The end is just the beginning...

Well, it's the end of our PiF. All that's left is the presentation. But hey, we still have plans to volunteer there (the FBC) for our necessary hours for this year! Can't wait to go back! :D

- Franci

Ps. This is kind of unrelated but BONUS RIGBY 

Wrapping up PIF

We are now ending our project and doing a presentation in class tomorrow. Thank you for viewing our blog! And wish us luck!! >< 
~See you again next year~♪

Our final day - Duh duh duh!

On Tuesday night went for our final night at Shelter. Although this was our last day for PIF, I would be willing to continue going, although maybe not every week. Once a month would work better for us, since it means we lose sleep going every week. I thought this week was our best. Instead of just greeting people, we got to do a little bit of work as well. We carried plates up the stairs to the room where dinner was to be served. This was hard for me since I broke 2 plates in foods class so I am scared to handle them. Luckily, nothing happened.  We also did some greeting like we had done in the past few weeks. We were also given the opportunity to speak with some of the people staying for dinner. I got to sit down with an older man eating his dinner. Since I had never done this before, I was afraid of what to say. I did not want to offend him, so I asked him questions like "Do you like cookies?" or stuff like that. He seemed happy that someone was speaking with him. Hopefully if I continue going, I'll be able to gain for confidence in doing that. That's all for now - bye bye!

My Experience at FBC!

On Tuesday, January 21st, I went with Stephanie, Jacob (my PiF team) and Jacob's dad to the First Baptist Church of Vancouver to do some volunteering work. I am not unfamiliar with working with homeless/troubled people, so I wasn't really frightened or anything. In fact, I couldn't wait! 

Actually, to be honest, I was feeling a little awkward as I was the newbie this time around. However, what I did not expect was the amount of (new) volunteers that attended on Tuesday! p

Okay, let's start chronologically. 

Jacob's dad picked up Jacob and I from school with Stephanie after (once again) winning our Reach For The Top games. We then went to Freshslice Pizza and ate our dinner there. I had a cheese pizza slice and a weird saucy pizza slice. Although we finished eating an hour before the volunteering actually started, the driving took forever. So in the end, we really got there right on time. Anyways, we arrived at the church and my team introduced me to a few people, like the pastor Bob Swan. I was also given a mini-tour of the area. After drinking delicious hot chocolate in the volunteer room, Jacob, Stephanie and I played some games on Steph's phone and just kind of hung around the room until 8 o'clock pm. We were fed some delicious breaded chicken and potatoes, and then Bob directed us down to where the homeless people would come in. We greeted the men and women who entered and I even got to hand out bed tickets! It was a pretty cool experience. After about 20 mins +/- of this, Bob took us to the cafeteria room where the people would eat. We just hung around there and talked to whoever wanted to talk to us. 

Eventually, 9 o'clock swung by and we had to leave. Jacob's dad drove me home a little bit later. 

All in all, the experience was really positive and eye - opening. However, I kind of hoped that I would be able to participate a little more... Hopefully next time we will! 

- Franci

What is gonna happen next

Next Tuesday we are going back to shelter again. This could be our last time but there is a good chance we will return on February 4th. I would be willing to still go even after PIF is done, perhaps once or twice a month instead of every week. This is because I can see the impact we are having. Although we have not done very much so far, we HAVE been put in the position as greeters. We would say "Hello!" or "Welcome!" to the people as the entered the building. What amazes me is that this shelter has been running EVERY TUESDAY since March 1999. That's almost FIFTEEN YEARS! The homeless people don't always have a place to go but they know on Tuesday night, the church at burrard and nelson has open doors. This gives the people a sense that someone cares about them. Similarly, many people we greeted seemed happy when we greeted them, responding with "Hello!" or "Thank you!" I hope we will have an even greater impact as we keep going to shelter.

Out of the comfort zone (Part 3)

Continuing where we left off, after the presentation and food, Jacob and I went to the coffee place (Where people would discuses things and drink coffee) There, we met Norman Sharkey, an Author and the founder of a program called Our House. The program helps people recover from addiction, and is in a real house! I couldn't believe I met with someone who did something so amazing! He told us about all the different people he met and the experiences he had. I was in total awe. He left afterwards, but we got to listen to another guy's story. The man's name was Jim. He told us the story of how his mother made him and his brothers steal cigarettes from convenience stores and gas stations. He also said how he knew no one in his family, and how he had been in jail for seventeen years. Bob Swan saved his life he said. The pastor was the first one to show him love. He called himself a bum on the streets, and a drunkard, but what I saw was one of the strongest person I have ever saw. His whole story was so capturing, I never heard anything as sad and emotionally intense as that. I honestly didn't know how to react. I couldn't have said "I know how you feel." Because I didn't! Nothing in my life could have compared to how sad his life was. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but I was thinking "I can't possibly imagine what you went through." Despite telling us his personal story, he had a brighter attitude afterwards. I asked to take a picture with him. At first, he was like "Do you really want to take a picture with someone who was a criminal for seventeen years?" I replied "Yes!" Because I knew that I truly wanted a picture with him. So we took a picture with him. Then he gave us each a book written by Norman Sharkey. The one I got was called 'Keeping 6' I've read a few chapters in between my dense homework! The book was written in such a way, that I could feel what the author was feeling. I should really finish reading it! When the time to do some work came. Jacob and I were put on... Bed ticket duty. Everyone who was a client had to tell the person their first name, number (Each person had an entrance ticket) and age. Then the client said whether they wanted to sleep over night or not. If so, they were given a bed ticket with a number. Our job was to hand the bed ticket. It was pretty cool seeing all the different people who participated. Surprisingly, only fourteen people wanted beds! There were at least fifty people! At the end of the day, we talked with Bob Swan about the program. He gave us information and told us that a third of the volunteers were formerly homeless and were clients of the program. The fact honestly surprised me, but I find it sweet that people would help the program that helped them. Similar to pay it forward! 
That was our day, thanks for reading.
~Stephanie Nguyen

P.S Sorry for the lack of photos, since the program is dealing with actual people, it'd be super rude to take pictures of them, even if they're in the background! Don't worry though, Bob Swan said that he would send pictures to Jacob of the shelter in action!

 Jacob, Jim and I being all close. "Don't be shy now!"

The hot chocolate at this place is amazing... 

The church part of the church: The Santuary

Next Chapter

Hello Everyone! Tomorrow we are going to FBC Shelter again, this time with a full team as Francesca makes her first trip down with us. But first I will discuss some of my thoughts from last time around.

I recognized very few people at Shelter, despite my going to this church for my whole life. This tells me that the church's positive influence extends beyond the regulars attending the sunday morning services. Also, many of the volunteers at the program - about 1/3 - were once on the streets themselves. I thought it was good to see these people paying it back to help other people out of the hole they once found themselves in. Some of these volunteers attribute their successes to the work of First Baptist Church. Thirdly, many of the people lining up for dinner looked like your stereotypical "normal" person. I can connect this to an ad my dad saw a while back. One picture showed a 5 year old boy's kindergarten picture, and the second image showed him as a homeless man 40 years later. It said "the homeless can come from anywhere" or something like that. I learned that anyone, even someone who looks well-off, can be in need of our help.

Jacob :)