For Thanksliving at Lumen Christi, we went on November 21st to many different places in Jackson to help out the community and spend time with others that don’t have much family or many visitors. Thanksliving is a way to show our thanks for the community and try to give other people happiness by having visitors. It ranges from cleaning buildings to visiting older people who do not have people to talk to very often. Several of our writers wrote down their experiences at their various locations.  

Konnor Barks, sophomore: “This year, I went to the St. John’s Rectory to help clean the rectory and the church. At the rectory, we cleaned all of the windows, inside and outside. In the church, we cleaned all the pews and the normal windows – not the stain glass windows, of course. We messed around a little after we were done, but we got the job done. Once we were done, we went back to the rectory and got some snacks. Brownies and water and fruits – they were pretty good. I’m thankful to have a chance to help out the community around Jackson and am excited to help next year.”

Ally McIntosh, sophomore: “I went to ABC academy. This is a child daycare and preschool center. There were ages ranging from infants all the way up to second graders. While there, we mostly played with the children. In the infant room, we were told to keep quiet, take off our shoes, and wash our hands before entering. This was to prevent the babies from waking up from their morning naps. In the toddler room, we sang, danced, and read them stories. Seeing them so invested in actual books rather than technology was a sight to see. The older toddler room was extremely memorable. Children in this room were high-spirited, creative, and outspoken. It was fascinating to see the games each kid made up to entertain themselves. While in this room, we mostly engaged in their play time. At times, we had to tell them to do the right thing, rather than making a bad choice. We learned the correct, effective way to discipline a child. The oldest, last room contained elementary school-aged kids.While in there, I personally became friends with an extremely smart, young boy. It was interesting to listen to him speak. He was also building an impressive structure out of magnetic blocks. He explained it to us as his “toy car garage.” Each student’s experience at Thanksliving 2018 was different, but mine was a fun, educational experience.”

Patrick O’Dowd, sophomore: “My group and I went to ABC Academy on Lansing Ave. The kids were really happy to see us. There were 9 of us, and we were separated into groups of 2. One person went with Mr. Anderson because we had a odd number. I went with Luke Konkle to the 6-year olds. The kids were crazy. We couldn’t stop playing with them or they would get mad. One of the kids puked. He kept making us spin him in circles which made him get sick. There were about 10 kids and two workers.Tommy Putman had to watch infants with Mr. Anderson. He said it was really weird being with the infants, but they were sleeping the whole time. Mr. Anderson helped each group of two out. He would walk around and help play with the kids. We were at the academy for 2 hours.”

Dayton Keller, senior: “The John George Home is an elderly assisted living home for the elderly men. Before it was an elderly home, it was a funeral home. When we took a tour at the end of the visit,  we even got to see the basement which was once a morgue. They had so many donated items in the basement for the men – it was crazy how much they had donated. The place was very old, and the person who had given us the tour had said that they place was even haunted and definitely had sightings there many times. We got to meet and talk with the residents. I was playing Uno with about six residents and three other students. When we first started the game there were only two residents playing with us. As the time kept going, one after another came in until we had a full table and couldn’t fit anymore people. There was another table playing Yahtzee, also.We had some great conversations with the residents. It so fun to hear them talk because some of them will just talk forever. We talked a lot about the football team. Also they had talked about a dance that they just recently had with another elderly home but for women only. They kept talking about what they did at the dance. It was a great time and I believe that everyone should go and donate to the Home. They can always use more general necessities for everyday living.”

Caitee Webster, sophomore: “This year I decided to go to Faith Haven Senior Care Center. Joining me was Renae Kutcha, Cara Fries, Quinn White, Peyton Schneider, Sierra Soule, Lilly O’Dowd, Lanni Valisco-Cook, Matthew Mehalco, and Faith Smith. We did lots of fun and festive activities with the residents living there. We first gathered around the tables to make them door signs. The workers there gave us some cut-out Christmas trees and lots of supplies to make them look festive for Christmas. We all sat around chatting with the many people there about things such as their families and their favorite sports teams. We all decorated our Christmas trees for the residents, based off their favorite colors or prints. We then sang their favorite Christmas carols. Afterwards, we hung up wreaths on the residents’ doors. We then were able to talk to more people as we roamed the halls. After that, we went to color more pictures in their recreation room and played Euchre with some of the residents. While there, we met one of the residents,  named Ruth, who had turned 99 this. She kept telling us how she loved our uniforms and our singing. At the end, we thanked the workers and said goodbye for now to the residents.”

Kaleb Boyce, junior: “My group of 8 went to the Walton agency. There are no older people or young children there, but there are people that needed help. We gathered and moved Christmas items from the barn outside of the agency and moved them to the front of the building or inside the agency as the other half of the group decorated and unboxed most of the things we brought in. The people at the agency were very nice and polite people who really cared for what they did. They modeled for us hard work and what they did there. All in all, Thanksliving is a great event for anyone who is involved because everyone that is involved is helped. Everyone that participates in this Thanksliving gets something very important out of it no matter where they go. They learn that by being nice and doing something for another person you can make their day, week, maybe even year.”