2 Days in

We are about halfway through our week at Lasallian Youth Assembly.  The past two days were devoted to service.  The 80 or so students are serving at 8 sites this week - 4 in Buffalo and 4 in Niagara Falls.  The work is varied, from nursing home, to soup kitchens, to working with children, etc. If I recall correctly, Trinity students are working at the nursing home, the food pantry, two at two different soup kitchens, a summer program for children, and another at a place that collects sandals from a Niagara Falls attraction and cleans them and donates them.

Each evening there are presentations.  Last night we heard about some Lasallian colleges and then a insightful presentation on the work the Lasallians are doing in helping to rebuild Haiti.  They have decided to open a school in the north and try to help rebuild through education and offering a place where volunteers can stay when they come down to help.  This is another example of why we are looking to rejoin the Lasallian world.  We could never organize a trip to Haiti, for example, on our own but if we were a Lasallian school we could possibly tap right into that.  As they were describing their plan, Kasie Bourque '14 kept turning around and had that "We will do this" look.

Tonight we heard a very moving presentation by a group of lay missionaries who quit their jobs 18 years ago to open an organization called St. Luke's Mission of Mercy - a group that provides works of mercy to Buffalo's neediest people.  In the process they've opened a meal center, a school, a clothing store, and countless other things.  They also have a musical group and they sang for us and told us their stories.  Two of the singers were 18 year old girls who have amazing voices.   I must admit that it got a little dusty in there listening to their stories and their voices.

Tomorrow is our last day of service.  After we finish our work at the Food Bank of Western New York, Bro. Ed and I are going to take our group out for some buffalo wings.  They didn't have to twist my arm!