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Changing Lives on Thursday

 We started out interviewing the men at 7 in morning. Me and Emily interviewed a gentleman who was from Cuba, he is in the process of getting an ID. We spent about an hour and a half with him. He had very inspirational words to say to us.
"Education is the key to freedom, when you have education no one can fool you" - he praised us for pursing an education, in which  he believes that we can eventually change the world. 
"Anything you want to accomplish begins today" -he applied this to his situation and expressed these words of advice to us as well.
We left the FMC and toured the US Capital building, which was a every different atmosphere then the FMC. On our way to the Capital Building we did another outreach run. Through the experience I was able to gain through the FMC I found that it was easy to connect with the homeless during our outreach runs. 
On Friday we walked to Union Station and we ran into a gentleman who recognized us because we had talked to him at the FMC this week. He was able to introduce us to his wife, who we had heard a lot about. It is amazing was how much we made an impact on his life in just one week. His wife had nothing but good things to say about us, and  expressed that we were truly making an impact. 
This week overall changed my heart and my outlook on how I view the homeless. When returning to Gannon I am excited to share my experience and now I know that just by saying hello and starting a conversation will impact someone's life.
No one should feel like they are not important or can't be seen. Everyone is equal and the homeless are as important as you and me. 

-Lauren Hanna


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