Thursday – A Time to Celebrate

As our time of service in Bellingham comes to a close we took time to celebrate. This began with taking the girls to the Aquatic Center to some swim time and showers. The real celebration would be a cookout and fun and games with our new friends at one of the migrant camps. Afterward we returned to the parish center for prayer and reflection followed by icecream sundaes and dancing!

Thursday – We Continue to Learn and Pray

On Thursday we continued to learn about the hardships faced by migrants. We watched and discussed the film “Dying to Live: A Migrant’s Journey”(http://dyingtolive.nd.edu/). Afterward we prayed the Stations of the Cross using each station to remind us of an aspect of an immigrant and migrant’s life.

Wednesday – The Food Bank

After shopping at the Cash & Carry, we drove up to Lynden, WA to set up and run the food bank for the migrant workers and their families. We arrived up in Lynden around 11:30 a.m. The food bank was scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. It is always uncertain how many families will be served, although we knew that we would serve less families than usual because the berry season is late.

The girls unloaded the van packed with the food donated on Monday, the bus and van with food purchased at the Cash & Carry, and the food and clothing donated by the Forest Ridge community which was stored in a shed on Monday. By 2:00 p.m. families were in line waiting for us to open. We opened early (2:30) and began serving the waiting families. The girls were amazing in their hard work and effort to provide for the families we served. 56 familes were served.

Wednesday – Cash & Carry

A big thank you to those of you who helped the girls from out-of-state raise money to bring to the Agape Summer Service Project. Your donations helped us buy the following:
- 200 lbs of black beans
- 200 lbs of pinto beans
- 500 lbs of flour
- 280 lbs of canola oil
- 400 lbs of rice
- 250 lbs of potatoes
- 175 lbs of carrots
- 300 lbs of onions
- 150 bunches of cilantro
- 20 lbs of jalapenos
- 90 dozen corn tortillas

Tuesday – Our First Trip Out to the Camps

On Tuesday evening we headed up to two camps where migrant farm worker families live. We went door-to-door handing our flyers announcing the Food Bank for Wednesday.

After we had handed out flyers at both camps, we stayed awhile at the second camp to play with the children.

Tuesday – Meet the Hernandez Family

At the Grocery Outlet the girls received an envelope with their pay for their work on the farm. In the envelope was the following scenario: “You are the Hernandez family. There are 6 people in your family and all of you work. Everyone made $3 for the 4 hours of work you did today. You have $18 between the six of you; however $5 of your money is set aside for gas for the family car. This leaves you $13 for the 6 of you for dinner tonight.”

Members of the Hernandez family are: Caroline A, Erica, Erin, Euxie, Isabella and Molly. They spent $12.23 on their dinner.

Tuesday – Meet the Rodriguez Family

At the Grocery Outlet the girls received an envelope with their pay for their work on the farm. In the envelope was the following scenario: “You are the Rodriguez family. There are 5 people in your family and all of you work. Everyone made $3 for the 4 hours of work you did today. You have $15 between the five of you; however you have come to the United States to pick fruit so you can send money back to your family in Mexico, so you set aside $5 to your savings. That leaves you $10 for the 5 of you for dinner.”

Members of the Rodriguez family are: Emily, Kelly, Laurin, Lilly and Lindsay. They spent $9.99 for their dinner.