Safe Arrival Back in Erie

Today, May 10th, was a very intriguing and well rounded day, . Usually I help Russel in the Kitchen, but today I was able to serve the men breakfast at the Father McKenna Center. This allowed me to better connect with the men since I am usually behind the scenes whether that be with helping prepare the meals or cleaning the various facilities around the center. Overall, it was a very interesting perspective to see. It was nice to see the men smiling and exuberant whenever I was able to interact with them. Often the simple things allowed them to express this, such as asking the men how their day is going or telling them to have a nice day. After serving at the Father McKenna Center, our group went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of American History by way of the Metro. This was an extremely exciting and strange experience. It was strange in the sense that the Metro was underground and we were able to move at a faster speed because of the lack of traffic. Something that I found interesting while visiting the National History Museum was that schools in the past were run by parents and the community rather it being overseen or funded by the government like we do today. In addition to this, it was interesting to see that many of the schools described within the exhibit has a curriculum that included multiple languages and often required that the teachers be bilingual because of the amount of people within the various communities that came from countries around the world. However, it is sad to see our week coming to an end. This experience has allowed me, as well as a lot of my group members,to have a different outlook on those experiencing homelessness. Ultimately, I believe that this trip has allowed to bring different ideas and perspectives on homelessness back to Erie as well as my own hometown.

Warmly,

Tristan L. Jones