Learning the ropes

Hello all,
As we begin our journey learning all about L'Arche and what all we will be doing with our time at L'Arche, we would like to begin by introducing ourselves.

Hannah Murkens is a Sophomore Occupational Therapy major. She is looking forward to building community bonds with the partners in L'Arche between all of us and also building a very special bond between the members of the L'Arche family.

Sammi Lee is a Sophomore Nursing major. She is looking forward to making new friendshios and building the connections with the people of L'Arche community and everyone who will be on the trip with us and she is very excited to travel.

Mary Margaret Brady is a Freshman Physician Assistant major. She is most excited to meeting all the different people and learning their stories.

Lauren Hanna is a Sophomore occupational therapist major. She is looking forward to learning and creating lasting bonds with the members of the L'Arche community.

Anna Lacy is a Sophomore Occupational Therapist who is looking forward to learning about L'Arche and exper8encing their community.

Amanda Mock who is a co leader who is a Senior Physician Assistant major. Amanda states "After learning more about L'Arche missions and principles, I am excited to experience the communities in person and meet the members!"

Megan Alexander is also our other co leader who is a Sophomore Nursing major. She is most excited to get the opportunity to be in the leadership positing and to allow herself and the group to grow along the way. She is excited to see the doors that will be opened and to form the new bonds with those who help with and live in and among the L'Arche communities and the community partners that help to make this such a successful life for those in need.

Brent Heckman is our faculty accompanier on this trip. At Gannon he is the Director of Campus Ministry, and he also serves as the Resident Campus Minister of North Hall.  He is looking forward to discovering a deeper understanding of human love.

We are all so very excited to start this journey amd see when the road leads us. Thank you all. Family and friends for the support!

L'Arche Log- Day 7

Hello for the last time! I can't believe the week is over. We have had an incredible time here and are devestated that our time is coming to an end. Today was another fabulous day! We spent the morning talking with Karen about our week and experiences at L'Arche. Due to a chance of plans we headed to Gleaners for a tour. Gleaners is a Christian organization that uses donated vegetables that they dry to make soup mixes. These mixes are then sent to various countries around the world for people who have difficulty obtaining food. It was a truly incredible place! Everyone that works there is a volunteer and they have the process down to a science. They are extremely efficient! The manager, Sherry, told us that they make 25,000 servings of soup everyday! Once we were done we drove back to Hamilton for lunch at another wonderful place, 541 Exchange and Eatery. 541 is a volunteer based cafe. Almost all of the people that work there are volunteers (even some core members)! The food and conversation were wonderful! After a trip back to the Day Program for a little shopping, we went to our homes for the afternoon. Nathan and I were lucky enough to celebrate Laurence's birthday again! We decorated Cornerstone and went to Jack Astors for dinner. We had a great time! After dinner it was time to go to a fundraiser L'Arche was having at 541. Megan and I handled the donations at the door while the rest of the group sold drinks and desserts. We were lucky enough to have Paul (who came for music therapy on Wednesday) singing and playing guitar, and violin. There was also a lot of chatting and eating! Many of the core members came and it was sad to say goodbye to some of them who we won't be seeing tomorrow. On the bright side, we raised over $1,000 for L'Arche Hamilton! Due to Jeb's (and my) persistence we were invited back to Cornerstone to watch Inside Out. Thank you aging for following along all week! I have truly enjoyed telling you about our journey. I am so grateful for this experience. Each of the core members and assistants were truly unforgettable and we are thrilled that we had the opportunity to get to know each and every one of them. I feel as though I can't end the week without a Jean Vanier quote. I noticed one on a sign they had up at the cafe tonight that I feel encompasses what we gained from our time at L'Arche. "When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration."

L'Arche Log- Day 6

Hello all, it's Kara! Today was a truly wonderful day! We visited Daybreak,  which is a L'Arche community outside of Toronto. We arrived around 10:15 and were immediately greeted with coffee, which made some of us very happy! After a brief introduction and tour we all divided amongst the facilities at Daybreak. Emily and Nathan were at The Club and worked on crafts with the core members. Anna and Zack helped bake cookies at the Day Program. Megan and Jeb worked in the woodery making wood discs which are sold to educational companies and used in classrooms around the country! Fun fact, Daybreak is the only place in North America that makes this product. Lastly, I was in the craft studio helping with various projects. I was slightly intimidated at first because I am not crafty at all! However, I was immediately welcomed and it did not matter that my skills weren't up to par with the core members. After working hard all day, we met back at 4 to meet with Father George Strohmeyer (one of the founders of L'Arche Erie and retired Chaplin at Gannon) and Elizabeth Buckley. Elizabeth is a former nun who has founded multiple L'Arche communities. Throughout the hour we spent with them we gained a lot of wisdom and inspiration to live out a fulfilling and authentic life. When our hour was up we divided yet again to visit multiple L'Arche homes for dinner. We all felt extremely welcomed and the hospitality was incredible. We only had a limited time at the homes, before we headed back to Hamilton for the evening. We had a great reflection sharing stories about our days. It was a little sad tonight as we realized tomorrow is our last day here. However, we are looking forward to spending our last day at the day program and helping out with a coffee shop fundraiser in the evening. Thank you again for following along with our journey! To end the blog with a quote from Elizabeth, "Are your hands cold? That means you have warm hearts."

