Worship Service Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Telephone: (860) 228-3077
Gathered 1748 Meeting House 1838

Youth Group Mission Trip to DC
6/24/05 - 6/26/05

(As with all our photos, click on one for a bigger view)

The mission tip was amazing. We traveled to Washington DC thru a program called YSOP (Youth Service Opportunities Program). YSOP also has a branch in New York City, which is where the Youth went in 2001. John and Lindsey took care of us the whole weekend, but there were two others that spent different nights with us also.

We arrived in DC late Friday afternoon. That evening we served a meal to about 20 homeless (mostly men) that is sponsored by YSOP. The guests arrived around 6 and left around 9. We played cards, hung out, served dinner, and then played and hung out more. That was a much different experience from the soup kitchen we were all familiar with. (The youth serve at the Willimantic Soup Kitchen 3 times a year.) Everyone enjoyed the night.

On Saturday we split into 2 groups to work on 2 different projects sponsored by Elder Buddies. This is an organization that combines lawyers, landlords, and social workers. Their mission is to prevent the eviction of elderly people due to the way they keep their home. One group set off to clean a house for a woman who couldn't care for herself, much less her home. There were roaches everywhere. Some dead and many alive. The other group to assist a clothes hoarder. She couldn't get rid of stuff and couldn't stop getting stuff, either. There were boxes from floor to ceiling. You couldn't even walk into rooms. There was a hallway thru stuff to the room we were tackling. The door could only enough for one person to squeeze in. We cleared out over 50 bags of trash and 16 bags for the Salvation Army. We also worked on other rooms because her inspection was the following week. We cleared off her bed and sheets and a pillow were bought. She was able to sleep in a bed that she hadn't been able to see in 12 years. Both work camps gave pretty cool experiences.

We went touring on Saturday night. So we saw most of the monuments, the White House, etc. We had two tour guides for this. The John, leader of DC's YSOP, and John, who was in training met us after we had dinner at a great brick-oven spot. They became John and backpack-John. Eventually backpack-John became "Remix". They gave us extra little bits of info along the way.

On Sunday morning we served breakfast to about 200 homeless, which is a weekly mission of the Church where we stayed. This meal was more of a production line to get people in and out, so there wasn't as much socializing. Their goal was to feed as many as possible versus the Friday night goal of giving them a night of fun. Both are very important goals, but also very different. For both nights though, it was great to see the guest smile as they were looked in the eye and greeted by their first name as they arrived and left.

(click on a picture for a bigger view!!)

Uh, so those are brownies, right?	Preparing for the Friday night meal	Sarah and Abby - the greeters for the night
Lindsay, Leah, and John (YSOP Leaders)	Some of the crew at Miss Nell's home	Back from the Saturday work
All cleaned up from Miss P's place and ready to go!	Having some great pizza	Some of the crew at the White House
Abby striking a pose	Abby and Kristen at the WWII monument	Sarah at the WWII monument
WWII monument	Joe and Tom try to catch some ZZZs Saturday night.
Group Circle for reflection at the end	John (YSOP leader)