DAY 7

Today was Homeless Day in Manhattan. After the customary breakfast, singing and a devotional, the group split into our smaller travel groups and boarded the Metro for Central Park in Manhattan. Central Park is no ordinary park! It covers 843 acres and gets about 40 million visitors per year.

Central Park is an amazing breath of nature in the middle of a concrete jungle! It is a wonderful space for New Yorkers to get out of doors.

Students were given approximately 90 minutes upon arrival in Central Park for solo time–time for reflection and journaling. We then convened for lunch in the Great Hill section of the park and a 2 hour debriefing/reflection time for the entire week.

We also took the opportunity to capture a group photo.

Then it was homeless time! We divided into approximately 6 or 8 groups and divided up the pile of blankets that were brought along for distribution. The groups then went their separate ways in search of homeless people. Some groups wandered through the park. Here are Amber and Alisha pausing by the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir.

Eventually, most of the groups who started out in Central Park began to realize that late afternoon was not a good time to find homeless people in the park. This is the time when the panhandling business is booming and the sleeping areas in the park were largely vacant. As groups migrated below the park into the region of Times Square the contacts with homeless people picked up significantly.

The goal was to distribute blankets and then, if possible, find a homeless person to take out for supper. Groups met with a range of experiences from one group’s first homeless contact with lady named Shirley sitting on her suitcase under Trump Tower–a group member noted that it was quite special to speak of Jesus in that place, to another group wheeling an elderly man in his wheelchair off to the local fast food restaurant for supper. While we encountered a spectrum of fascinating stories (sometimes with conflicting elements) from homeless folks which we knew may or may not have been true–we enjoyed the opportunity to show that we cared and to show the love of Christ.

Another group dropped into lower Manhattan and visited the Bowery Mission. We delivered our blankets to them and discovered that the evening service (prior to supper) was about to begin (note the sleeping “parishioner” in the background).

The rousing service began with about 35 in attendance and ended with closer to 70. The spectrum of homeless present and the powerful way that the pastor addressed the group provided a wonderful window into the homeless experience.

The groups converged back in Brooklyn around 7:30 for ice cream dessert and to share stories from the afternoon/evening. Our time in NYC is winding down and we plan to head back to our little village of Guys Mills tomorrow.