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After a great last day we're home!

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Saturday was quite a day! We began bright and early, arriving at our first work site at 6:45! We were helping organize a charity fundraising race in honor of Tywanza Sanders, one of the victims of the Mother Immanuel AME Church shooting in 2015. Ever since, his family and friends have raised money to support scholarships for teens and artists in his name. It was a big crowd, with some 75 volunteers and and more than 400 racers. One fun twist to this 5K race was that halfway through, competitors had to eat a dozen Krispy Cream donuts before finishing the race. We did everything from holding the starting banner to handing out donuts and directing traffic.  Handing out race t-shirts Once the race was over, we headed to Fort Moultrie, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired upon Fort Sumter. Since today was the 163rd anniversary of that event, the fort was free to enter and there were reenactors and lots of interesting displays. The fort was also right next to the beach, so we go
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A Day of Work and Learning Together

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Today was a super eventful day! We’re all pooped over here, but it was totally worth it. We started off our day at a beautiful farm helping Cece and Chris harvest their turnips. We spent a couple hours in the muddy fields and although there were a lot of fire ant hills we pushed through! It was really cool being able to work with everyone on the trip as a team. We ended up collecting 1,665 pounds of turnips! That was the biggest harvest of the year. All the food we gathered was donated to a local church for distribution.  Showing off our turnip haul  Pretty good for a first time turnip picker  After our experience on the farm we headed to McLeod Plantation for a tour with our wonderful tour guide named Toby. She was an amazing woman who educated us on the history of the plantation and Charleston. Unlike other plantation tours focused on the life of wealthy plantation owners, this tour told the story of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the land. It was a very impactful tour f
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A Little Rain Can't Stop this Train

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Our Thursday here in Charleston started on a bit of an ominous  note, as many of us awoke to the sounds of a flash flood alert on our phones. We all expected the rain today but we were surprised by just how quickly it floods in Charleston. Despite the rain we all geared up, ate breakfast and headed downtown for some free time to walk around the city. When we arrived spirits were high, and people grouped up to explore the shops on the extravagant Kings Street. We all endured the rain to experience the beauty of Charleston and the many unique shops, including an excellent record store in which I got to talk some to the owner about music!   The Poogan's Porch Prophets found their namesake restaurant downtown. After our downtown adventures we returned to the Presbytery to eat lunch and prepare for our next worksites. Today we were presented with three different options for work sites, I chose, along with 9 other mission trippers to make a trip to Walmart and buy 400 dollars worth of gr
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Working hard and playing hard

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Helllloooooo mission trip followers (and parents). Today was another great day for many. We play lots of cards during down time The Poogan's Porch Pirates (including Ella and Anna who are writing this update) ventured into the unknown depths of farming. In other words, we picked the weeds in a field of carrots. This work was to help an organization called Fields to Families which donates their extra crops to people in need. P.S. we do not recommend eating the carrots straight from the ground like Nolan did.  Yum! Multiple groups participated in the Blessing Box challenge today. This included being given a small amount of money, ranging from 6-10 dollars, and walking to the nearest grocery store to try and buy enough food to provide a meal for our family. This was a very difficult task, and it educated us a lot on how difficult it is to not only afford food but also to find ways to get it. We learned about the effects of gentrification, specifically on how it affects low income fami
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A busy Tuesday!

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Today was our second day of service in Charleston. There were a variety of projects worked on today.  Poogan's Porch Prophets preparing meals The Poogan’s Porch Prophets helped in the soup kitchen in the morning serving about 110 meals and helping organize the stock rooms. Then they went to the beach to count dolphins in the afternoon as part of an ecological program for the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network. Volunteers at Lowcountry Original Relief The Sassy Saints had a special project where they were given a budget of $10 and had to find a way to the local grocery store and create a meal that could feed 7 people. It was hard! Later, they went to the Lowcountry Orphan Relief to sort clothing donations and put together bags of clothes and necessities that would go to kids who recently had to leave their homes.  Sorting clothing at Closet of Hope The Charleston Chews did more donation sorting at a place called Closet of Hope. All the clothes go to kids in the foster care system (alm
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First Day Fun

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Hey guys! We’re back with another fun day full of adventures! Members of the Charleston Chews prep meals  All of our groups got busy at work this morning. We departed from the church around 9:15 after group meetings. The Poogan's Porch Prophets sorted stuffed animals and put them into bags for children in foster care. One stuffed animal gets put into a bag full of clothes and giving to children that need them. As we sorted of course we had to take a look at the eclipse! Along with the Poogan's Porch Prophets sorting stuffed animals they also went for a walk around Charleston learning about all the rich history! Poogan's Porch Prophets at their worksite  The Sassy Saints spent the morning sorting through clothing and other donations that will get packed and sent to children in need and walked historic downtown Charleston in the afternoon.  The Charleston Chews went to a soup kitchen where they served homeless and hungry neighbors. They also went on a beach cleanup/dolphin w
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We've arrived safely!

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Hey everyone, welcome back to the blog! Pastor Kate commissions the group at worship  Today was a long day. We started off at church, and we were commissioned by the whole congregation. Then we gathered in the youth room and made lunches for our trip. Before leaving, we of course, took a large group photo by the front of the church.  We then all got into cars and headed to the airport. Unfortunately, it took a while to check our luggage. We all thankfully made it through security after a long wait.  Our flight was a bit bumpy, but we made it! We got our rental cars and  headed to the church we are staying at. Getting ready to depart   After unpacking, we all gathered for dinner. We ate pizza and garlic bread. It was so delicious!  After dinner, we met with Janie, the host for the week! She informed us about all the amazing worksites and what our week will look like. We then did a few group activities that made us think about how we view our lives and what the lives down here look like
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