Days 9, 10 & 11 - Meetings and Greetings

After our baseline on Wednesday we were put into groups depending on our physical fitness. I am in the "Rivercats 2" group, which is second only to "Rivercats 1" based on my mile time. Apparently the push-up and sit-up portion doesn't determine your group because we all do those exercises together.

Anyways, on Friday morning we ran 2.5 miles at about an 8 minute mile pace, which sucked because I was feeling sick with a sore throat and fever. Apparently the exercise (and voluminous amounts of sleep) helped me recover, because I'm fine now.

Today we met the mayor of Sacramento and listened to some speeches about volunteering and homelessness in Sacramento. Then we all broke into our pods and went to various homeless-related projects around the area. Ours involved picking fruit in an abandoned orchard for the homeless shelter to use.

So far the program as a whole has been absolutely fantastic. I've met people from pretty much every state and made friends in just a short week and a half that are closer than friends I've had for years (not you). Everyone here is energetic and excited to do something to change the way things are. We're all idealists and we're all committed to putting in hard work to help where we're needed. We realize that we won't change the world all by ourselves, and that we may not be the one to turn a life around, or save a life. Today we heard a speech from a man that was homeless for 11 years before he turned his life around. He came from a middle-class family, college-bound, not what you think of when you imagine a homeless person. He told us about how he became addicted to drugs and couldn't hold a job, and how he eventually ended up homeless, stuck in Sacramento. He said something during his speech that really drove home our purpose. He said "the people you meet may not always be grateful to you, they may not always be thankful for your help, but I'll tell you that every time someone gave me a meal, every time somebody handed me a blanket or a warm handshake, it gave me that chance to turn my life around. It gave me one more day alive, until I was at a point to change. I wasn't always ready to change, and you probably won't be the person to save someone. But you're giving them a chance to do so when they are ready." We're not the doctor that saves the life ultimately, but we're the people that give the CPR that keeps blood flowing through the heart. We're the people that keep the hope and the chance for redemption alive. And when I say we, I mean all of us, and that includes you.

-J