Over spring break, this past week, our high school students had the opportunity to serve others. They loaded up the vans with four of our house parents, and traveled to Chicago. Throughout the week they served at Pacific Garden Mission, a ministry that serves the homeless in the downtown Chicago area. They helped by making hundreds of beds, serving hundreds of lunches, and resetting the dining room for dinner each day. The mission does not only function as overnight housing for guest, they also have long-term programs that help people get back on their feet. These programs include intense Bible studying and teaching basic life skills to those in the program. The kids worked each day with men who are in the New Life program. These men oversee almost all the functions of the mission and supervised our group during our time there.

Each day we began with a devotion, led by the students. As the week went on, all of the students expressed how impressed they were with the men we were working with. Most of them shared how fortunate they felt to have a place like Show-Me that has stepped in to help take care of their needs. They realized that with out Show-Me their life could have taken a very different path, probably not much different from many of the men we encountered. Through serving these men, women and children the kids had the chance to experience something they will remember for quite sometime. We hope to give our kids many more opportunities like this in the future.