Week 7: St. Joseph's & St. Gabriel's- Thursday

Thursdays at Agape are always celebration days, so we all take a break from manual labor. 

Today was all about fun. My favorite part of the day was more towards the end, when we went to the Sunrise worker's homes. We all had a great time hanging out with the kids. What I got most out of the whole week were the friendships formed at Sunrise where language barriers didn't matter. Ages varied, but we all found a way to have a great time, whether it was painting each other's nails or playing dodge ball. Through all of the small moments and gestures, anyone could see that we were a one of a kind family.

-Elise Bernard

Week 7: St. Joseph's & St. Gabriel's- Wednesday

Today we held a food bank for the local migrant workers. We started back at the church loading up food and school supplies for the families. Once we arrived at our destination, we unloaded the supplies and began to set up. We had many different jobs including bagging flour, sugar, beans, and rice. Many people started a assembly line to put together back packs with school supplies to give to the kids who needed supplies for the up and coming school year. once the families began to arrive we helped them carry boxes to make it easier for them to hold more things. it was a great experience to see how we could all come together to make an amazing outcome of serving others before ourselves. all the families were very grateful to be able to have lots of help for everyone which we were more than happy to provide.   

Alexis and Alexa 

Today was our final food bank of the summer! We served 73 families today! Thank you for your support all summer!

- The Agape Staff

Week 7: St. Joseph's & St. Gabriel's- Tuesday

Today was Migrant Immersion day. The idea was to get a glimpse into the life of migrant farm workers. We split up into two teams, each group going to different farm locations. My team went to Growing Veterans, where we cleared out a planting bed, and planted cabbages and broccoli. Growing Veterans is an organizations that helps veterans coping the struggles of coming back home from war by giving them something to work for. It was a privilege getting to work with these people who have helped so many get back on their feet.--Bianca

Later Today, we did a dinner challenge. The thought behind it  was that after our day of work we had to feed our families with a meal. So we all went to the grocery store and split into groups of 3-6 people. Than we got scenarois about how our work day couldve gone end how much money we made. My group of three people had three dollars and seventy five cents. It most defiently wasnt easy. We made pasta and flaky biscuits. It wasnt the best meal of all time, but it really did show us how migrants get paid and how it really is hard for them to feed their families. Today was very equisite and we learned a lot. - Sarah G. 

Week 7: St. Joseph's & St. Gabriel's- Monday

Today half of us put on red bands to symbolize a sort of segregation aspect. The people with red bands were treated worse than those without wrist bands. Those without wrist bands did a picture scavenger hunt and played some games. Meanwhile, those with red wrist bands made our lunch and cleaned the kitchen. To be completely honest, I didn't even notice the difference until halfway through lunch. It showed how some people (me in this case) can be oblivious to how others around us are being treated. After lunch, we went to the migrant camp. I got to meet tons of adorable children who enjoyed our company. One child in particular caught my eye. His name is Domingo. He is three years old and very shy. He mostly just stood in the corner watching others hang out. I tried to get him to open up and talk to us, but he was too shy. Although when we left, he gave me a big hug. So, obviously I did something right. That moment was the highlight of my day and I can't wait to visit him again. When we finished at the camp, we went to a local Haggen and asked for item donations. There were a lot of people who said "no", "no thank you", or just ignored us altogether. But it was so nice to see a lot of people give so generously to us. 

                                                                                                               ~Kat and Jeremy

Thank you for your donations today! Check back Wednesday to see how many families we serve at our food bank!

-The Agape Staff

Week 7: St. Joseph's & St. Gabriel's- Sunday

Niko N

Today is the first day at the Agape summer camp. Right when we got here we went down to our rooms to get everything set up. Then we all went up to the main room introduced our self with some games and team cheers. After the introductions we went over all the rules. Normal camp stuff. We then ended off with a group prayer. I am enjoying the camp so far and am excited to continue on to help others.

Jacob D.

