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What We Did (on a day-by-day basis) on our MISSION TRIP

Our Mission Trip was VERY fun. This is a day-by-day recoletion of what Sam Cotter can remeber of the mission trip:
  • Day ONE (Sunday, June 24):
    1. Well, First of all, We arrived at First UMC in Downtown Madison. Neat church too. We didn't really know where to go, so we went around the building, tried all the doors, but of course they were locked. We sat around in a nice courtyard/garden on the church grounds and waited. We then saw STEVE. He was the person that organized this mission trip. He is a pretty cool guy. He had keys to the church, but they had changed the locks, so we still couldn't get in. We then met MARTHA, a person from Steurgeon Bay. She was on the mission trip too. A few minutes later, the people from GREEN BAY arrived. They included PATTI, RICK, GREG, SARAH, AND MAREDETH. They are pretty cool people too.
    2. After we had all met (kinda' in-formally) and everything, (and since the doors were locked) we went and sat in the Garden (nice flowers, a few bugs, nice shade, and a bench). We all sat on the ground with our BIBLES and had our first BIBLE STUDY (dum-dum-dum-da!(the trumpet music announcing the bible study..... you have to remember that this is SAM COTTER writing this)). Steve introduced himself, and we all went around the circle telling our names and a few things about us. Steve then told us what we would be doing on the mission trip, and he also said that our BIBLE STUDIES would be based on the book of LUKE. We then started our BIBLE STUDY and opend our Bibles to Luke, chapter 2, verses 1-20. Even though some of us were wondering what the First CHRISTMAS STORY had to do with homeless people, Steve tied it in very nicely with what we were going to be doing that week. To sum it up, we talked about "What this story tells us about God, Ourselves, and the Relationship between the two." We talked about how Jesus wasn't presented as the "King" that the Isrealites had in mind, but that he was an 'Ordinary' if not 'Poor' person, while still being Devine, and that God cares about everybody, including the rich AND the poor.
    3. After we finished up our BIBLE STUDY, we went to our "house" or "place of residence. We were staying at "THE LANGDON: PRIVATE RESIDENCE HALL". (In other words, a college dorm.) We were located on Langdon Street (126 Langdon to be exact) only a few blocks away from THE UNION and BABCOCK HALL and near THE LAKE. It is a nice place, and I shared a room with MIKE (also a cool guy). We carried our baggage up to the Second Floor (better than any other of the 6 or so floors), and there were other people there too. There were some people from Florida on some sort of "learning thingy". They took classes for something like 2 months, I think it was part of an Elder Hostel. So, yeah. We only had one Key for our room (Mike kept it). We could have had two, but if I am gonna' haveto pay 60 bucks if I lose it, I think I will let someone else take responsibility for it.
    4. 4th that day, we went to Steve's house for SUPPER! Steve lives in a nice house on a lake. We got served grilled BRATS and HAMBURGERS and were blessed by the hospitality of his Wife and Daughter. Then some of us (Greg, Maredeth, Bree, Sarah, and (Rick? did you go too?)) went canoeing (not all at once though) while others (Mike, Marianne, Sarah, Bree, Greg, Rick, and Myself) played Volleyball at a nearby park. We then waited around for Bree, Greg, and Sarah to get done with their last Canoe ride (on which they reported seeing pieces of sandwich (a Tomato, Pieces of Lettuce, etc...) floating on the water, and reported an interesting experience when it came time for Bree and Sarah to switch places in the canoe.
    5. We the found our way back to the LANGDON, and went to sleep (YAY!!! SLEEP!!!)
  • Day TWO (Monday, June 25):
    1. I think we got up in the morning. Yeah..... Thats the first thing we did. We got up at different times (depending on how long we thought it would take us to get ready... for me it was 6:25) and left the cosy LANGDON. (Oh yeah... The night before we had discovered that there is a TV lounge on our floor, but it only got about 2 channels, 3 at best). Then we drove over to First UMC around 8:00.
