An Introduction to Project Hospitality

So, after working as a missions intern at Project Hospitality for a month, some of you may still be wondering "What is Project Hospitality?"

First off, you can check out the website at ProjectHospitality.org.  There is a lot of information about the organization on their website.  As well, a simple Google search will reveal the good work that is happening through this organization of many, many people.  For example, check out this link about Hurricane Sandy relief.

Project Hospitality has now 4 major missions:
1) Feed the Hungry
2) House the Homeless
3) Provide Support and Assistance to Those Living with HIV and AIDS
4) Superstorm Sandy Relief

Feeding the hungry is the mission and the reason it all began.  An RCA (Reformed) pastor was riding the ferry one night when he realized the significant number of homeless and it broke his heart.  He went home and made a bunch of sandwiches and began passing them out.  This was the beginning of Project Hospitality.
Feeding the hungry continues to be a huge priority for PH and this is accomplished through food pantries, mobile food trucks, and soup kitchens.  This is a picture of the main one on Bay Street.

Housing the homeless is also extremely important to Project Hospitality.  New York City runs homeless shelters in every other borough except Staten Island.  The city doesn't run any on Staten Island and Project Hospitality runs them all.  PH has men's shelters, family shelters and even a youth shelter.  There's even a drop-in center and respite bed program.

A huge population that Project Hospitality loves to serve are those that are HIV+ or battling AIDS.  Project Hospitality has created a center called the SHINE (Self Help In a New Environment) Center, which allows those living with HIV or AIDS to still work to achieve their dreams in a supportive environment.

And, as probably one of my more renown ministries in the world outside of Staten Island, they have been on the front lines of providing relief after Superstorm Sandy.  One of my first tasks was stuffing envelopes with info to be sent with checks to those who received aid from a benefit.

As for me and my role in Project Hospitality, well, it's like a machine.  I haven't quite yet found my place, but I have found a few things that I've enjoyed working on and have even completed a few things.  I will, in time.

Check out what I found at my desk: hundreds and hundreds of paperclips -

Also, one of the perks of this job has been giving people what they need.  When a giant retreat center closed, they donated all of the furniture to Project Hospitality.  This is a load of desks being removed from the center and loaded into a storage container to await their new homes.

This is the crew from the office celebrating the new job of a former coworker at a local restaurant - 

And, last but not least, check out the organization in the food pantry at El Centro!  This was a huge mess a week ago, but now it's getting organized and efficient and more excellent by the week :)  This has become my sorta pet-project.

Random Things No One Told Me About Staten Island

1) Tolls.
In order to get to an island, in any circumstance, you must take a bridge or a boat.  That's just common knowledge.  As Eaic and I drove for the first time into Staten Island, we had to pay a $13 toll.  Aside from it being crazy high, we didn't think much of it because we'd been on the highway and perhaps we'd missed the toll sign way back when.  We paid the $13 and continued on our way (which wasn't far at all until our destination).  Upon arrival, it became apparent very quickly that I would need to get some cleaning supplies and I would need to get them right away.  So, we looked up the nearest Walmart.  It is less than 15 minutes away, over in New Jersey.  We got into the car and loaded up on all kinds of good stuff (you know, like toilet paper, soap, dishcloths, ... as well as some food staples) along with hundreds of other people out shopping on Saturday afternoon.  However, as we were coming back across the bridge, we realized that we had yet another $13 toll.  This caused us to come home and do some research.  In order to drop Eaic off at La Guardia, it would cost me another $15 toll to get back onto the island.  You can leave Staten Island as much as you want... but you cannot come back without paying a toll.  Please keep that in mind if you plan to come visit.
Because I don't know if or when I'll need to go into New Jersey, I got an EZPass.  It makes it a little bit cheaper when I do go.

2) Turtles.
Apparently turtles are common pets here.  I met my first turtle, Harry, on the first Sunday I was here.  Terry called up and told me that her turtle was in the backyard.  Now, I'm not exactly a reptile person.  However, it was particularly fascinating to know that a turtle sometimes hangs out in my backyard.  I did a little research.  Pet turtles are a pretty common thing here in New York.  The thing I find most interesting about that is the length of time for which turtles live.  There is a significant chance that Harry will outlive Terry.  That's a serious commitment!

