Annual Christmas Party at Central OAC

Friday was the annual Christmas party held at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center. It is a special day where volunteers, board members and guests celebrate the Christmas season together. We still run the center like a normal day providing services to those in need, but with a twist!  When you enter the center you can't help but smell the hot apple cider steaming in everyone's cup. In the conference room the table is set with more sweets and goodies then your heart could ever desire. Set up in the back room is a piano playing all the favorite carols by the lovely Ms. Betty. The Christmas party at the OAC was a unique experience that will not soon be forgotten. It was a couple hours out of the day where people from all different life situations, each bearing different burdens, came together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The energy inside the center was powerful, smiles replaced frowns, love replaced hate. Guests were able to let down their guard and truly enjoy the Christmas season that usually just brings them more trouble and frustration. My favorite part of the day was singing Christmas carols in the room filled with guests and board members alike. A man named Fred came and sat down between me and Leslie and sang carols in his lovely super bass voice. Betty passed out 100 year old sleigh bells for the guests to play during Jingle Bells, 12 Days of Christmas and other favorites. The room was overflowing with singing,smiling and laughter as we all belted out our Christmas favorites. I took a video on my phone which I will post below, the song is Joy to the World! I can truly say that the Christmas Party at the OAC was my favorite party of the season.

Mercy Community Church

Picture drawn in the Mercy Art Class

Every Thursday morning at 8:00am I start my day at Mercy Community Church. Thursday has become a day that I very much look forward to as part of my week. Mercy is based out of  the Druid Hills Presbyterian Church grounds which located in the Poncey Highland area of Atlanta. Mercy started about seven years ago when Pastor Chad Hyatt's vision of a true Christian Community came to life. Now Chad is assisted by Pastor Maggie Leonard a graduate of Columbia Presbyterian Theological Seminary. They make up a very powerful team and I am very blessed to be learning from them both. The community is open to any one who chooses to enter through the always open door. The majority of the community is made up of men and women who are currently homeless. I use the word homeless carefully, I am not putting all the community members into a box of homelessness. I do believe that the term homeless is used in a way that can be a very isolating and demeaning to people in difficult situations. To quote a man I was talking to at Mercy "The word homeless seems like it is tattooed on your forehead and as hard as you try you can't get it off. You get placed into this box with people that you are nothing like. You start paying for things that you have never even thought about doing." I know that personally I have used the word "homeless" to put people in a box before.

Pastor Chad defining Mercy Church

During the week Mercy is open Monday, Thursday and Friday from 8:00am till around lunchtime. Each morning at 8 the doors open and everyone is free to enjoy fresh brewed coffee, bagels, and bread with a choice of butter or homemade strawberry jam! This is a great time for conversations and especially now during the winter a time to warm up from the night before. Around 9 everyone gathers in the main room to start the time of prayer and reflection. We usually start off with songs, most of them actually that Chad wrote. The time of reflection and prayer comes in a different form each day. Some days it's very traditional, with readings and reflection,other times meditation is used or different kinds of music. When the floor is open for the community to voice their prayers out loud it can be very powerful. They pray about the hardships and struggles they endure in their everyday lives. The amount of faith and trust they still keep with God with all they go through is amazing and is truly the power of the spirit. Around 10am is when the bible study begins. Either Chad or Maggie will open reading out of the bible in both English and Spanish. After reading they try to pull together the meaning of what is being said in the passage. Then the floor is open for anyone to talk about the passage, and they are never shy about how they feel. I have been through many bible studies in my time and have never enjoyed them like I do at Mercy. The responses from the people are incredible, not only do they understand what is being said, they usually connect it with a story from their lives. What a blessing it is to hear these people open up and let the world see who they really are. After bible study come the activity for the day. Mercy offers:

• Art classes(the drawing on the top was made in the art class) where people can draw, paint, or craft
• Writing Classes- Jeremy, a PhD writing student at Georgia State works with the community and they publish the Atlanta Outlook each month. The Atlanta Outlook is written 100% by the homeless community and the writers sell the papers for $1 and keep the profit they collect.
• Investigative Reporting- Cat, a full time reporter comes in on Thursday to teach members of the Atlanta Outlook team to how to become a good investigative reporter for articles in the Atlanta Outlook.
• Music Class- This is what I help with on Thursdays. We bring out the guitars and drums and have an old fashion jam session playing different kind of songs. Chad also plays the guitar but does most of the singing aswell!

