November 29, 2013 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

I've got to admit that having Thanksgiving without my family was weird. There were no pierogies. There was no gummy bear Trouble. There was something else. Something different that I hadn't fully experienced before. None of us YAVs left for Thanksgiving. None of our families came to visit us. So what did we do?

We decided that we would open up the community house for our Thanksgiving meal. We would provide a turkey and a few side dishes, while asking neighbors to bring other sides to complete our meal. Surprisingly the only thing we had multiple dishes of was apple pie. And believe it or not they were both brought by Nathan. The food worked out. The seating worked out. The day worked out.

Nathan carving the turkey!

I'm so thankful for this new family here in Hollywood, the opportunity to be here, as well as all of my friends and family at home.

-John

November 19, 2013 - Community Day

As community days are rather hard to explain at times, I figure I will share a video that might help understand sort of what we do on Mondays. Brent put this together from our community day yesterday. It's a good break from just hearing updates in words. Big thanks to Brent and enjoy!

November 8, 2013 - Piano Moving

On Thursdays I sometimes have the opportunity to work with Gettlove, an organization devoted to "ending homelessness in Hollywood." The focus of the organization is on housing. But it's more than that. Case managers build a relationship with their clients that continues after being housed.

So what is it that I did yesterday? I helped a recently housed client move a piano into his apartment. You see, this man had been housed for a while, but still had quite a bit of his belongings in storage. He is a composer. This is not his occupation, but his passion. He said that the piano had not been played in about 30 years. 30 years! As we loaded the truck and were on the way back to his apartment you could see a glow in his eyes, similar to a child on Christmas morning.

The moment the piano was in the apartment the man pulls up a chair and begins. We stood in awe and could only listen as we saw a man playing his own compositions. Seeing a man who was homeless, but is now sitting in his own living room playing his own composition on his own piano was nothing less than spectacular. This day was momentous for him, and I'm glad that I could be a part of it.

Doin' the Lord's work.
-John