L'Arche Log Day 5

Hello lovely readers! This is group member Megan writing to you today. We had a very exciting day here in Hamilton. We were lucky enough to get to spend the afternoon with the Day Program here in L'Arche Hamilton. It was a pleasure to get to spend time with the core members who participate in this program. There are so many creative and talented members of this community. The art they create is beautiful to see. Every Wednesday in the Day Program they hold a group lunch, and we got to be a part of that. We assisted with preparing and setting up for the meal which was a delicious spaghetti dish and salad. Today we also celebrated the upcoming birthday of one of the core members Laurence. She will be turning 73 this Friday. The celebration involved a two layer banana and chocolate cake frosted by our group's very own Anna and Zach. It also involves a very wonderful tradition the keep here in L'Arche Hamilton where a candle is passed around and each person wishes the guest of honor a happy birthday and say some kind words about them. It was a treat to get to be a part of that.

Later in the afternoon we participated in music therapy with a very talented musician named Paul. He was immensely entertaining and engaging. He encouraged the core members to get involved and participate. Seeing how much the core members were enjoying themselves and hearing them sing was truly moving.

From the Day Program we went down the street to Ryerson Church to help clean and set their chapel for upcoming Tazie services. By the time we were done the chapel had been transformed with splashes of orange color all around meant to mimic the look of bright flames as well as other unique decorations. It was amazing to see how different the plain chapel ee started with looked when we were finished.

We then went our separate ways for dinners in our respective Hamilton homes. I went to spend the meal time with the wonderful woman of the Ladies Bungalow. It's always great when I get to see them.

After dinner many members of the L'Arche Hamilton community came together for a weekly evening prayer service. It was a very beautiful and spiritual experience. Our group actually got to participate in the presenting of this weeks gospel message which was Matthew 18: 21-35 which is "The Parable of the Unforgivig Servant". That was a lot of fun. It was really awesome to see the community coming together and know that it's a regular thing for them.

We concluded our evening in the best way possible way back at Sherman house with the assistants and core members. It started off with the resident troublemaker Alice starting a tickle fight with all of us chasing everyone around. That then escalated to a full scale indoor water fight. It was a fun time had by all that resulted in many laughs. It's definitely a memory I'll cherish for years to come.

As always thank you for reading our blog and supporting us while we venture on this journey. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Also don't forget to check back in tomorrow on the latest happens here in Hamilton! Thank you all!

L'Arche Log- Day 4

Hi everyone, it's Kara! Thank you for continuing to follow our blog. Today was a wonderful adventure! Due to the chance of a snowstorm, we headed out right on time to L'Arche Toronto. Emily was a great driver and despite a little bit of traffic we arrived safely. This was slightly frustrating for me as I felt frazzled because we were a little late. Our venue today was slightly different than what we've been used to this week. We were at the L'Arche Toronto Gathering Place. The building was an old church that has been converted to a facility for L'Arche. We were in their multipurpose room which they use for everything from worship to creative arts. After being welcomed immediately, we played a few "get to know you" games. Once acquainted, we did an activity in which we each chose different foam shapes to put in the center of the circle. We then discussed what bigger picture we saw in the shapes. Answers included everything from a shark to a Christmas tree to a city with a fountain. When we finished, we helped set up tables for lunch. I had the chance to talk Kynga and get to know her better. We had a great conversation about food, our heritage, and books. After lunch we watched a short video about one of the L'Arche Toronto homes. It was a beautiful video about Janet and the impact she made on her home and her assistant. We then spoke with John who is a director at L'Arche Toronto. He told us the story of Mel, a lovely gentleman who has left a lasting impression on the L'Arche community. Due to the inclement weather that was headed towards us, we decided it was time for us to head back to Hamilton. However, we couldn't leave Toronto without exploring the city! We stopped in a few shopping malls and browsed for a short time before grabbing a coffee for the car ride back. Because our plans had changed a little bit, we ate dinner out in Hamilton. We found a cool place called Salt Lick Smokehouse. We had a DELICIOUS meal and fabulous conversation! After dinner we came back to Sherman for the evening. We played "Chat Pack" which was a lot of fun. "Chat Pack" is a box of fun questions that range from "What month would you use to describe your personality?" to "What Olympic event would you like to compete in?" After this, we tossed the ball around and even one of the core members, Richard, played with us. It was incredible to see Richard become excited about playing with us. We ended our night with a reflection and discussion about our Love Languages. We are looking forward to spending an entire day tomorrow with L'Arche Hamilton. Despite the weather forecast we are not going to let the snow stop us! We are used to Erie winters after all...

