week, we told Chris that we would need to take Saturday morning off. What a pace he sets.
Saturday. St.Patrick's Day in New York. Fifth Avenue had been cleared of snow and the most glorious parade we ever saw marched for hours past St. Patrick's Cathedral. A whole army of firefighters passed to continuing applause. The crowd was six deep and more in places. We visited the cathedral and had the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. Later we travelled south to Ground Zero by subway and then to upper Manhattan to St.Ignatius Church where our group had gathered for Mass. In the evening we walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a two hour stay and then into the cold night for skating in Central Park. We both yielded, saying no to skating and returned to the Gershwin. A full day 2 and we had not worked in the morning like the others.
Sunday. We were all moving by 7 am. Our first destination was the Abbysinian Baptist in Harlem, the church of the Reverend Calvin Butts. Service was at 9 and with reserved seats we needed to be there by 8:30. We were welcomed to Harlem by a street guy who accompanied us to the church with a constant flow of good chatter.The music was good as expected, the preaching was memorable on the theme of "People, Get Ready". The kids were very tired and many worked hard to snap back when they caught themselves nodding off.The group in front of us was from Germany. We had lunch at local eateries around 125th. St. and also stopped at the legendary Rice High School. We then travelled by subway to St.Anne's in the Bronx to meet with 47 kids and their leaders. We managed to keep the group of about ninety together on the subway as we moved to the Astor Theatre In Manhatttan to see the Blue Man Group. What a crazy show, just perfect for the kids and good for the geezers too. We celebrated the day with veggies,pizza and cake at St. Anne's. It was a truly memorable day and thanks and appreciation were often spoken. At night the trusty subway took us to Brooklyn so that we could walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Chris stopped several times to teach about the significance of the bridge.
Monday. Mary Jo led a group to paint a classroom at St.Anne's in the morning and I led a group to the soup kitchen at Holy Apostles. This is the largest soup kitchen in the state and on the days that we were there, we helped feed about 1000 people each day. This is a very impressively organized team of volunteers under the direction of Clyde, the e.d. who gave good time to speaking with both groups after lunch. He explained the comprehensive services which are offered including counselling referrals and health services. This Holy Apostles kitchen is a good example for the students to reflect on how poverty and homelessness are responded to by this church community.Many compliments came our way from the regular volunteers. We found the clients respectful and courteous. In the afternoon we returned to the children at St. Anne's. Mary Jo's group were given a neighborhood tour and commentary by Nora. In the evening we had dinner and discussion in small groups at restaurants in Little Italy. After that we took a harbor tour on the Staten Island Ferry, Rey Corpuz our chaperone and photographer did great work with his camera capturing this night and all other events.
Tuesday. We returned with a group of thirteen to Holy Apostles and they gave us all meaningful work, though they do not usually take volunteer groups larger than eight.They serve lunch and provide take-home food five days a week. In October they will celebrate their 25th year and will have served over 6 million meals. Then back to St.Anne's where our kids helped their young friends and Mary Jo and I worked very hard prunning woody forsythia and rose of sharon shrubs at the church. In the evening we attended the Broadway musical "Hairspray" and then walked to Carnegie Deli for orders of the largest sandwiches in the city. Another great memory.
Wednesday. Last day at St. Anne's and many tears of friendship were shed. The memories will stay a lifetime for many. In the morning our group greatly enjoyed their time at the Museum of Modern Art. Then we were onto Canal Street for shopping in Chinatown and for a view of the architecture in SOHO. When we got back to St. Anne's Mike and Rob joined both of us to finish the pruning in the church yard. May they bloom well for Mother Martha in the years to come. All of our group were presented with certificates of appreciation by the group leaders of the after school program.
When we went to the airport, Cathay Pacific treated us very well as our flight had been postponed to Thursday. They gave us a shuttle to the Holiday Inn with dinner, breakfast and a phone card included. We all rested well with this delay, giving everyone a chance to slow down from the hectic pace.
Thursday. We all flew out on Cathay Pacific, ate well on the flight and had lots of music and movies to entertain us. We arrived home in the afternoon weary, satisfied and happy. We were priviliged to keep company with such a great group of students and leaders for the week.Photo credits: Rey Corpuz, Mary Jo Dawe