Playing the Tambourine at Mercy

At 12:30 we pack up sandwiches, fresh hot homemade soup prepared by Chef Jesus, water, and sometimes fruit and head for the streets. We stop at two different locations on Ponce de Leon Ave and pass out the food . This is a special time to connect with people that were not able to make it to Mercy. It is very good to know that all the folks we serve were able to have a healthy and fresh lunch.

Mercy has become a very special place for me here in Atlanta. I look forward to my visit each week. I am excited to see what else I am able to learn from Mercy this year.

The other week DOOR hosted a fundraiser and had a door competition where the guests at the event voted on which door they thought was the best. Pictured below in the door that Mercy painted and it won 1st place!

I Promise To Get Better!!

Hello All,

I want to start by apologizing to all the readers of my blog for not posting in over a month. I really do appreciate the amount of readers and support I have received from my blog entries. I miss sharing my experiences here in Atlanta. I posted in an earlier entry that I wanted my journey throughout this year not just to be my own but shared with all. So far I have not been keeping to my side of the promise. So as this Advent season begins I want to make a promise, I promise to post a new blog entry each and every week until we have all caught up. The start to this year has been amazing and I am very excited to share!

I have been training for a half marathon for about two months now and it has been going great. This thanksgiving I ran in the 15K Turkey Trot in Tallahassee in 1 hour and 14 minuets averaging a little under 8 minuet miles. Check back very soon for the start of the new blog entries!

Here is a picture of me running the last stretch of the 15K!

I Am Troy Davis

  

 The State of Georgia executed Troy Davis September 21, 2011. There are many different sides you can take when it comes to the death penalty. I personally will never look at the death penalty in the same way after the events of last month. This blog is not for me to express my personal views on the politics of the situation but I would like express some feelings. On Tuesday night one night before the scheduled execution all of the housemates including myself went to the steps of the Georgia Capital to join 500+ people to protest the killing. This was the first protest that I had ever been a part of and what an experience it was. We chanted, held signs high in the Georgia sky, listened to speakers (including the head of the NAACP) as cars passed and honked their horns to show support. The crowd represented people of all races, ages, social class, and sex all coming together as one voice. That night we all cried out pleading justice for a man that was about to be killed by the State. With all the energy in the crowd and across the globe it felt that this was the start of something new.

Standing on the steps of the State Capital

                September 21, 2011 the night of Troy Davis execution. Again as a house we all went down to the steps of the Capital to oppose the execution. The night was also a vigil to remember the life of Troy Davis and others who were executed by the State of Georgia. The vigil was lead by Ed Loring who is the director of the Open Door Community in Atlanta. The execution was scheduled for 7:00pm and right before the scheduled time we learned that his lawyers had put in a last minute appeal to the United States Supreme Court. At this point there was a lot of hope in the crowd and we continued to show our support for Troy with songs and chants. Unfortunately the appeal did not hold up and Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection around 11pm. Participating in the events was very powerful to me and has given me a new perspective on some government policies. Is it ever right to kill a person?

Protesting at the Capital, picture was in the paper (If you look hard you can see me in the back left of the picture)

Welcome To Atlanta!

Hello again everyone! I want to apologize for the length in between my posts. I have heard from different sources that people are waiting for a new post, so here goes. I am now settled in the Grant Park area of Atlanta living with six other housemates. In the “Grant Park House” other than myself live John, Emily and Leslie who are also YAV’s and Alan, Greg and Ed who are local Atlanta Dwellers.  The address here is:

 683 Grant St. Atlanta, GA 30315

Here is a picture of the Grant Park House:

I am always excited to get mail! Today I finished up my third week working at the Central Outreach & Advocacy Center (OAC) which is part of Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta. Here is a link which will direct you to the OAC newsletter in which I was introduced:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-Central-OAC.html?soid=1101042538182&aid=ss6DEwaB8v8

