As promised, here is the incredible story of the trip to the mission. So my enterprising and caring sevenths graders organized a book drive and made bookmarks with the third graders to put in each of the books. After weeks of calling back and forth with the mission, it was finally time to board the bus and bring the books over. The students came to school in their service shirts, which the school designed in recognition of the Catholic call to service. The students have to earn these shirts by completing a service project, and are supposed to wear them on all service outings. It will be important to note that these are short sleeved t-shirts.
As we are walking out the door one students asked me if they should bring their coats, I uttered the famous last words..."No, we'll only be on the bus for a minute." So off we go, carrying the books and toys and bookmarks. It was about 38 degrees and raining.
All this time I had assumed that the mission was a homeless outreach, and we had studied homelessness in our service unit, so I was proud of myself for prepping the kids so well. So we get there, and the woman giving us the tour starts by saying that the first rule of the mission is that clients can not be high or drunk when they come. The second is that they are not allowed to make meth in the rooms at the mission. At this point, my less mature students cannot handle this type of information and giggles are beginning to spread through the group. As the tour progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that while the mission is indeed for the homeless, it is mainly for those with addictions. I definitely had not prepared the kids for that.
Then, our tour guide announces about 5 minutes in that the rest of the tour will be taking place outside. The kids shoot me anguished looks and marched outside behind her. For the next 35 minutes we stood in the rain and the cold in nothing but t-shirts. We were also ten minutes late getting back to school and the lady gave them each a soda, which is normally not allowed at school. So by the time we got back, we were drenched, drinking soda, and I had a whole lot of questions to answer from the students and the parents. It was one of those things I just had to laugh off.
All in a day's work, I suppose.
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2 comments:
now that's the kinda story you'd see on a sitcom...
i like how one of the rules was "the clients can't make meth in the rooms in the mission"...they have to go across the street to set up their meth labs...
bet that was a real eye opener for your students...did you have to explain what any of the drugs were to any of the kids??
Oh, Em...
see, you have me trained to check about once a week...and voila!a pile of updates?
I am so sorry for your very bad day. I regularly have an adolescent telling me how horrible I am, it's no fun. I am sorry...
And I'm glad you had fun at the mission! ; ) Now THAT was educational!
wishing you peace...and hey, we're in a month that will END IN JERSEY for you! : )
peace,
k
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