    2. First UMC was open today. That was cool. We went in and found the large FELLOWSHIP HALL where a really nice lady (NANCY) who had already set out 12 places for us. (there were 10 of us on the mission trip, and 11 including Steve). Then we ate. It was good. Nancy had RasinBran, Cherios, and FrostedFlakes for us to eat, along with bread, a toaster, and stuff to put on the toast, and finally, JUICE! So we ate our breakfast, and then made our lunches. Steve had a HUGE supply of stuff to put in our lunches, such as Bread that we could put 3 or 4 different kinds of meat and cheese, Apples, Oranges, Bananas, Snicker bars, SUN-MAID® dried fruit boxes (the CHERRIES AND GOLDENS were REALLY good), and then we had Paper and Plastic baggies to put them in. We then loaded the lunches in Mike's cooler (very cool cooler. It had wheels.) along with SODA (Pepsi, 7Up, Coke, and Diets of the above) and WATER BOTTLES (we used these a lot). After that was ALL DONE we took the cooler out to the car and followed Steve to our first Job Site!
    3. Before I tell you about what we did at our Job Site, Let me try to explain some of what THI (Transitional Housing, INC.) does for the Madison Homeless people. THI provides housing and stuff for low-income people and they also support/run/take care of/are affiliated with 4 or 5 "Drop-In-Shelters" for people who come in off the streets and want some food and a place to sleep. At most of the places we worked though, were longer-term housing units for people who were trying to "Get Back On Their Feet". For most of the week we worked at a site called SAFE HAVEN, which is a place for Mentally Ill (and sometimes with an AODA problem) homeless people. They were really neat people to talk with and were VERY appreciative of the work we were doing there.
    4. OK. When we got to our WorkSite (Safe Haven, located on the East side of Madison, near the Oscar Mayer plant) we met BILL (another neat person). He told us what we would be doing at Safe Haven, and how we would do it and everything. (Bill had a really cool Van (although we reffered to it as "the truck) that had space for everything, and he hauled everything in there from bags of concrete to piles of wood to tools and people. He even had a DUCT TAPE RACK ON THE BACK DOOR!!!!) Bill had boughten us pairs of gloves from HOME DEPOT, and our first task was mostly to put in Stakes and Twine where the sidewalk would go. (We sort of roped-it-off, so-to-speak) We then began digging away at the 'dirt' (notice I use that term loosely). After about an hour of digging, Bill went and bought a PICK AXE and Mike and Greg used it to break up the dirt. Digging was a lot easier then. We were digging out a trench for a SideWalk to go around the house from the front to the back, and then we dug a sidewalk to go from the front out to the street. (Bill said the paths usually got REALLY icy in the winter, and it was hard for handicapped or mentally ill people to manage them) Not all of us were digging all day though. Around Noon we stoped for a lunch break, and Rick (with some help from some other people) pruned some trees and bushes. On MONDAY we got both trenches almost completely dug up, and It would only take us about half a day more to finish it up.
    5. When Steve arrived at SafeHaven around 3:30-ish, he was impressed at the work we had accomplished. Steve then led us back to the Langdon, where we hung out, showered, watched TV, and played games untill about 5:00
    6. Around 5:00 we went back to First UMC and had Supper. Supper was good. Nancy had cooked us a very good chicken-casserole, and then we had our 2nd BIBLE STUDY!!!! This time we read the story of the Prodigal Son, and talked about how God accepts us. Another story that we had all heard in Sunday School, yet still related to our work.
    7. After our BIBLE STUDY, Steve showed us a Power-Point presentation of THI and what they do, along with some graphs showing the costs of housing in Madison, and average income level for the people, etc.... Then we went to GRACE EPICOPAL CHURCH and took a tour of the Drop-In Shelter there. Our tour guide was a person named Duon Blair, and after the tour he told us a little about what they did there. He said that they could hold (I think at most, correct me if i'm wrong) at most 150 people per night, and the people had a maximum stay of 45 days per year (again, correct me if i'm worng), and that they provided all of the stuff for the people, like bedding, towels, toiltries, toothpaste, shower facilities, etc.... Then Duon told us all about his "Life Story" and how He once was a person using the church's facilities, and he told us about how he got into drugs and living on the street, how he had been in Jail 24 times, and how he would have been in Prison right now if it hadn't been for the shelter. Then he talked to us about OWNERSHIP and Taking Responsiblity For Your Own Actions, and how life was full of choices and concquences, and that the choices effected your life. He was VERY cool and interesting to listen to! He is doing very well now, and has a wife and a 2 year old son. We would have loved to stay and hear more, but we had to go. :(
    8. So we went back to the Langdon, watched a little TV, played a few games (Greg beat Mike/Maredeth at chess(but un-beknownst to Greg, Mike would beat him the next night, because of Sam's stupid suggestions)), and went to sleep around 10:00
  • Day THREE (Tuesday, June 26):