 I absolutely love working at the OAC with all it has to offer. The OAC is a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of assisting the homeless population in Atlanta. Each morning (Monday-Friday) from 9:00am to 12:30pm we provide our guests with many different services. The most common being helping our guest get the needed paper work to get a valid Georgia ID. This usually means helping fill out a birth certificate application from the state in which they were born, and they come from all over! When they have the documents needed we provide the guest with an ID voucher to use free of charge at the Downtown DMV and they are able to get proper identification. What has already been very frustrating even in this short period of time working is how difficult the DMV makes it to recieve the ID. It is against the law not to have proper ID but the state makes it so hard for people such as our guest to obtain them. At the OAC we also help out our guests with clothing, food, shelter, and medical vouchers as well as reading glasses, homeless verification letters, snacks, and local transportation. Also other agencies come in on certain days to assist with food stamp assistance, SSI/SSDI application help, VA help, and insurance signup. So what I do each day at the OAC is work one on one with our guests. So to try and paint the picture for you, each morning the guest’s line up starting very early at the bottom of the stairs at our door and at 9:00am we let them in. They then wait to check in at the front desk which is usually run by one of the volunteers. After checking in they sit and wait in our waiting room until one of the Outreach Counselors (this is what I am) can assist them. I then call the guest back and go through and fill out about three pages of paperwork. When the paperwork is finished I try my best to assist the guest in any way that can be of assistance. You might be saying “that does not sound very interesting at all” and from the outside looking in I thought the exact same thing. Kimberly Parker who is the director of the OAC asked me after the first week, “what do you want to get out of this year working at the OAC?” I explained to her that not only do I want to help our guests get what they need from our center which might be an ID or a clothing voucher, but I want to connect to each and every guest on a personal level. I explained, if I make it only about giving our guest a tangible item then I am not doing all I can, and in return will not get anything back. So if I can be the only person that day that does not see the guest as a “homeless person” but as a child of God then I am giving something much more meaningful than a voucher. So I take that attitude into each and every encounter I have with my guests and 9 times out of 10 the response is a positive one. Each person I see has a different story and all ended up at the OAC for a different reason. Some are one step away from conquering homelessness and some have just begun. Some guests I have talked to are 17 years of age while other are nearing 70. Each and every day my guests tell me thier stories and I tell them mine. It is such a powerful experience to see how the guest walks into the office and then how they walk out. I have spent 5 minutes with some guests while other times I have almost spent 2 hours. Sometimes when a guest has left my office I have to take a second to put my thoughts back together because I feel like they have helped me more then I helped them. One very meaningful quote from a guest was “People everyday walk by like we are invisible, but then call themselves Christians. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus was sitting out in the waiting room this second.” They were right on with the quote, I bet you we have all walked right by Jesus and failed to even realize he existed. I certainly know that I have done that many times before. I will leave you with that today, but think about it harder the next time you encounter a homeless person, you never know where you will see the face of Jesus.

On a brighter note.. If you have not yet become a member of my blog please do so. If you already have a Gmail account all you have to do is join. If not it will only take a second to subscribe to the blog, it will help you follow me this year. Also please comment on my posts with any questions, comments, prayers, or just general information. I do want to thank everyone for all the positive feedback so far, it really does mean a lot. I miss you all and stay tuned for my next blog post where I will share my experiences about the week leading up to and the execution night of Troy Davis here in Atlanta. 

Thanks,

Thomas

Commissioning Service and YAV Orientation

On Sunday August 21, 2011 First Presbyterian Church Tallahassee, Florida commissioned me during the worship service to my year of mission in Atlanta. I have been an active member of First Pres Tallahassee my entire life, including being both baptized and confirmed in the church. My Pastor Brant Copeland invited me to read the scriptures for that Sunday. After I finished the readings and sermon was preached Brant asked me to join him in the front of the church. He shared with the congregation where I was going to serve and what I would be doing throughout my year in Atlanta. Next he asked my parents to come forward for the commissioning prayer and what Brant did next turned out to be very powerful. Brant asked any member of the church who had been connected in any way to my spiritual learning to come forward as well. Almost half the church stood up, all my old Sunday school teachers, confirmation class leaders, middle and high school youth advisers coming to lay hands on me. This is the point when it hit me that I was about to embark on something special and I knew that I was not going into this year alone. My church family has always been a big part of my life, and to have all the hands of people who have not only loved me but shaped me in God’s image was an indescribable feeling. It was in the moment that each and every member of the congregation, both living and dead showed how they lived out the promise made to me during my baptism. It was a perfect way to end my time in Tallahassee and head out into my year of service.

