Central Catholic High School

Today the team divided into smaller groups and served Huntington at various organizations.  The red team (group 3) spent time at Harmony house painting and organizing clothing donations.  Harmony house provides shelter, housing resources and other basic life necessities to the unhoused population within Huntington and Cabell county.

Today, our groups got the opportunity to visit Faith in Action, which is an amazing local organization serving the elderly population of the greater Huntington area. 

We were warmly welcomed by Jennifer, the kind and deliberate leader in charge of the organization. She showed us around the facilities, communicating her hometown pride for the Marshall University sports teams and the interconnected community we were stepping into service with. 

Our participants listened intently to Jennifer explain the individual circumstances and needs of the men and women she is in contact with through the organization. Faith in Action services are just a call away. When the phone rings, Jennifer can expect a caller to request help reading bills, a ride to a medical appointment, assistance with grocery shopping, or simply a friendly phone call.

Today, Oakland girls and Central boys assisted Jennifer in purchasing fruit at the grocery store, which we packaged in gift sacks decorated with encouraging messages. After a quick park/lunch break, we drove to three different homes and hand delivered the gift bags filled with fruit. Each bag was received and we all enjoyed the interactions we had with the lovely people of Huntington. 

Today, our team visited City Missions, where we worked with Kyle and James to support their outreach efforts.

We began by sorting through clothing donations from the community. In addition to clothing, we also sorted kids' toys, dishes, and other household items. This facility provides essential items like clothes, shoes, toys, bedding, dishes, and even some decorations to individuals and families with low incomes or those experiencing homelessness, helping them find things to wear and use in their homes.

After lunch, we joined Kyle to clean up the area around the church. This included picking up trash from the grass and along the roadside, as well as clearing debris from the sidewalks.

Throughout the day, we had the chance to hear powerful stories from members of the community and volunteers at City Missions about their lives and their relationships with God.

Vacation bible school at fifth avenue Baptist church kicked off last night.  We had a great time hanging out with the kids playing games, making crafts and eating snacks!  The lesson for the evening was about what it means to believe in God

Today, we rejoined Jennifer at Faith in Action, the nonprofit serving the local elderly population. After a brief tour of the facilities, Jennifer connected our group to Phil, a volunteer, and Bob, a care receiver. 

Bob has been experiencing pain in his legs due to arthritis, so while the Central Boys helped Phil grocery shop in Kroger, our Oakland Catholic girls and another boy from Central stayed in the parking lot of Kroger (along with a chaperone and myself) to chat with Bob while he sat in his car. He shared with us his painting, poetry, and heartfelt message about how importance he feels it is to volunteer in the community. He was sincere and passionate about his message. 

Afterward, Phil specifically reached out to me with thanks toward the group who helped him grocery shop—they made him laugh and were so eager to help him! 

We delivered a fruit bag from yesterday before delivering Bob his groceries. The boys carried the groceries upstairs while he showed the rest of us his art studio. Piles of repurposed cardboard, paints, and natural materials lined the tables. Around 30 works of completed work surrounded us in shades of blue, red, and yellow. Bob thanked us, and we were off to Rotary Park for lunch. After, we drove to Jenny’s home.

Jenny recently moved from Florida, so our group helped unpack her clothes and build miscellaneous pieces of furniture. After eating ice cream sandwiches with her, we sang “Country Roads, Take Me Home” and she was smiling and videoing us! 

By engaging with the older population of an area, one learns to understand its history. With that, we are thankful for another wonderful day with Faith in Action!

Today, my group visited the home of a woman from the congregation named Mary. Sadly, Mary lost her husband last year and has since had difficulty keeping up with her yard work. As a result, her yard had become overgrown with weeds, and some of the plants had died.

Our team spent the day working hard to clean up her yard. Mary was incredibly kind and showed her appreciation by preparing a homemade lunch for us—sloppy Joes and mac and cheese, which the kids especially enjoyed.

After lunch, we got back to work pulling more weeds and pressure washing the steps and backyard. Before leaving, we gathered around Mary and prayed for her health and well-being.

Overall, today was a wonderful day filled with meaningful work, and learning experiences.

Today was a full day of hard work! We power washed many sidewalks scrubbed a box truck until it was shining, cleaned out trash cans, and organized the pantry to get it ready for Thursday’s community donation. Everyone gave it their all, and by the end of the day, we were worn out.

That’s when Kyle from City Mission showed up with a surprise of: pizza, cookies, and drinks for the whole team! It was such a kind and thoughtful way to end the day, and it reminded us how much we appreciate the people we get to serve with.

It is day 3 at Harmony house and we have been hard at work cleaning out the the maintenance area of items that are no longer needed.  The maintenance staff at Harmony house have recently moved their shop, which has allowed them to have the opportunity to go through and let Go of unneeded items

Today, my team went to Rebuild. When we arrived, Paul welcomed us and helped us get started. He shared the backstory of Rebuild and told us that the organization has been serving the community for 11 years.

Once we were oriented, we got to work. Group one filled in a large hole in the front yard with dirt, while group two raked leaves and picked up trash along the roadside. After that, we moved to the back of the property to pull weeds and continue cleaning up.

To wrap up the day, we sorted through bags of donations.

Overall, today was an amazing experience. We got a lot done.

Today was full at City Mission, but it was really special. We split into two groups, some of us worked on organizing this huge pantry full of baking and cooking supplies, while the rest helped sort through clothing donations at the Donation building.

We took a long lunch break at a park, which felt like such a gift. We laughed a ton, did cartwheels and handstands in the grass, and just had fun being together.

After lunch, we got back to work and helped clean the kitchen. One of the gentlemen there was celebrating a birthday, so we brought cupcakes and sang to him. His smile and patience everyday this week has made this hard work easier.

Before we left, Kyle asked us if we could make little cards to go in the food boxes that the next team will pass out on Thursday. It felt like the perfect way to end the day, leaving a little bit of love behind for someone else to find.