South Bend Work Camp Reflections

Work camp 2016 South Bend Indiana

By Beth Cage

Four 12-13 year old girls and two adult advisors went from the Northern Plains District to serve in the South Bend, Indiana area for a the junior high aged work camp. There were three kids from the Prince of Peace Church in South Bend that also were at the work camp.  These three had all done the same work camp the previous year.  We worked at the Center for the Homeless that houses individuals for up to 2 years at a time.  There are mothers with kids, single men and single women who live there.  We weeded the garden and planted sunflowers.  Then we had lunch with folks who live there.  We got to wrap birthday presents for the kids who live there, which was fun and age appropriate for Jr. high kids.  After that we were able to listen to two persons who were graduating from the recovery program tell their stories of how they became homeless.   This was hard because when you hear about someone’s pain and trouble, you feel sympathetic to their situation and want to hug them and say it will all work out, but that is what they are learning through the classes that they teach at the center.

The next day we worked at a plot of ground called the Unity Garden.  It is a garden that has no fences or fees.  Anyone can come and pick vegetables or fruit.   We mulched the paths and planted flowers.  The sugar peas were ready and so we picked some and took them back to cook for our supper.  

After that we went to the food bank to work with the food distribution.  I was called to work at the checkout and got to help folks box up their selections. Some of the kids worked in the produce section, looking over the donated produce to see if it was still good and stocking shelves. The customers were allowed to take as much produce (fresh fruits and veggies) as they wanted.  There was a 20-40 can limit on canned goods.  One frozen meat, and they had a huge donation of ice cream and they each got a pack of 8 cartons of Hagen Daz.  It was interesting to see what folks chose.  They all were thankful and expressed appreciation for the food pantry.  It made me wonder if this was the main staple that would feed them for the next few weeks.

For our fun day, we went to Lake Michigan and climbed the sand dunes and splashed in the lake.   The water was cold.  We also went to see a community theater production of Aladdin.  Overall, I think the work camp brought to our attention that there are a lot of people in the world who are looking for ways to get by, and if you are in that situation, there are a lot ways to connect and get help.