Finally, just as we’re getting into the swing of things, our week is sadly coming to an end. Thursday went just about the same as the rest of the week had – our group split up, with half of us working at Café 458 and half of us serving lunch at the Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency. We spent our afternoon at the new office preparing files to be shredded and organizing new files into their new filing system. I think we were all pretty exhausted and sleep deprived by Thursday afternoon, so we headed back to the church for a nap (my nap didn’t end until Friday afternoon, but that’s a completely different, flu-related story for a different day).
I think the most memorable part of our trip was Friday night. We had dinner at the home of a couple from the church (once again, these people are SO hospitable). They served us a delicious Asian-style meal which was followed by two hours of awesome board games (Tyler and I rocked it, by the way. Just saying).
After dinner, we went as a group to Walmart – honestly one of the most memorable evenings of my life! Since First Metropolitan Community Church kept throwing food and money our way (it got to the point where we were seriously in awe that they could possibly be giving us more), we decided to skip our fun day in the city and instead donate that money towards clothes and supplies for the Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency and the church. So, there we were, all seven of us strolling through Walmart with our two carts and our strange shopping list. We got working jeans for the men who frequent the church (we actually collected their sizes as well, so we knew the jeans would fit them!). Another item we heard was needed were belts, so we bought a few of those that would double as work or nice interview belts. We also bought men and womens’ undergarments (because, seriously. Nobody wants to wear used underwear). But here’s the best part: we were standing in the aisle discussing shipping (we wanted to hand-deliver the items to the church, but we were going to ship the items for the center from Kansas City back to Atlanta). A man overheard us and asked what we were doing, and when we explained it to him, he said, “Here, take this. That should cover shipping. God bless you all,” and walked away.
I’m not kidding when I tell you that all four of us girls started crying right then and there. We were probably quite a sight to see… seven college-aged kids shopping around Walmart together on a Friday night, with two carts full of jeans, underwear, and belts, crying their eyes out… Sorry, Georgia. We Kansans are softies, apparently.
But seriously, we couldn’t believe how helpful people were when we explained what we were doing. An employee saw us and asked if there was anything we needed help finding, and we asked if there were any special deals that might supplement our stores, and she said that toothpaste and toothbrushes were on sale for a dollar! So naturally, we stocked our carts with those as well. We told her about the man who gave us money for shipping and she said that employees aren’t allowed to carry money around while working (because it’ll be assumed they stole it), or else she’d give us money for our efforts right then and there.
Then, to top it all off, while we were in line, the man behind us snickered and said, “Man, that’s a lot of toothpaste!” And so, we explained our story once again. Of course, following the nature of our past encounters, here was his response:
“Do you take donations?”
So, through the giving hearts of dozens of people throughout our week in Georgia, we were able to donate over $300 worth of clothing to both the center and the church, while spending close to none of our food budget (Reverend Paul wanted us to be fed by the church so that all of our food budget would be returned to the scholarship fund. That way, others can go on alternative breaks). I know that I’m still amazed by the generosity that was shown to us, and I’ll never forget my week in Georgia with such a wonderful group of people.
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