Today we enjoyed breakfast together, had individual devotional time, packed our bag lunches and headed out for Cornerstone Community Outreach. Sarah, our trip leader, works at CCO, and so she was able to adjust our start time so we could get a little extra time to sleep last night after having gone to bed a little late- woo!

Anyhow, we arrived at CCO and a we split the team in half; part of us went and served as kitchen crew/food prep team while the rest of us helped unpack and sort through food that had been delivered that morning by the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Once again we had the opportunity to work alongside some super cool people at CCO.

Lunchtime rolled around and we were excited to start seeing some of the men from the shelter that we had visited with last night coming in for lunch at CCO. As they began to come in, we took turns eating and reconnecting with them, and other folks who came in for lunch. It was really special for us to be able to visit with those men again. After lunch was over we helped clean up the cafeteria and kitchen at CCO and returned to EPC.

This afternoon hopped back into our vans and drove out to a non-profit called “Books for a Cause”. Books for a Cause collects books from different places, compiles and organizes them in a warehouse here in Chicago. Once the books are organized, they are stored until they are pulled to be shipped to places all over the world in an effort to establish small libraries in places where these resources may be difficult to access.

Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed serving here this afternoon! Plus, they had so many books that we got to bring a few back with us! A memorable phrase from the day became “Books for Real” (a combination of two names of nonprofits that we’ve spent some time at now this week). We got, and still get, laughs out of it! Books for Real!

Tonight we picked up Lou Malnati’s pizza on our way back from Books for a Cause and ate dinner at EPC. We spent some quality time together playing games and hanging out with our West Virginia friends. Tomorrow’s already our last full day serving here in Chicago! It’s hard to believe, but we’re excited for what tomorrow holds.

Until then!