3) Beaches.
So, I'd never been to Staten Island before.  I'd never gotten off the ferry and I've ridden the ferry lots of time.  I never really knew everything that Staten Island has to offer.  One thing that is relatively unknown for non-New Yorkers is the beach.  Staten Island has, apparently because I have yet to visit, a beautiful beach.

4) Mexican food.
I am surrounded by Mexican food.  No one told me that I would be living in the middle of the Latino area.  As a Spanish major and Latin American studies minor, this is particularly exciting.  I honestly have yet to try any, but I will, I promise, and I'll get back to you :)

5) Driving/parking/standing.
So, this is probably the biggest difference between Staten Island and Grand Rapids.  I knew that city driving is not really what happens in Grand Rapids and so I came mentally prepared for that.  I also came to Staten Island with confident parallel parking skills.  The latter has come in VERY handy because that's all I do - parallel park.  The one thing that I didn't come prepared for was the way in which people "stand."
For example, if you want lunch from your favorite corner deli, many people would drive around the block looking for a parking spot, right?  Not here.  Here, if you pull up to your favorite corner deli and there aren't any spots, you just park in the street and put your flashers on... and run in.  This causes others to have to drive around them, which can be fun when they're parked on the corner near the stoplight/sign.  It's also fun when traffic is heavy.  It makes everyone pay a little more attention, though.
Two laws that affect me and the way I drive are that no cell phones are allowed while driving (this includes calls) and that you cannot turn right on red light.  Luckily I didn't find these out the hard way, but I could have in my first week.

6) Rain.
I kid you not, sometimes I wonder if I really moved to Seattle or London.  In the first two weeks I was here, it rained for 10 days.

7) Fort.
Did you know that Staten Island was where the British were stationed during the Revolutionary War?  In order to stop enemies from invading during World War 1 and the Spanish/American/Cuban War, a fort was built on Staten Island.  It was never needed to defend the city, but it looks cool and it was a fun exploration one sunny Saturday.

Here is a blog about my lack of blogs.

So, for those of you who've been on this journey with me for some time remember the regularity with which I posted in Hungary.

This regularity has not translated into my time here in NYC.  This is due to multiple reasons, so I wanted to give those... along with a little apology.

a) Netflix.  This, I feel, is self-explanatory... and possibly a horrible and great decision all at the same time.
b) Lack of knowing what to write.  Content is everything.  I shouldn't complain or lead you to believe that life is horrible when it isn't... nor should I be excited and lead you to believe that life couldn't be better when it could.  Deceit is no good.  Neither is lack of content and while my mother might be interested in some things such as what I had for breakfast, the rest of the world cares not.  By the way, the answer is a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, with iced coffee - how New Yorker of me :)
c) Lack of audience awareness. When I was in Hungary, I wrote for whoever would listen.  I would truly enjoy it if my blogs actually had less of a "diary" feel and more of an "travel" and "adventure" feel.
d) Time.  I either have less time or would rather waste my time with option (a).  Depending on the day, it actually could be either one.

For my lack of updates, I apologize.  I officially moved in a month ago and I should have posted more than twice.  I will work on that this week :)

Q & A

Today, in my morning ritual, I was listening to some chapters of Numbers being read to me from my phone.  This one verse screamed at me to re-read and ponder it.  So, as I pondered it today, I also shared it on my facebook page.

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19 NLT)

To me, these are things that I believe and maybe haven't even thought about why I believe them or how I came to believe them.

As the day carried on, I received the following comment question in response:
If God doesn't change his mind, why do I see so many ask for prayer requests for God to do just that?

It's such a good question.  As I waited until I got home to respond, I got the opportunity to continue pondering those thoughts... on a whole new level than where I had taken it by myself.

My response, through my view of God and God's ways, is as follows.  I just thought I'd share in case you, too, had pondered this before... or in case you've never pondered it, and maybe this will allow you to dig deep within your belief system to find the hows and whys of what you believe.




To me, God is much like a very loving parent. As a child, I asked my parents for things. Some they would give me without asking (like mashed potatoes and peas and school clothes). Some they would give me right away after I asked for them (like water or usually food). Some they would give me when they knew the timing was right (like money). Some things they didn't give me no matter how many times I asked (like a pony). I feel like God is like that, only so much more.
 
God give us things and blessings without our asking. God wants us to humble ourselves and realize that things come from Him, and then ask. God wants to withhold things from us for a while until the timing is right. And sometimes God has to say "no" because it just isn't His will. We may never really truly understand it all. That's part of the awe of God being who God is - we cannot fathom His wisdom, grace, love and glory completely.

