"Dave (Thomas) would be rolling in his grave"

So we left Ohio (finally. no offense ohio, but you really got old after awhile). We hit the long, 2 hour, road to Indianapolis, Indiana. Other then the blistering humidity (which I'm used to. seriously, one day the news said it was 94 but felt like 104...terrible) I really enjoyed the city of Indy. It was small, but the areas I saw of the actual city were pretty cute.
This camp is our first Micah Experience of the summer. This basically means the program of the camp is directed for Catholics, and we have daily liturgy. This is a cool part of the Micah Experience, however, this is the 2nd to last Micah ever. The last Micah will be in Winston Salem, North Carolina (our last camp).Two of the big youth groups were the same groups Melissa and I had at our Baltimore camp last summer. Our director, Jim, and a few of the Site Coaches, were the same ones we had as well.

My first impression of our Indy camp was when I was blessed to meet the members of the school.
The Principal (Ms. Carter) and Head Custodian (Sam the man) of Emma Donnan Middle School were some of the most amazing people I have ever had the opportunity to meet.
Ms. Carter told me the first day I met her how hard she had worked to improve the test scores of the school, and while there weren't large improvements, there still was some, and she was proud of that. I thought that was amazing.

Then there was Sam. The sweetest older man (with a little waddle to his walk) I have ever known. He was born and raised in Mississippi, hence his accent, and he was so proud of the work he did in that school. I didn't need to worry about anything about the facility because I knew Sam would help me with whatever I needed. He was so happy to have another Workcamp at the school, because he loved the work we did, that he made sure to keep us happy, even though I just wanted to help him. He came in everyday at 5am and wouldn't leave until we were done at night, which was late. He only had one or two other people, but he couldn't have been happier to help us...crazy, and inspiring.
The area we were staying in had a kind of poverty I haven't really witnessed before. I am used to strictly urban poverty, and strictly rural poverty. Here, though, it was a blend of the two. There weren't really racial guidelines or areas. It was between poor and not poor, race wasn't really a question at all for anyone.
The projects we were working ranged:-We had a huge fence project, that took 3 crews to finish.
-We also had smaller painting projects and more smaller fences and porches.


Unfortunately our Cosponsor wasn't super involved at this camp. Therefore, we ran into several problems during Setup week with having to cancel sites for drug issues. However, the camp ran smoothly as if there were no problems.
Fun tidbits:
During Setup week we went to a Wendy's to eat, and there was a ridiculously long wait. The reason for our wait was because and older gentlemen was throwing a hissy fit at the employees of the Wendy's saying things like "Dave would be rolling in his grave right now if he knew how this was being run"---referring to Dave Thomas, the late creator of the chain.

Also fun tidbit was me and Melissa's favorite director from last summer was a camper at the Indy camp! God sighting? I think so...
Another fun fact is that I bought a new camera! A canon powershot SX 120I really love it so far...10 x zoom...10 megapixels.
2 of my favorite shots so far:














Camps over now...next stop is in Winston Salem, NC. For now we're back in Ohio, visiting some other crews and catching up with other crews.

God bless,
Catherine