    1. Today we got up. That was fun. Then we left again for the church around 7:30 this time.
    2. Our Breakfast consisted again of RasinBran, Cherios, or FrostedFlakes, Toast, and Juice. We then made Tuesday's lunch, packed it in the cooler, and left for SafeHaven again.
    3. When we got to SafeHaven, Bill was there again. We finished digging out the bed for the cement, put up BOARDS to keep the cement in, and Bill had a pile of Gravel/Sand stuff in the back that we wheel-barrowed to the beds and packed it in. It was had work moving big wheel-barrowws full of gravel, and mine tipped over once. It was getting hot so we stopped a little earlier today, and got back to the Langdon around 3:30 or so. Then around 4:15 Greg, Mike, Sarah, and Bree went to serve a meal at the Salvation Army (something Steve asked all of us to do at sometime during the week). They got back to the Church around 5:30/6:00 for supper.
    4. While the others were serving their meal, we showered and hung out for a while untill supper-time. We then went back to First UMC and ate another very good dinner prepared by Nancy. This time we met Nancy's husband as well. After supper a guy named Fred (we all loved Fred) came and spoke to us. Fred lives in a group-home run by THI for mentally-ill men. He talked to us for a little while, and then sang us 2 songs on a guitar. He made sure that we knew that it wasn't HIS guitar, that it was his councelor's guitar. Fred sang us the 2 songs that he knew completely. He told us how Debrah (his social-worker) had helped him a lot (he gave Debrah a hand, and we all clapped too) and he told us about Leia, who was another person that helped him out. He was worried about Leia tho. Fred said she was TOO THIN! He said "Thin isn't good. I'm worried about what she eats. She's a vegitarian you know.... Thin isn't good. Slim, but Thin is BAD." After Fred was done (he made sure that he got back home to take his heart-pills. He had cornery heart disease.) we went back to the Langdon, but it was only about 7:00, so we hung out for a while, (I called my dad) and we went and walked on State Street. Unfortunately, most of the stores on StateStreet were closed, because it was after 8:00 by the time we got down there, but we stopped in Walgreens because some of the girls wanted to buy gum. They ended up spending half of their time looking at these (*REALLY CHEAP*) sandals, and Bree, Sarah, and Maredeth all bought a pair, along with some gum or something like that. We then walked up state street and to the Capital, and then walked back to the Langdon, played a few games, watched a little TV, and went to bed around 10:00 or 10:15.
  • Day FOUR (Wednesday, June 27):
    1. On Wednesday, we got up (AGAIN!) and left for work. Some people (Maredeth, Marianne, and Martha), went and served a meal really early on Wednesday at a homeless Mens shelter. They were tired after the day was done! (they went there around 5:30 or so). We went to the church and ate our breakfast, packed our lunches, and then off to SafeHaven again!
    2. TODAY WAS THE CONCRETE DAY!!!! I can't remember what we did while we waited for the concrete, but I think it might have been the time that we dug a hole for a big log that would stop errosion and stuff. While the rest of us were waiting for the concrete at SafeHaven, Rick went and installed a carpet at another THI facility, which was a BIG help to the guy that was supposed to put it in because this guy had both his knees replaced, and would have taken a lot longer. About 9:00 or 10:00, the concrete truck came! (we all had pants on that day, because getting concrete on your skin isn't fun, so it wasn't too hot, but bearable). The truck was really cool, because it wasn't the kind of truck that already had the cement mixed, it was called a 'Shake and Bake' truck because it mixed the concrete right on the spot! (It had a big bin full of rocks and concrete mix, and a big container of water.) We first poured the sidewal that was by the street, because it was by the street, and easier to access by a truck. Mike and I carried the concrete in wheelbarrows (with the help of Steve and Bill, so it wouldn't tip over), and we carried the cement to the trench, and the other people smoothed it out and spread it around. Then we did the upper sidewalk, which was harder. The truck had to come around the back, and so we had to carry the concrete farther. We got it done though, and it looked very nice!