Home Away From Home

First of all, many have asked and I have failed to send in a speedy fashion.
My new address is:

Trazy Richter
353 Heberton Ave
Staten Island, NY 10302

Here is a picture of the outside of the house (stolen from Google Maps):

I live in the back apartment... in the basement.  Are you ready for this?
I would like to walk you through a tour of my apartment.

First, this the view of my front door from the inside.  The front entry way gives it a very rustic feel, so you may not even remember that you're within the New York City limits.

Upon entering the second door, this is what you'll find.  The stairs lead up to the home upstairs which is owned by a Rabbi and his wife.  The hallway leads back to my roommate's bedroom to the left and there are two doors on the right (that you really can't see in this picture).  The first door is the bathroom (which has two entry doors) and the second is the kitchen.

This is the door to my roommate's room.  This is my roommate's coffee table.  It has been moved, but there wasn't any room left to move it into her bedroom.

This is the bathroom.  The shower curtain is delightfully tacky and the shower itself, well... the water pressure is great, so I can't be too negative about it.  And yes, the toilet is blue... and so is the sink.

Welcome to the kitchen!  Note the stove, table and chairs, sink... yes, it's a kitchen.

Hey look, a refrigerator!  Behind the fridge, you'll notice a door.  That door does not go to my bedroom.  It actually goes into a small room in an L-shape into which not even a twin-sized bed would fit.  It has been deemed as Tooki's room.  Tooki is the cat I found here when I moved in.  Her mother was the survivor of a home in which she was abused and while she awaits a permanent housing situation for herself and for Tooki, I guess my roommate and I are her foster moms.

This is the "door" to my room.  It has actually been made thicker with the use of a "homeless" blanket aka a single use blanket because you can't wash them or they will fall apart.  Word on the streets is that there will be a door there eventually.

Here is my room.  Yes, it's huge.  It is designed to be a living room, but since my roommate claimed the bedroom, this got to be my space.  Look at that nice twin size bed, purple rug, end table (serving as a night stand) and green chair I got from random donations!

Check out that closet space!

Oh, and I got a dresser for free!  OH, and that door?  It leads to my roommate's room.

The Journey from Grand Rapids to Staten Island

I fully intended to take the week off of blogging so that
a) I could focus on my new job and not on what I'm missing back home
b) I would not speak my first impressions onto you
c) I didn't have to stress about whether or not I had sufficient internet.

I also intended to stay away from Facebook for the same reasons.  I failed at that in general, but I did manage to stay away from posting too much on twitter and facebook statuses, as well as answering any questions about "what do you think of NYC?" or "how do you like it?"  I'm pretty pleased with my "fast" thus far.

I am still not going to respond to either of those questions, but I am going to address the journey.  That, of course, was the best part about the last week.  So... here we go!



First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Gala on Wednesday night :)  It was great to see everyone and even fun to hear some of the things that you remember from the past 10 years.  It was a great last day, for sure :)

Also, a HUGE thanks to my brother and sister-in-law from rescuing me from a panic attack on Thursday evening when I realized that everything I'd hoped to bring didn't actually fit into my car.  I have no idea what sort of mess I would have been if they hadn't been willing to jump in and help out.

As well, a giant thanks to some dear friends who paid for my windshield replacement.  I honestly don't know what I would have done without you, but you have been and continue to be a great blessing upon my life.



On Friday morning, it was "go time."  Our (Eaic and I) aim was to hit the road at 7a.  That didn't exactly happen as planned, but we WERE on the road by 7:45a.  Well, technically around 7:30ish, but we had to stop for a gas/snacks/oil fill-up.

the VERY loaded car and my handsome co-pilot

Welcome to Ohio!

 

Driving through what seems to be the middle of nowhere... 

aka Ohio along the Erie shoreline

 

Around 11a, we were grabbing lunch at a Big Boy in Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie.  To our delight, they still had their breakfast buffet out, so we had a delicious brunch! :)

