Today, we packed up our church bus and van (and an extra van too) and brought a group of 42 teens and leaders to New York City. Our goal was to hand out warm winter clothing as well as free bag lunches. So we met up at 11:00am to assemble sandwiches and to pack over a hundred lunches. We also gathered together all of the clothing that our church collected over the past month. Then just after noon, we loaded everything up and drove to Tompkins Square Park.
Our set up was informal.
We opened up all of the bags and hung the clothing from the fence post.
People then came to pick out what they needed. Popular items are always warm winter coats as well as clean socks. We specifically asked our church family to bring in new packages of men’s socks and so many did. It was so great to see the happiness that those socks brought.
I was especially proud of the teens that came to help this year. They all did whatever was asked and worked hard helping out.
In addition to the clothing, we also gathered groups to go and pass out lunches all throughout the park.
Again, they all did a fantastic job. It’s not the easiest thing to put yourself out there to complete strangers. But they did and ended up passing out all of the lunches within a relatively short time.
Back around the fence, our teens could be spotted helping people find just what they needed.
We gave away so much clothing this year.
All in all…
It was a wonderful afternoon of serving.
We also took in a huge tub of hand knit hats and scarves. Another group walked around the park and passed them out. This sweet boy was so excited about the scarf that he received.
Everyone was delighted to receive such a beautiful gift and it was another special way that we were able to help and serve.
I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make this day a great success. Thanks to everyone who donated clothing. Thanks to the women of Scarves of Many Colors who worked all throughout the year so that we could bring in their beautiful hats and scarves. Thanks to Jeremy and Pastor Jerry (And Mrs. Goss) for being willing to brave New York City traffic to drive us all safely there and back. And finally, thanks to the amazing teens in our youth group who were willing to come and help us serve the city this year.
Laura Herr Photography 