The Only Shelter in Collier County Florida

Sticking to our recent trends, today we again broke into two groups. Both groups met for breakfast and then myself and seven others headed over to Eden Elementary a local public school, that we discovered had opened just this past August. There we were each assigned a classroom (pre-k through first graders) and we worked as teacher's aids, preparing decorations for the classrooms, reading aloud, planning lessons, assisting with the students questions and of course learning as much as we could about the school. 

The remaining nine ASBers went to the Guadalupe Soup Kitchen, a sister organization of the Guatalupe Church and childcare center. The reappearance of the Guadalupe name only served to remind us how closely knit the community of Immokalee is, an understanding that was only reinforced by the trip to the soup kitchen. There, the students had the pleasure of meeting Tricia, a woman who made an appearance in the documentary we saw when we first arrived, Immokalee USA. It was nice to know that the faces of poverty here appear in huge roles for the solution to poverty as well. And, accompanied with an understanding of the dignity and respect that any member of a community deserves, the volunteers at the kitchen served their patrons not in an ordinary assembly line, but instead responding to their needs by running refills over to them and assuring that everyone is well fed and comfortable, for the moment. 

Our service ended at two o'clock, just in time to head over to Saint Mathews House, the umbrella organization that the Immokalee Friendship House partnered with in recent months. The shelter there was very different from what we have come to know. It was larger, with a grassy patch and a heart shaped garden in the middle. The kitchen and pantry were full of food and seemed constantly busy, our group of seventeen ducking around the people staying there and working there while we received a tour of the facilities. Midway through the tour, Emily raised a question, the answer of which was a shocking point for the entire group. And, despite having a say to mull it over, it is still upsetting that as a result of her question we learned that in a county twice the size of Rhode Island we were standing in the only shelter in Collier County Florida. 

Shout out to Mrs. Penny and all other loyal readers of this blog.

Beth