 The "beach" of Lake Erie

Around 12:30/1p-ish, we were arriving at the African Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton, Ohio.  This was a planned excursion for us.  About a month ago, I saw a Groupon deal for it.  The original cost (per person) is $24.95 or something kinda outrageous like that.  The Groupon cost per person was only $8.  For me, this was much more reasonable and is what the tickets probably SHOULD cost, but then again, I am not a businesswoman.  We managed to arrive between storms, with seriously impeccable timing.  The rain had just stopped when we got off the highway and it began again just as we were about to leave.
As we drove through, the first area was llamas and alpacas.  They were cute and fuzzy and very friendly.  One of them was creepy according to Eaic, but they were very excited that we had cups of food to be giving them.  The next area was reserved for deer, moose and bison.  At this point, we knew this was going to be an adventure, because there were cars bunched up in front of us because they were swarmed with deer and the rangers had to scare the deer away from the gate just to open it for us.  As we assumed, as soon as we drove into the area, we were as well swarmed with friendly, hungry, pushy deer.  At one point, one of the larger, moose-like deer grabbed Eaic's cup of food right out of his hand!  He had, as he put it, just gotten bamboozled by the deer.  As we were navigating our way through the swarms of deer, an extremely large brown creature caught our eyes.  Actually, it was probably the horns that caught our eyes first.  A giant BISON!  Yes, he needed to get some of our food.  We chased him down as fast as we could, which wasn't very fast because the deer were still swarming us.  Before we knew it, there was a buffalo staring into our car window!  How awesome!
As we left the deer/moose/buffalo area, there they were in all their tall splendor - the giraffes!  The funniest thing happened as we drove into the area next to the giraffes' cage.  It started to sprinkle.  This in itself wasn't funny, but what was funny was the giraffes' reactions to it!  They walked away from the fence, through which they were eating carrots from the cars in front of us, and stuck their hindquarters under the shelter provided.  Not their heads, not their whole bodies... only their butts.  How funny!  Anyway, their entertainment was quite disappointing, so Eaic and I continued on to the zebras who seemed less worried about the rain and more concerned about how much food we were going to give them.  After giving them all the remaining food we had, we exited the park just as it began to downpour.  What a fun time!

Here we go!

 

First stop: llamas

 

There's a llama in my window!

 

This is the llama that seemed creepy to Eaic

 

and then we met the deer...

 

We played a game with this deer.  

Eaic rolled up his window and then held the cup inside the window so that it could see the cup, and then we drove slowly.  

The funny, little deer ran alongside the car for quite a way.

 

Yes, that is a buffalo coming toward us.

At this point, Eaic says, "Roll up the windows!  Roll up the windows!" even though they are manual windows and he has to roll up his own window.

Hilarious!

 

When there's a buffalo at your door, you should probably not open it.

 

My, what long horns you have.  Please stay over there, thank you!

 

I was so excited about the giraffes!

 

 Putting their butts under the shelter...

 

When was the last time YOU fed a zebra?

 

As we continued on our journey, we drove through Ohio and continued into Pennsylvania.  For Eaic, this was the favorite part of the journey.  It has been a long time (if ever) that I've done I-80 through Pennsylvania.  It was beautiful!  It was a constant up and down through the hills and we were surrounded by green most of the time.  It was so beautiful!

We stopped for the night in Drums, PA.  We were looking for free wifi and free breakfast and found both at a Holiday Inn Express, as well as free cookies (although we didn't even partake of those!).  We ordered pizza from a parlor down the street and picked it up and ate until we couldn't eat any more.  It was delicious!  The hope was to stay up and watch a movie, but after a long day of driving, I passed out quite quickly.  Eaic, since he'd napped on and off throughout the day, apparently stayed up until 1a doing homework and watching online videos.  :P

The next day, we were off at 9a and headed toward the Big Apple.  Breakfast at the hotel was delicious and we left completely satisfied.  We checked out and headed out, through green hills once again.  Around 11, we were nearing the city and decided to stop for gas in Orange, NJ.  Little did we know that apparently that town is where Thomas Edison grew up... or something.  And Saturday, June 1st, just so happened to be Thomas Edison Day.  It was busy in this little town.  Busy is actually an understatement.  As we attempted to re-navigate ourselves back out of the town toward the highway, we came across a diner.  They were sure to have coffee and restrooms, both of which we needed very much.  They had both and they were both of fairly high quality.  They also had really good ham and swiss club sandwiches :)

Welcome to New Jersey!

When we got back on the road it was only another 30-45 minutes before we arrived to my new home.  At that, my friends, is another post for another day.

Eaic and I at a scenic overlook on I-80.

I have arrived

I have arrived in New York, and have done a walk thru of my apartment. At this moment, I am commencing a facebook and blog fast. Thank you for all your prayers for safe travel :)