Today was our first visit to The Gathering (and our first visit to their new home, located at 1300 W. Fond du Lac Avenue).  The more things change, the more they stay the same!  We are in a completely new building, with a new population attending the breakfast, but still similar activities and the same smiles.

Today, a majority of our students arrived bright and early at 7:00 am.  When there, we worked on taking donations (remember, all the food The Gathering serves is donated) and packaging them for guests to take with them after their meal.  From there, we served food on the line (today was leftover chicken, potatoes, corn, fruit, and desserts).  Lastly, we worked on sweeping and mopping the entire facility (I was urged by the students not to take photos of them cleaning…in fear their parents would read this and see they are indeed capable of cleaning up after themselves).

It was awesome today to see them all working together.  Additionally, many of our students paired up with a member of Marquette’s volunteer organization, which was nice to get another perspective.

We helped serve 75 meals today (about half of our normal number, but The Gathering did just move two weeks ago so still many people are working on finding the location).  Many of the guests live in the low-income housing projects in the nearby neighborhood so it was nice to spend time with the neighbors.  Today, we did our part to make the world a better place and I hope this inspires you to do the same.

It was an amazing success!  The kids had an amazing time, the weather held up (a bit chilly, but only if you are standing), and we achieved our goal of helping to make the world a better place (by removing trash from our adopted section of the river).  We found an amazing assortment of items, ranging from bike rims to full on truck tires to leather jackets and more.  We even found a perfectly good fork (which will be cleaned off and re-purposed; likely in my room).  We found some items for our Sukkah as well, as we plan on using two bricks we found, as well as a cart (not sure the purpose yet, but some of the student insist they have a plan).

At the end of the day, the students even played a game (on the playground we cleaned up as well).  It was amazing to see them ALL included and playing respectfully!

Who: 7th graders, Adon Kaufman, Gev. Jirovetz. If you are interested in participating with us, please let me know (all are welcome). Additionally, if you are available to drive, you would certainly be welcome.

What: We will participate in a river clean up; cleaning the section of the Milwaukee River Watershed system we have adopted. We are responsible for cleaning and maintaining this section of the river. Students will safely remove trash from the river and river banks (wearing gloves and using grabbers we will supply).  Additionally, students will record the amount and type of trash removed from the river so as to provide the Adopt-A-River organization with data concerning the health of our river. Students are not expected to enter the water.  Please be sure to have your child wear clothes that can get dirty, as well as older shoes (it will be muddy). We will be going, rain or shine (unless there is thunder and lightning).

Where: Meaux Park (in Lincoln Creek Parkway, on the corner of Green Bay and Villard).

When: On Friday, September 6, we will leave school at approximately 12:50 pm and begin our cleanup process in earnest once we arrive. We will return to school by 3:20 pm.

Why: This activity is to live our our mission of Tikkun Olam, or making the world a better place.

Please let me know if you would like to participate or have any questions/concerns about this event.