"Homeless"

Day 7 - June 9, 10:42 pm

Woke up extra early to get to the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen and help serve breakfast along with 6 other Bike and Builders. This was one of the places the wonderful Sherry from the church helped us volunteer at since the build site was at capacity with volunteers. It was a really small place, almost diner-like, that got full pretty quick and had a quick turnover. We started out doing odd tasks and then finally settled in to a rhythm. I would start a plate would 3 sausages and a bagel, and Colin would add eggs to it and hand off to the servers. New landspeed records for moving food may have been broken.

The place was very nice. The people in charge were very friendly and grounded. It turns out all of the people in charge that day loved heavy metal go figure. I had some good conversation with Rich about his love of Kiss and Metallica, while this other awesome dude Jerry would sing along to every song on this ridiculous 80
s rock station.

The people to whom we were serving were very nice and visibly thankful. They're really cool because they don't ask any questions of their guests, and this is important for giving struggling undocumented workers a place to eat. I was really taken by just how "normal" most people seemed.

Some werent even that much older than me and most were just average folks. It just really makes me think about the labels and presuppositions we have when approaching topics such as "homelessness" and how debilitating they can be to our effective confrontation of them.

Got back to the church and had a pretty seriously epic 3 hour nap. Ate a great lunch and generally milled about in glorious lackadasiality. Tomorrow we're camping so I helped make sure all the tents were prepped, though I would've preferred setting up a good ol ridgeline FOP style!

Overall, the destressing was really necessary today. Just kicking back, reading, and struggling to think of a single obligation was glorious beyond words. I can't even remember the last time I've felt so stress free. At night we had the first three of our affordable housing presentations which we have all prepared in groups. We are presenting to each other this first month so we can all be super aware of everything affordable housing related for the road ahead.

Tomorrow we have our first 70 mile (rainy) day as we cross into Warwick, NY. This church has been utterly amazing with their hospitality. This morning they had already posted up pictures they took last night!

But most of all, the Splendid Sherry, who has seen Motley Crue 81 times and had a wicked Tommy Lee shirt on, MADE GUACAMOLE! Even more, since i almost dropkicked the stove in my euphoria while discovering the work in progress, Sherry just showed me a whole stash she has in the fridge just for me tomorrow! And yes, I report this without fear of having my tires slashed since It'll all be gone by the time i even post this online!

Tomorrow's hills will be tough, but we'll be tougher. Though, for tonight I think I will chose to softcore it on an actual mattress. Yes.