Painting, Glazing, Painting and Saying Goodbye

Today was the last day in what was a fantastic week in Aurora. Before we headed out to our sites, we were given a tour of the World Concern and Emmanuel House offices that are in the spot that last year we helped to gut in preparation for these two great organizations having more space. It has really been an amazing transformation since last year and was great to see all the activity that was going on inside those walls.

For sites today, we had volunteers paint at Hesed House, glaze windows at St. Rita's and paint an apartment that is part of Emanuel House's transitional housing program. It was a great last day, despite the fact that it was a rather chilly last day.

To celebrate the end to a great week, we had pizza for dinner and tried to finish all of our leftovers from the week. Nothing better than enjoying a meal for a second time!

As always, we end the week with a closing prayer service, a time to reflect on the week and how we are going to take our experiences with us as we re enter into our day to day lives back home. One theme that came back up time and time again was hospitality. Both the hospitality of those we worked for and with at service sites and the hospitality of our hosts, Susan and Bruce. What an example to all.

Early next week we will post more pictures from the week for you to enjoy, but in the meantime, we want to thank everyone who made this week possible: the volunteers, Bruce and Susan and everyone in Aurora that made us feel so comfortable including those at Hesed House, St. Rita's and World Concern.