This beautiful Monday started with volunteering with a community program in Hamilton called the Welcome Inn Community Center and New Horizons. The Welcome Inn is a community outreach program that serves the needs of the surrounding neighborhoods, it creates a diverse community that is welcoming to anyone. Half of us served at the Welcome Inn consisting of setting up the food bank, cleaning up outside, and baking. The baked goods will go to the after school program and food bank participants. The other half of the group went to New Horizons, the community's thrift store. We tagged clothing and cleaned around the store. From interacting with the staff and volunteers, we could all sense a true sense of teamwork and family.
For dinner we went to our individual L'Arche homes where we were able to dive deeper into the relationship with the core members and assistants. After only the second day there we can all sense that the level of comfort has increased with the core members and students.
It is very special that this community invites us into their homes and lets us experience their everyday life. Today it was one of the core member's birthdays, after dinner there is a tradition where each core member goes around the table and says something meaningful about the birthday core member. Listening to each little story or loving memory each core member expressed was so impactful. This led to a realization that L'Arche is not just a community, it is a family. The birthday core member was moved by each story and began to cry; it was quite a beautiful tradition that we were able to be a part of.
There was a big celebration for the birthday core member. All core members came to one L'Arche home for cake. We were able to interact with all of the core members in a home setting. It was easy to see that the birthday core member was so happy that all her L'Arche family was there to celebrate with her, and being in this experience really made us feel like we were part of the family. The love was overflowing and the sense of community was great!
We are excited for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we spend the day in Toronto and then have a community dinner for Mardi Gras!!
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