On Monday August 22, 2011 a day after my commissioning service I jumped on a plane and headed for Stony Point, New York for YAV orientation. There I joined 70 other young adults who were soon to be serving all around the globe! During the week we were all exposed and asked to think about a lot of different experiences and situations. Some examples of classes/meetings we had were: Critical Cultural Competency, Self-Care, What makes you Tick?, Globalization, as well as safety and housing talks. In the beginning of the week we were separated into small groups. Throughout the week we got together to discuss and discern any thoughts or questions we were feeling. Each night we would all gather for a small worship service know as vespers to sing, hear stories, and pray. One part of the vespers that really stuck with me was a couple verses of Psalm 139 that was turned into a song:

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there you hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

It was one afternoon while sitting on a dock, looking over a lake surrounded by mountains that something clicked inside of me that I had made the right decision. At this point in time my decision to leave the hotel business was still very fresh and I was still unclear if I had made the right choice. On that day while sitting on the lake with Psalm 139 playing in my head everything just felt right. This feeling is something hard to explain but was a very special moment as I was discerning my decision. During the week of orientation I was lucky enough to meet some very great and interesting people.  It was in the laughter but also the deeper conversations with these people that helped prepare me for the unknown. It is very refreshing to know that these 70 young adults that I now call friends are representing a great cause all across that globe. So to all the fellow YAV’s reading this I wish you all the best of luck!   

Welcome To My Blog! Some Background Information..

Welcome to my new blog! Throughout this year as a YAV I will keep you updated on the experiences I have serving God here in Atlanta. This being my first post we have a lot to catch up on, I hope you enjoy!

To start I want to give some back ground information on how I got to this point in my life. I graduated from Florida State University in December of 2010 with a degree in Hospitality Administration which is part of the College of Business. I was very fortunate to be offered a position as a Corporate Management Trainee offered by the Hyatt Hotels Corporate office. I accepted the position, packed all my belonging and moved to Sarasota, Florida where I worked at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The Hyatt in Sarasota is a four diamond property located on the Sarasota Bay. During my training I worked in every department the hotel had to offer. The last two months of my program I was one of the Front Office Assistant Managers. About here you are asking yourself Thomas why did you become a YAV? When the five months of my training ended certain circumstances occurred and I knew that my time in the hotel industry needed a break. While in college I worked as the Christian Education Assistant at First Presbyterian Church Tallahassee. My main focus was working with the high school youth group as well as other programming for the church. I always thought that working in the ministry would be something that I could do after college but never put much thought into it. So after my program ended at the Hyatt I called the YAV office in Louisville, Kentucky just to inquire information about becoming a YAV the next year. For those who do not know, the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) is a program funded through the Presbyterian Church USA. To my surprise I was informed that there were still four sites that were taking applications. The catch was I had only a couple of weeks to finish all the paper work that most of the other applicants had months to complete. With the help of Christy Williams, Brant Copeland, Chris Sullivan, and Essie Buxton I got all the paper work completed. The next step was deciding where I would want to spend my year and then apply with the site coordinator. I narrowed my choice down to Chicago and Atlanta.  After my interviews with both sites I felt like Atlanta was where I was called to go.  Officially on August 10 about a month ago from today I accepted my position with Atlanta. All I had left to do was move all my things from Sarasota to Tallahassee from my third floor apartment. Without the hard work and dedication from my great friend Patrick Manderfield I would have never been able to do it all especially move my incredibly heavy couch down the stairs! So I want to thank Pat again for all he did to help me move! With all the paperwork finished and the moving complete the next step to becoming a YAV was orientation in Stony Point, New York!