With the end of the day nearing, I find myself learning more than I had ever expected. With the idea of the suffering that we have heard of and we will soon witness, I find myself praying for the less fortunate. I pray to for my society to know that if our brothers live in fear, our security is no longer fully secure. If our brothers hunger, we cannot eat without guilt. With this a pray for the common idea of a world that all of its inhabitants shall know bread and peace. I pray that the people of Agape will help us know this feeling and help us learn how to aid those who most need it. The people here will show us liberty loving people who are denied freedom, security, or opportunity. With the program for this week, we will learn the troubles of people. We will help the helpless in many ways. The mentality of the people here at Agape is to love those who are not loved. Furthermore, they will help us learn to love those who are not loved. They will also teach us how to live in solidarity so we can get the slightest glimpse into the lives of many who are less fortunate. The program seems to be good and I thank them for this opportunity. 

Week 6: Christ the King Seattle/St. Mathews- Thursday

Today was CELEBRATION day. We woke up at 7:30 tired, 3 boys were left in there sleeping bags and the rest were eating. Later after breakfast we drove to Bellingham church and had a 30 minute mass. After mass we went swimming for 2 hours. Then after swimming we headed to Sunrise for a barbecue to say goodbye to the kids. We had great memories here that we will treasure forever and hope to never forget. 

Week 6: CTK Seattle/St. Mathews- Wednesday

Outline of stuff of us that we did:
Woke
Ate
Jesus'd
Cashed AND carried
Set up
Rapping egges Insert deep things about food bank
Riddles joke
Banter
5/7

     Today began with our usual morning routine. We begrudgingly woke, got dressed, and ate. Unlike the prior mornings this week, today our meal and morning prayer were followed, after a one hour pause, by Mass. Mass was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the day. We enjoyed an hour in solidarity with each other and God, getting to spend a few important quiet moments with Him. After this most needed repose, the day was on! Work, as always, followed our respite. Ryan and I, along with our car group, began with going to cash and carry to collect fresh foodstuffs for the food bank later in the day. After heaving massive bags of potatoes, carrots, and all manner of necessities for a successful thingamajig, we hauled them off to the car, and drove to our next destination- the Food Bank, at last. Piles of donations were strewn out across the trampled grass, and we, unfortunately, had to sort and move them to the semicircle of tables for later distribution. We particularly remember a little boy who gladly gave us a hand out of the kindness of his heart as he waited for food. We finished our preparations by individually wrapping eggs, preparing packets of flower and sugar, and bottling cooking oil. Finally, the bank began. We passed out a variety of commodities with our broken Spanish (I found out that I had been saying "one cereal thing" instead of "you may have one box) and we passed the time during breaks with riddles. A real highlight of the day was seeing the wide smiles of the children's faces as they played with their new toys and ran throughout the grass. Our day ended with closing up, and a real sense of accomplishment. We all agree, this is why we were here.
-Calvin and Ryan


Food Bank Day! Thank you so much for all your donations, and for everyone's hard work! We served 97 families today! We are both excited and sad that next week will be our final food bank for the year, but...we will have back packs!
~The Agape Staff

WE WOKE UP WAY TOO EARLY FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was Migrant Immersion Day. We woke up at 5:00 and went to a farm to pick some berries. Then we received the money that we earned from our pickings and went to Grocery Outlet Bargain Market and bought out dinner with the little money that we got. Life is unfair to the migrant workers. Then we had our first shower of the week at the Y. After that we made our dinner. Then we went and played games with the migrant workers and their children. And today we discovered that Christopher snores. We tortured our ears by listening to Clarissa's rendition of Jacob Satorius's song, Sweatshirt. 

Look at their faces!

Week 6: Christ the King Seattle/ St. Matthew's- Monday

Hello, today we started off by participating in an activity where we step through strings as if they are lasers. After that, the Agape staff separated us into two groups depending on how we did on the previous activity. The people that had trouble with the course had to stay in the kitchen the entire time to prepare lunch for everyone, meanwhile, the people who completed the course easily played a fun picture scavenger hunt. This activity showed us how migrant workers aren't treated the same as everyone else and how it's harder for them. Then, we proceeded to go to the Sunrise camps where we played fun games and did cool crafts with the migrant kids. When we got back, we got a quick snack then went to local grocery stores to collect food for the food bank on Wednesday. It was exhausting but it was really cool to see how much people were willing to give even though they didn't know us or the migrant workers. When we got back we got dinner then we reflected on the day. All in all it was a pretty cool day. See you next time

-Oli, Lauren, and Tanya