Now that you've watched that, on to the Atlanta trip. We left here on Thursday afternoon and drove to Ophelia, Georgia. On the way, we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant with Dr. Reiff's mom and dad. Then, we went to their house for birthday cake because it was Dr. Reiff's birthday. It was a good time.
Friday morning, we woke up and drove on into Atlanta. In addition to being plagued with kidney stones for the duration of the trip, I also ruined one of Dr. Reiff's handkerchiefs due to a random bloody nose. We went straight to St. Paul United Methodist Church which we called our home for the weekend. It was beautiful. It was built many years ago and the stained glass windows were amazing. We met and talked with the Pastor and she gave us a little bit of history about the church then just kind of hung out with us for a while. Soon thereafter, we left to go to the Gateway Center. The Gateway Center is a community outreach program run by the city of Atlanta to eradicate homelessness and assist those who may be facing homelessness. After taking a tour of the place, we played games with some guys who were residents there. It was great getting to talk to them. I learned how to play Chess! The most eye-opening part of the Gateway Center was walking through the women and children room and seeing lots of kids toys laying around in the make-shift bedrooms. It hit me hard. Later that evening, we went to a choir/orchestra concert and Emory University. It was good.
Saturday was the best day. We first went to Emmaus House. This place operates outreach programs to the youth in the area. The main thing we did was head over to a community center to assist with a community cook-out. It was great. There were a few community organizations there such as the YMCA and YWCA and they allowed kids to go around and learn about summer programs they offer and they could sign up for them. Here is the deal with this community: I looked around and we were the only white people anywhere. Normally, I would feel uncomfortable because of where I'm from. But, I didn't. I felt so welcomed. It was definitely a great feeling being welcomed into that community and I enjoyed that. Below is a picture of our group at the community center, and also a picture of us on the steps of the Emmaus House.
Later that night, we went to a friend of Dr. Reiff's house who he knew from seminary. The church she is a pastor at (Brookhaven United Methodist) does a lot of recovery ministries for recovering addicts. She had four people speak to us who were recovering addicts and at some point had a run-in with homelessness. This was very eye opening and I enjoyed it.
In retrospect, this trip was amazing. It was probably the best trip I have been on since I came to Emory & Henry.
This weekend, I am packing my stuff and heading to Cincinnati to hang out with my friend Colton. We're doing Cincinnati's Relay for Life (which I'm excited about because I haven't done Relay since high school), going to a Reds & Braves game, and just walking around the city some. Everyone knows my love of walking around places. I'm very excited about the weekend.
Below is a picture that was taken by my friend Alex. I really liked it and figured I would share. I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. Happy Earth Day tomorrow!
Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.
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