L'arche log- day 3

Hello faithful readers! It's Anna here!! It seems the theme of this trip is adaptibility. So far nothing has been what the group planned on doing, but has been exactly what we have needed. Today we had intended on volunteering at two local charities, but due some miscommunication that did not end up happening. Instead, we learned about the closing of institutions in Canada, ate our lunches with the core members at the day program, and took the grand tour of Hamilton. Our beautiful community partner, Karen, took us to see the hidden treasures of the area. After an adventure involving waterfalls and stone bridges, we were taken to the ultimate coffee-lovers paradise. THE ORIGINAL TIME HORTONS(which has a museum attached to it)!! As a coffee enthusiast, I was like a child in Disney World. We spent a lot of time talking and learning from one another before parting ways to go to the homes we have been spending time in.

Today was filled with a lot of anxiety, uncertainity, willingness to let go of control, and most of all joy. As the student leader, and a self-proclaimed control freak, even a slight deviance of plans sends me into a panic. However, when plans fell apart and we were scrambling to figure out what to do, the place where I found intense comfort was in the craziness of the day program. It was entering into the lives of the core members that I remembered the purpose of this trip. While plans are nice and sometimes necessary that is not where we encounter authenticity. We will not discover what it means to be human through a perfect agenda, but rather embracing the imperfections and allowing them to teach us something. Moving forward, we know that our "plans" may not be flawless, but we know that's okay. In fact, coming to terms with this within ourselves opens the door to healing and allows us to be instruments of healing for others.

L'Arche Log- Day 2

Hey everyone! Nathan here. Today was our first full day here in Hamilton, and it was awesome. After waking up at a leisurely pace, we shared an informal breakfast at the Sherman House (our HQ/base of operations) with the core members and the assistants. Shortly after, we departed for Mass at a local parish named after St. Joseph. One of the core members from the Cornerstone House named Michael, got to be an altar server and he did an awesome job! He said he serves in that capacity every Sunday. I really had a great experience at Mass! I enjoyed the homily the priest gave and the music reminded me of the music at my home church. After Mass, we split up to visit several different homes. Anna and Zack went to Charbonneau, Megan and Emily stayed at Sherman, and Jeb, Kara and I went to Cornerstone. I had a great time at Cornerstone! The house assistants cooked lunch and dinner for us, and the food was amazing! I got to meet four core members: Michael, Charles, Brian and Laurence. Each one of them is beautiful in their own way. We toured their house and their rooms showed each of their personalities so well and in such an expressive way. At about 2:00ish, we went on a spontaneous trip to the Hamilton Bay and walked around awhile before stopping at a cool, hipster cafe and enjoyed some nice beverages with the core members. We returned to the houses, hung out with the core members. I colored a Star Wars coloring book with Brian as we watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a bit. Then after a scrumptious meal, we headed over to the Holton House to celebrate Mary's (one of the core members there) birthday! There was a cake, balloons, and fun fellowship. It was really cool to have almost all of the core members and assistants from the Hamilton houses in one place. And instead of singing the traditional "Happy Birthday", there was a special L'Arche birthday song we sang! We thanked God for Mary, and it was really touching. After the party, we all went our seperate ways. The Gannon crew and I all ended back up at Sherman, where we had a mini jam session and concert, which Alice really enjoyed - she didn't want to go to bed! All in all, it was a busy day spent with great people who I can't wait to get to know more. Peace, and please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

L'Arche Log- Day 1

After leaving Gannon promptly, we headed off to Canada. In the car it was decided that Taylor Swift's 1989 was the soundtrack to start our trip. We made sure to listen to Welcome to New York after we entered New York. To foster a sense of community, we played a celebrity name game for an impressively extended period of time. Jeb got frustrated because Anna kept making him name celebrities that started with "h" and "g". We made it across the border without a hitch! Since we had extra time we decided to stop at Tim Hortons for a snack. It was nice for us to continue to chat and get to know each other better. We arrived at the Sherman house and they immediately welcomed us. We talked and introduced ourselves while we waited for our Chinese food to arrive. One of our favorite moments was reading our fortune cookies at the end of dinner. One of the fortunes alluded to the idea of a smile breaking all language barriers. As some of the core members of the L'Arche home are unable to speak we all connected with this statement. After dinner we gathered in the living room and continued to chat. We discussed all different topics from sports to politics to computer games. Shortly thereafter, some of the core members started going to bed. However, two members Richard and Alice, stayed to hang out with us. We started tossing a ball back and forth and Alice became engaged in playing with us soon after. After a quick tour of the kitchen and briefing of the morning routine we headed to bed. As a group, the seven of us reflected on our day by sharing our high, low, and moment we felt closest to God. We are looking forward to our day tomorrow,  as the seven of us will be dividing up and visiting four L'Arche homes before returning to one community in the evening. To end with a Jean Vanier quote, "so to become fully human is the development of the heart and the head, and then we can become one."

We made it!

Hi everyone,
We have arrived safely at the Sherman house. We had no delays at the border and even had extra time to spare, so naturally we stopped at Tim Hortons. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone here tonight. Will post again soon!