City Week is a transformative local mission trip to Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County. Each summer, St. Martin’s members of all ages gather for a week of day trips to give their time and energy to a community that is often overlooked. Volunteers get to step out of their comfort zones and see that life isn’t always so nice and put together as their own lives.
What we did: our adventures in helpfulness
- Helped organize their warehouse – UGM prepares their resident individuals and families to move out on their own. To give them a leg up, UGM helps to furnish their first new place. As a group, St. Martin’s sorted & organized many bags of clothing, housewares, linens & kitchenware in order to help get UGM program graduates ready to move.
- In the kitchen – we served food, delivering trays & talking with the residents.
This is one of my & my daughters favorite things to do. We love taking the trays out and talking to people. So many of us seldom see these less fortunate souls. We do and we smile and greet them and talk to them. They are always so grateful and gracious for everything we do for them. We always get so many “thank yous” and “God bless yous” and “you don’t know how much this means.” It is a great example to show how you can be grateful for even just a basic need, a hot meal and a smile. – Nicole Johnson
- Activities with children – each afternoon we had time to interact with the children served by UGM. We made jewelry, watched movies, and had a “splash party!” Getting to interact with these children, to show them that they are precious children of God was so amazing.
- Christmas in July – families came by while Summer Santa handed out candy canes and presents. As a group, we helped hand out yummy snacks, drinks, and Hawaiian leis for this festively decorated event!
The take away
When we did our finale wrap-up for the week, we asked everyone about their experience. The overwhelming response from both adults & kids is that they loved getting to step outside of themselves and help other people. Some said it made them grateful for the things they had and let them know they shouldn’t take what they have for granted.
I loved that as a church community people were willing to donate their time to this wonderful outreach project. About 24 people came out on different days to help during this most rewarding week. I am so proud of my daughters, my co-chair Rose Ackley and all the people who donated their time to City week. You made this week amazing! – Nicole Johnson