APEX work list

This is a partial list of all the tasks we did at APEX Youth Center ...

Fixed closet doors
Emptied two giant closets: sorted, organized and reloaded
Donated and built three shelving units in closets
Cleaned bathrooms and scrubbed floors
Painted Room Dividers
Cleaned and organized office
Cleaned and organized library, including adding new shelving and sorting and moving books.
Scrubbed carpet in pool room and hallway
Carpeted performance stage
hooked up instruments and microphones
Hung artwork
Scrubbed, raked and swept courtyard
Moved dirt, separated rocks, leveled ground in side yard
Moved bathroom doors (hung way too high by previous group)
Painted hallway and video area
Painted metal door
Touch up paint in main room and bathrooms
Filed and fixed metal front door
Emptied, cleaned and organized pantry
Emptied, cleaned and organized tool closet
Created spreadsheet and Data entry of all youth in center
Sorted and filed registration forms and camper forms for center
Planned, shopped and cooked dinner for Thursday night (sloppy joes, grapes, carrots, chips, cookies, rice krispie squares and brownies)
Created signage for Camp

I know there was much more we did, but this is the list of things I could think of! The team made a difference not only in how the center looked, but helped prepare them for the coming season of camps and open houses!

New Orleans 2010

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Maddy's blog

Hey guys, this is Maddy Kane writing on the blog on the last night of an awesome work trip. I'm going to be reporting about yesterday, seeing as we were all exhausted after our day in the french quarter, and we were all too tired to write on the blog. We split into groups, abut 4 or 5 youth and 2 adults, and went our separate ways. The group I was in started out at Cafe du Monde, a classic french cafe with amazing french donuts, called beinets (sp?). We spent the rest of the day at various shops, most of them consisting of Mardi Gras masks, tourist tee shirts, and plenty of beads. We went to a candy shop that had really good pralines, and we also went to many cool boutiques. The architecture is really beautiful, and some of the streets are brick. New Orleans is a really beautiful city, especially the french quarter, so i highly recommend visiting it sometime!

The Team

Here we all are, minus Ashley Day who had to leave today! Note to self, take the picture on the FIRST DAY not at the end!

And we have an actual nice group picture ... this is just the moose picture (ask someone what that means)!

Friday

I am hoping to get some kids who want to write tonight, but everyone is on off cherishing their last night together ... which means lots of exhaustion and lots of energy all at the same time (and especially dependent on the age!).

Today we once again had three teams ... our final day to mow in the Lower Ninth, and to finish up at Apex, but the "painting group" started at a new house. Our plan was to work until 1 or 1:30, come back, shower and then all head to Apex at 3:30 to be with the teens that are helped at the center. Plans changed for the painting crew, and they stayed longer but the rest of us came back.

It was again a hot, hot day, but I think everyone felt good about the contributions made during our week here. Our time with the Youth at Apex was loud, crazy, energetic and touching! We are preparing for our closing devotions/worship and will get up early to leave for the airport.

We remain grateful to Annunciation Mission for hosting us this week, to Apex Youth Center, the Lower Ninth and organizers of our painting projects (who we can't remember the name!) for providing us with a wonderful home and meaningful work during the week. We are exhausted, fulfilled, challenged, hot, loud and renewed. Thank you New Orleans and thank you youth from FCC!

Thursday work & play

I have found that on work trips, Thursday is usually a difficult day at work. Everyone has worked hard all week and kept good attitudes, and Thursday is usually the day when people start losing some patience and feeling the hard work in their bones! This is also why we often schedule our "outings" or "free time" for Thursdays because everyone needs the BREAK!

Our teams went back to Apex, to mowing and to finish the painting on the house in Gentilly. We met back here around 1:30 and prepared to go to the French Quarter. We broke into smaller teams, each with adult supervisors and all groups had a great time. Each group had a unique experience ... some did power shopping, some walked everywhere, some tried on very expensive jewelry, some saw some interesting women, some visited the Cathedral, some tried to visit cemetaries, some spent time at good restaurants. I hope to gather stories and share what the groups did, but everyone has scattered tonight. Enjoy a few pictures ...

Painters ... here are some pictures of our team who has been working in the Gentilly neighborhood the last few days!