Images > 2004 8th Grade Mission Trip

When we went to Colorado for our mission trip we worked at several different non-profit agencies. On Monday, we worked at Project Angelheart. This is an agency that provides healthy meals and

Riley Meyer, Luke Hannon, Jake Harmon, Cori Trautman and Perry Schutz at Project Angelheart

supplements to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life threatening illnesses with love. We weren't old enough to work in the kitchen, but we did assemble a mailing for them inviting people to be a part of their AIDS Walk Colorado team. We also decorated food bags for them. After working in the office Monday morning, we delivered to four of their clients.

 

The afternoon found us having our Bible Study at Red Rocks. It was extremely hot in the city that day and it was nice to get away. We returned to Denver that evening to work at the Damen House. It is a transitional home for women and children who find themselves needing a place to live for various reasons. They can stay here for up to two years while gaining education and job skills, or working. They all take turns with the cooking and help each other out. While we were there, we babysat the twelve children currently living at the house while their mothers were in their group therapy session.

On Tuesday we went to the JeffCo Action Center. This agency provides a wide range of assistance to anyone who lives within Jefferson County. Their services include a medical clinic, food pantry, clothing bank, career closet, job search assistance, rent and utility assistance and much more. The week before our visit, two of their warehouses were painted with graffiti. The Denver police department gave them 10 days to get it covered. They said we were like angels sent from heaven. We spent the day painting the two warehouses, focusing on getting the graffiti covered, as another group was coming later in the week to finish the job. They were very thankful for the work we did.

On Wednesday, we went to the Food Bank of the Rockies. We spent the day cleaning, sorting and repackaging items that were sent from grocery stores throughout the front range. We kept anything that was good and useable. Later smaller food banks and non-profit organizations will receive the packages we made.

After work on Wednesday, we headed up to Estes Park for a day and a half of adventure Little did we know how much adventure at the time. We got to the campground and much like last year, it began to rain, just a little bit. We put up the tents and had dinner. The next morning we got up extra early to make the trek down the mountain to Fort Collins to meet the rafting company, Rocky Mountain Adventures for our half day ride on the Poudre river. Mac was great, and the ride was fun, it left us wanting more! Everyone napped on the way back up to Estes and awoke to find ourselves in the shuttle bus parking lot in Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a quick lunch, then caught the bus to the Glacier Gorge trailhead. From there we hiked to Alberta Falls. After another brief bus ride, we also ventured to Bear Lake. After dinner we returned to the campground to find our tents upside down. Must have been a windy day. The tents flipped over twice more before we finally gave up and went to bed.

The next morning we packed things up and headed for home. As you can tell we had a great time in Colorado and learned a lot about volunteering and serving others.