    3. We then cleaned off the shovels, tools, and wheelbarrows, and then the cement guy sprayed us with water. That was fun. Sara had to go and give the mailman a hug then. We took a push-broom and pushed it around on the wet cement to give it 'traction', and it also made it look cool. Then we put caution tape around the sidewalk, and I can't remember if we then put in our big log, or no, I think it was the next day. Was the cement still dry when we were putting it it? I remember it being very cold tho. But in the pictures we had pants on! I DON'T KNOW!!!
    4. We left a little earlier than other days because we had had a hard day, and we were all tired. Some of us changed into shorts, and a few of us went out and walked around again. (I think we either walked on State Street, or we went to Babcock hall for icecream. Was that the day we went on the observation deck of the Capital? I think it was the day we visited the Capital. yeah.). Then we went to church for a meal of spaghetti, cooked again by Nancy. Then Steve did another presentation about Transitional Housing Inc., which was very interesting and informative. He used a laptop and PowerPoint to show us some facts and graphs, and talked about some specific THI sites.
    5. Then at about 7:00 the First UMC youth group met. (They do every Wednesday night). Their youth director (named "Marsha", and was at YAK) had seen us at the curch a few nights before, and had invited us to their youth-fellowship event. What we did there was we had 'Joys and Concerns', sang some songs, and had some really good cake because someone was back for the summer from far away, or it was their birthday. I can't remember which. The event was really fun, and their hospitality was wonderful. Then we went back to the Langdon, hung out, and went to sleep.
  • Day FIVE (Thursday, June 27):
    1. Well, Thursday wasn't nearly as exciting as Wednesday was, but we still had fun. We got up again, went to the church, had breakfast, packed our lunch, and then went off to SafeHaven again!
    2. When we got there, we got our job assignments from Bill, and went off about our other jobs. One of the first jobs was pulling out the boards that had held in the cement. That was Mike and Greg's job, but then they got tired of it and Sarah, Bree, and I finished it up. Another job that we did was we dug the trenc for a some big 6x6's bolted together, because it was supposed to stop erosion or something. Did they call it a 'bunker'? Well, we all dug the trench, and Mike, Bill and I bolted it together. We then picked it up and dropped it in the hole, and filled in dirt around it. Did we do this on Wednesday or Thursday? I dont' know. Bill and Sarah went out and picked out some flowers to go on the lawn where we had dug up some stuff, and then Patti and some other peope put them in. It was my job to pull the boards apart, because they had been nailed to stakes that went into the ground. It was kind of fun. After I would take them apart, Marianne, Maredeth, Sarah, and Bree cleaned the dried cement and dirt off of the boards. Mike, Patti, Martha, and some other people put dirt in the holes that were left by the boards around the dried sidewalk. and basically pulled out all the boards by the cement, pulled out the nails (my job) and cleaned them off.
    3. Then we used the clean boardsto make PICNIC TABLES! Mike and Bill put the picnic tables together, and they looked very cool. Greg had to use some concrete mix to put some cement in on the sides of the steps, because there wasn't enough concrete there. Sometime in-between all of this we ate lunch too! After we were all done, the people at SafeHaven gave us some ice cream as a "Thank You", and we ate it on our new picnic table! Steve had gotten a box of t-shirts from the Governer's office for our work. There were some Wisconsin Badgers ones, and some "Make Tracks", "Bike" or "Walk Wisconsin" (evidently they thought everybody in Wisconsin wore an Extra-Large shirt. They were kinda' big).
    4. We then went back to the Langdon, hung out (again), watched more TV for a while, and was this the day that 3 of us went to Babcock hall for ice cream?
