ACT NOW: Chicago - Jr. High School Mission Trip
Chicago is a beautiful city of big buildings, fun attractions and rich diversity. Just below the surface, however, a very different face of Chicago emerges. Chicago is still a racially divided city. Nationally 47% of the homeless are African–American, yet in Chicago 75% of the homeless population is African–American. 36% of Chicagoans are African–American, yet 85% of the 9,000 Cook County Jail detainees are African–American – a significant disparity. So, while there is much diversity in Chicago there are many underlying racial tensions.
Our 7th and 8th graders saw this different face of Chicago on their mission trip which was held May 4-6, 2012. The group began their weekend with a dinner in Chinatown - sights, smells and sounds that are unique to that area. On Saturday, they spent the entire day working at Good News Partners in Rogers Park. Projects included light construction, cleaning and a lot of painting! Afterwards, the exhausted 7th and 8th graders watched movies and prepared a pasta dinner at their home base, the Brother Darst Retreat Center in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Lastly, they attended the Sunday service at St. Edmund's Episcopal Church in the South Shore neighborhood, where they were warmly welcomed with by the parish with a luncheon reception. Prayer, meditation, and fellowship were included throughout the weekend.
Participants included 8th graders Lauren Barrett, Henry Beatty, Amanda David, Bethany David, Marcus Duquette, Ian Fargo, Nick Martin, Charlie Quigley, Caralie Randolph, Ginny Wise, 7th graders Sophie Civetta and Lauren Johnson, and youth leaders Janet Beatty, Leslie Groncki, Andy Knott and Patti Parteros.
