Wednesday morning saw us at MCC in Winnipeg working at putting together bags with school supplies (to be sent to children in refugee camps) and bags with basic toiletries (to be sent to areas that have suffered natural disasters). An interesting part of the work we did today was the bags we used were the similar to the bags we put the strings into in Plum Coulee on Monday.

Daniel and Everett working on putting the strings into the bags in Plum Coulee

A response from Daniel Krause who worked at Winnipeg Harvest on Tuesday. He was asked to questions: 1) One thing that stood out for you - "One thing tht stood out for me is the fact that over half of the people that need food banks are children." 2) Overall reaction to the day/ministry - "Its really eye-opening to know just how many people need food banks. It also feels good knowing that the work we did will help feed a lot of families

We started week 2 by travelling to Plum Coulee to work in the MCC warehouse. Here is Sarena Ferguson's take on the day. She says she had a good time interacting with the people in her group while working and eating lunch. The thing that stood out for her was the time spent folding the blankets. They were put together by women volunteers who take scrapes off material and make colorful blankets. She says, "Imagine blankets with patches of Scobbie Doo on it being used by a boy in a orphanage in Haiti, or a blanket made up with flowers covering a mother of two kids lying on a dirt floor. It had an impact on me as I thought about where 3 hours of work ends up."

Watch for more responses from the students this week as well as some pictures.

Week one of our Local Impact is over and based on the responses from our students, our leaders and from the organizations we were with it was a successful week. Thursday saw us sorting potatoes at Winnipeg Harvest and a rough count had us box enough potatoes to feed approximately 1000 families. It was amazing to see how quickly we could through a flat of potatoes and put them into smaller boxes.
We ended off the week going to Siloam Missions. Due to the fog we did not make it on time to serve breakfast, but were able to help with preparing and serving lunch and helping them sort through clothes. Helps put into focus how many people in Winnipeg and Manitoba rely on the donations of others to meet their basic needs such as having the proper clothing, a place to sleep or to be able to eat well balanced meals.
Thank-you to the students who were in the first group and to the adult leaders who helped out during the week! Look forward to starting another week tomorrow with another group of students and leaders.

Wednesday saw us travel to Winnipeg where we went to the MCC office. This is where the Ten Thousand Village's is located. We spent some time learning about the history of MCC and the work they do in the world. One of the things that stand out for me was looking at a list of things and decide if they were something we needed to have, would be nice to have or not necessary at all. It was interesting to see how many things we have that for many people in the world would be considered as unnecessary.
We were able to finish off the morning packing bags with basic school supplies that would be going to refugee camps. These are students that because of war in their homeland had to flee for their own safety.

Due to how the scheduling of the Mission Sites went, the afternoon today was where nothing was booked. We had reservations at the Old Spaghetti Factory. From the sounds coming from the tables, people were enjoying themselves as their was a lot of conversation and laughter. Some students brought their skates and were able to go skating (unfortunately the river trail was closed) and walk around at The Forks.

Here are two days worth of updates from our Local Impact. The first day, Tuesday, we went to a small church located in Winnipeg called the  Exchange Community Church. It is a church, as the name suggests, in the Exchange District.  According to their website, the ultimate vision for the Exchange District community specifically was to “enter into the emerging culture, and to see an 'indigenous' church rise up within it.”

We had the opportunity to learn about the work they do and to meet a few people that benefit from their presence in the Exchange District. On top of that we were able to clean up some accumulated products giving them more storage room, clean their windows in the room they use as a meeting place/sanctuary and apply a coat of varnish to the floor. One highlight for the students was to climb onto the roof giving a unique of the city - at least that is what they were saying - I did not go onto the roof as I am not a good friend of heights.

A good start to our Local Impact week as we travelled to Plum Coulee to work with MCC. We started with a brief tour of their facility and learning about the work they do. After the introductions we were put to work inspecting tin cans filled with pork. They are being readied to be sent out to locations in the world where there is a need. In addition to completing the work, good conversations took place as well as a lot of laughter. Tomorrow we are heading to Winnipeg to help out at a church in the Exchange District. Watch for photos to be posted in the near future.