Fifty Forward: Day 4

This morning, we went to another Fifty Forward site, which was located in a Presbyterian church.  They had a room that was filled with tables and chairs that the Fifty Forward group uses during the week. Thursday is the group’s Bingo Day. Besides eating, they literally play bingo for almost the entire time they are there. So, after arriving, we played a few games of bingo with the members before lunch. For the second game, I was volunteered to shout out the numbers, which was interesting. For lunch, each member had a different lunch based on his or her dietary needs, and we helped pass the lunches out. After lunch, we started to play another game of bingo when it started to snow. It snowed hard for a few minutes, and the directors started to worry. Soon, they decided they would cancel for the day to make sure everyone got home safely, which makes sense. However, by the time they were leaving in the buses with all of the members, it was already done snowing.  We were warned that if tomorrow were a snow day for the area, then they would not be holding Fifty Forward activities at the site tomorrow either. So, we left early and went back to the Southeast Nashville Recovery Center, where we were staying.

Throughout the trip, I’ve tried to be optimistic and keep a positive attitude about everything we’re doing. However, the work we did this morning was not very enjoyable. The site that we went to was exactly the stereotype we had about the organization. After talking to other members of the group, I realized we were all thinking similar thoughts: everyone at this site seemed to be just waiting to die. No one was trying to have a good time; no one laughed. Everyone just sat around and hardly talked to each other. Some people were even sleeping during games of bingo. I realize that the site we were at today had people that were a little bit older than the other sites, but the entire dynamic and atmosphere at the church today was incredibly different than the sites we have previously been to. Ironically, the person that we all thought had the most ‘life’ at the site we were at today was the oldest man there.  Wilbur is 102 years old and played the harmonica for us; he was the only one I heard laughing while we were there.

Wilbur, 102, teaching Hannah D. how to play the harmonica.

After our afternoon plans originally got cancelled, we talked to Janice from the place we were staying, and she connected us to some work for a woman whose house was severely damaged from the floods that hit in March 2010. Upon arriving, we did not have to do much; all that we did was clean a lot of dishes and play with her grandchildren a little bit. Her house was rather small, but surprisingly it was in pretty nice condition.  Her story is amazing to me. She recently has taken in her five grandkids since her daughter is a crack addict.  In this small space, she is trying to raise them all. She is unemployed and is living off of $100/month in food stamps. Her kitchen sink does not work so she has to get water from her bathtub to clean dishes as well as use it for drinking water. After visiting her house, it made me think a lot about how blessed I am. Although my life isn’t perfect, I have so much to be grateful for. My family might not have the most money in the world, but we can easily pay for food each month and have extra money for unnecessary stuff as well. To think that people have to struggle through so much is heartbreaking and has made me realize how truly blessed I am.

-Julie