Youth Mission Week 1 2022

Day One

Our first day may have been the toughest work-wise, as we ascended up McPherson Park to help the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department tackle some overgrowth problems. Two employees from the department assisted our group as we cleared English Ivy that had taken over a section of the park. Several youth also scoured the park for trash to help beautify the grounds.

The temperature pushed upwards of 95, but the group worked hard for 3 hours until a nice area was completely cleared. The park employee stated that this was a huge help because now more native plants and flowers have room to grow and blossom.

Day Two

Day two had us at Greenville Free Medical Clinic, a medical office that provides free medical services to the community. We split up in groups with one handful of youth once again outside tackling the overgrowth in the parking lot area. Another group helped organize old files, while another created dental hygiene bags for the patients.

The clinic staff was very appreciate of all the work we did, as they are mostly volunteers and simply do not have the time for some of these type tasks.

Day Three

Our third day saw us staying on the Christ Church Campus for Literacy Day. We hundreds of books into various boxes for day cares and schools around the county to receive. The groups also rotated into a room where they build neighborhood libraries (those small house-looking libraries you may have seen around town or in your neighborhood). A highlight after building was complete was for each of the youth who worked on that library got to sign the back. The thought of one day coming across that particular library and seeing their name on the back was exciting.

Day Four

Day four was lots of hard work at Harvest Hope. The employees at Harvest Hope had our group arranged in an assembly line where we packed boxes with specific foods that were to be distributed to seniors around the 5 counties they serve. After three hours of non-stop work, we are proud to say that we made 551 boxes. Workers at HH said that our box per hour rate was one of the fastest they had seen!

Day Five

On our final day, we spend the morning at Project Host. Much of the morning was spend making over 300 lunches and bagging them up for distribution to those in need around the city. We then splint into groups where some youth helped weed the beautiful garden in the back of the building, while others distributed hygiene packs to some of the clients who had come in for a hot meal.

This day seemed to really make an impression on our group as they got to see the faces of the people they were helping and interact with them on a personal level. Many said how impactful it was to actually see their fellow Greenvillians that they were helping feed. It was a wonderful end to an incredible week.