Day four was a satisfying day of work, kids club and monuments. Our work crews pushed through to finish painting all four walls of the gym. Pictures don't do justice at at how much better it looks now. Before the current leadership came to this branch of the Salvation Army, the gym had fallen into disuse and disrepair. Captain Pradeep came and had a vision to restore it as a source of income through rentals and an after-school place for the neighborhood. He received a grant to install 6 new air-conditioning units and is seeking funding for a new floor. Our painting covered up water damage and many years of scrapes and peeling. Tuesday night the rain came in a broken window so we had to rig up a cardboard fix.
Sarah led a small detail of helpers to finish weeding the planted area in front of the building. She gave everyone lessons on how edible each weed was, so we had a wonderful salad that night (sans the weeds). Our kids clubs teams once again made friends with a smaller, but wonderful group of children.
After a fun dinner that celebrated Marcello's acceptance into the National Jazz Band as percussionist (ice cream and Moon Pies), we headed into DC for our monument at night tour. It was a perfect 75 degree evening. We started at the Jefferson Memorial with the sun setting over the Tidal Basin. We walked around to FDR and MLK, then we hopped back in the van to get to the amazing Lincoln Memorial. They all seemed to remember Forest Gump speaking from the steps more than MLK. What does that say about this generation? We ended the evening by walking through the somber Viet Nam Memorial on the way back to the van.
It was a late evening, which made for a tired morning. We awoke to our last full day of work. One group already left for the. The rest of us leave a DC park to feed the homeless. Then it's more kids club and our last evening with our Experience Mission Team.
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