    5. Then we went to the church again, and had some lasagna. This time it wasn't prepared by Nancy, but by 2 other ladies. It was good. Did we then have another BIBLE STUDY? I think we did. I'll try to remeber what it was about, and put it up here. (Right now, it is about 2 months after the trip, and I am trying to rember it. Oh well. Please correct me if I am wrong about anything).
    6. After that, we went back to the Langdon, hung out, and went to sleep! (I went to bed early because I had to get up early in the morning)
  • Day SIX (Friday, June 28th):
    1. On Friday Morning, I got up early to go serve Breakfast at the Mens Homeless shelter. Rick and Patti went with me, and Greg ended up going along as well. (I guess we woke him up.) We left around 5:45 to go to Grace Episcopal, where the homeless shelter is. We had visited this place on Monday, and we got to see Duon again! (He had worked as the 'Night Manager' the night before). When we got there, we started by making lunches for the Men to take with them to work. We put them in the Fridge and got one out when they asked for them. When the we served breakfast from 6 or 6:30 to 7:00 or 7:30. (I can't remember!). Duon explained to us that they get a lot of their food donated from Hotels, and Food and Catering services. Their "BREAKFAST" consisted of (all leftovers) 1 or more of the following: Some Beef Stew stuff, Eggs (most popular because it was 'normal' breakfast food), Mashed potatoes, Scaloped potatoes, Sloppy Joes, 'Breaded' Chicken (it wasn't really breaded, it had sort of nuts or something on it. We saw one guy trying to scrape it off, to no avail), and a Tuna-Noodle Casserole. After we told the men what we had to offer them, some of them sort of frowned, looked at us, and said "For breakfast?!". We laughed and served them what they wanted.
    2. When we were done serving Breakfast to the men, we went back to the church and had Breakfast, (It tasted really good!), and packed our lunches.
    3. Instead of then going to SafeHaven, Bill was already at the church. We split up into 3 different groups. Rick and Sarah went and put in a new kitchen floor at a site, Mike, Bill, and I went and moved old appliances out of houses, and Maredeth, Patti, Martha, Bree, Marianne, and Greg went back to the homeless shelter to paint walls and clean and organize stuff. First, Mike, Bill, and I went to the house that Rick and Sarah were at, and moved the two fridges and stove out of the kitchen so they could work on the floor. Then we went around to different houses with a U-HAUL truck, picking up old appliances. In all, Mike, Bill, and I went and moved 7 Water heaters, a washer, dryer, furnace, an AC UNIT, and a 2x1 box that felt like it was made of Lead! We had fun moving an old washer up a hallway, and then turning to get it up a set of REALLY TIGHT stairs. Bill usually took the harder end of the dolly, while Mike and I took 2 straps and helped Bill hoist it up stairs. When we got them all picked up, we went to the THI office (a really cool place with offices, a big garage that held matinence stuff for Bill, and a big ware-house type thing that ONE really cool Lady organized with canned goods, clothing, and toys for the people that used their shelters and homes.
    4. At the THI offices, we picked up 2 microwaves, and brought it all to the Dump. At the dump, Mike, Bill, and I got to kick the appliances out the back of the truck and watch them smash! The little really heavy box was cool to watch fly through the air and smash into the ground! Then a big claw would pick them up, 2 AT A TIME, and throw these heavy things (that took 3 guys to lift) around like they were child's toys. Pretty cool.. Then we went back to the THI offices, swept out the truck, and took steve with us (4 guys in a 3-person U-Haul truck) downtown to the place he used to work, and picked up an old desk that was his. We put it in the truck, took it back to the Office, and by that time Rick and Sarah were done. We went back to that home, moved the Fridge and Stove back where they went, and admired their wonderful job of flooring.
    5. THEN WE WERE DONE! We went back to the church (we had packed up the night before), and said a teary good-bye, took pictures and went home.

    • So, It was a great experience to go on this mission trip, because it was REALLY FUN!!!! I would encourage anyone to go on the next mission trip.
    Submitted by Sam Cotter, finished on 8/11/01
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