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Day 1: We Made it to NYC!

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We braved the wintry mix and rain at NYC, lugging all our luggage and sleeping gear to our humble abode for the week at the Church of St. Edward the Martyr. We had a mighty sleepy bus ride up to NYC, with our gleeful participants exhausted just thinking of the week about to come.



We were graciously welcomed by Father Derby at St. Edward's Church, the oldest church on the block in this Harlem community. Established in 1883, the church partners with the next-door New York Common Pantry, which distributes 3 million meals per year, from sandwiches to hot meals for the families in this neighborhood. Conveniently, St. Edward's is located just 3 blocks from our community partner at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center! We are thankful for Father William and the Church's generosity in providing lodging for us over this week. Group photo credits go to Father Derby, who was slightly overwhelmed by the high-tech phone camera options: "Oh my goodness I was trying to press the button but all these little squares are popping up."




Father Derby and Sebastian prepared a great spaghetti and meatball dinner to welcome us after our rainy journey (with chickpea substitute for the 7 vegetarians in our group!)









St. Edward's hosts services for the largely underserved area in both English and Spanish. The night we arrived, the church space hosted a baptism party for a Hispanic family! 





At the end of the day, we shared laughs and learned about our crazy adventures and travels through Two Truths and a Lie. One of us has eaten lemon-flavored ants off of a log in the Amazon. Another one swims in the Chesapeake every winter for the Polar Bear Plunge. And yet another one has nearly fallen off the Swiss Alps twice! Tune in to find out who's who!

Here in our cozy quarters, provided by Alison and Bob from the David Arthur Foundation, we are having a great time bonding and are super excited to take on NYC tomorrow!



--Tiffany & David

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