Hey there! We’ve been so busy the last two days that we’re just getting to update you now! Wow- it’s been an awesome few days...so let’s fill ya in!

On Monday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and spent some time doing devotions individually to prepare for a day of ministry. Shortly thereafter we walked not too far from Edgewater church to a nonprofit called “Care for Real”. Care for real provides a variety of services to folks who live in this area of Chicago. For example, they have a free store where clients can acquire second-hand goods at no charge. Additionally, they have a food shelf that is open to the community for members frequently throughout the week.

The food shelf was open on Monday morning, and so we spent the morning helping with food distribution and stocking the warehouse. A fun fact about Care for Real is that they receive food donations from area grocers and the Greater Chicago Food Depository quite often throughout the week. That being the case, we had a few donations to sort through on Monday morning. Some of the foods we came across were eggs, many different breads, cereal, frozen meat and desserts!

The other half of us manned the food lines for folks; helping them collect the right amount of food from each line. Care for Real permits any residents within this area of Chicago to come to the pantry for things like bread, fruits and vegetables each day. On the other hand, the same clients can come once a month for foods such as cereal, frozen meats and pasta noodles. The morning that we served at Care for Real we served food to almost 300 individuals!

After we wrapped up working with food, we went and got ourselves some lunch back at Edgewater Presbyterian Church (EPC). Knowing that we would have a late night yesterday afternoon, we had a few hours of free time here at the church. A few of us decided to catch up on some sleep while others played games and hung out together. I think a Starbucks run was made sometime in there too :)

Monday evening we walked to Epworth United Methodist Church and dined on some delicious spaghetti, salad and garlic bread prepared by one of the members of the church named Bruce. You’ll have to ask us about the church building, because Bruce knew a TON about the history of both the neighborhood, and the church. (FUN FACT: There is a crescent window in the rear of the church’s sanctuary that is worth over $1.5 million dollars! It is beautiful!)

After dinnertime we met the man, the myth, the legend, Vince. Vince runs a men’s shelter which operates out of some of the space at Epworth UMC. We were told to have questions prepared for this time...and we quickly realized why! Vince had us ask him questions about the men’s shelter, Chicago, and the neighborhood. (We learned SO much last night- so be sure to ask us about it.)

Following our conversation with Vince we spent some time in the men’s shelter getting to know some of the folks there. We enjoyed conversing with many of the men there and quickly learned that they in fact weren’t that different than us; they have families, hopes, desires and dreams just like we do. Some of them really liked to talk, and so sometimes they did more talking than we did!

We later returned to EPC after talking with Vince once more. We had a quick debrief meeting from the day and quickly made our way to bed to rest for Tuesday’s activities.