ALSO Winnipeg Days 3-5

Wednesday morning we woke up to some fresh snow, which just make our walk to Siloam Mission a little colder and soggier. Siloam is a soup kitchen that also runs a lot of programs. We were able to meet different patrons and serve them breakfast. Siloam offers shelter for the night (with approximately 100 beds), a medical clinic, an art program, a clothing store and various opportunites for education and work experience to their patrons. The goal of the program is to be a springboard to help get those people from the streets to a place where they can live on their own and support themselves or their families. The facilities and enthusiasm of the volunteers and staff are truly amazing.

After our breakfast at Siloam we went to Graffiti Art which is an place that helps to bring communities together and to allow kids to express themselves through art. They exhibit urban art in various forms in the gallery and kids can take a variety of classes, from hip hop, djing, fashion design and visual art. We were able to spend some time making our own urban art here.

Graeme, Jill and Rachel paint records at Graffiti Art Gallery

Once we got back from Graffiti, Rachelle challenged the students to find teams and to do a scavenger hunt in the north end. The teams had to find various things such as: the place with the cheapest breakfast (the Windmill), how many train train tracks under a the Arlington bridge, the number of boarded up houses, and various graffiti tags.

Train tracks separating the north and south end. (There are about 40 tracks)

Thursday morning we woke up bright and early and went to another soup kitchen, Agape Table. At Agape, we helped to serve the patrons and assitsted the staff and volunteers by preparing food, cleaning dishes and tables and moving food. Here we learned at every little bit helps!

Thursday lunch was spent at the Forks. We learned about the historical significance of the Forks during our Orientation, so we spent a few hours exploring this place.

Rachelle was very diligent in pointing out that in the soup kitchens we went do there was a separation between us and the patrons (ie: we served them). We went to another house, Flatlanders Inn, where this segregation is eliminated. Flatlanders is a place where "street people" and "wealthy people" (for lack of better terms) can live together. We heard from a number of people there and how they came to find Flatlanders. Their stories were also very inspiring and gave us hope. The message that the people from Flatlanders wanted us to bring home was love. They challenged us to love everyone; get to know people as individuals and share love and compassion.

Sharing stories at Flatlanders Inn.

Before we left Friday morning, we had one last stop: the Windmill (cheapest breakfast in the area). The Windmill restaraunt is another truly "Winnipegian" thing. The restaraunt has been open for a number of years and has served a variety of customers, including Robin Williams and Ben Kingsley. The food was delicious and it was a great way to conclude the trip and say farewell to Rachelle.