Week 4 - Sweet Carolina’s

This incredible journey has been filled with lots of unknowns - Who are we going to work with each day? Where are we going to park the bus to sleep? Will anyone walk up on us showering outside the bus in our swimsuit? How long can we drive on the interstate before the bus overheats? Is Georgia doing daylight savings this year? Are we filling up our natural gas tanks correctly or will they explode? When is Cain going to get a perm? – those sorts of things! That is one of the most exciting parts of the trip - there is so much opportunity in the unknowns. This week, we circled back to the Carolina’s where there are less unknowns, but the time has been extremely refreshing. After leaving Charleston, we visited Charlotte, Greenville, Clemson and Athens and I have felt encouraged by our existing community in these areas. We have had friends drive 6 hours in a day to see the bus (Ella and Hayes Sherman), take time out of their day to work alongside us (Clumsy Smith, Hayes Sherman, Mathew Hancock, Natalie Dowling, Tripp Schenck, Zach Maghsoud), leave their beds to sleep on our guest bed (Matthew Mahaffey, Sam Jones, Zach Maghsoud), open up their homes to us for showers and rest (Jessica and Rosa Marie Compton, the Colberg’s, the Dalrymple’s, the Durbin’s, the Humberd’s, The “Two Door” house in Athens), drop off necessary snacks and drinks (the Cockman’s, the Eberly’s, the Sherman’s) and so much more. The hardest thing for me to leave behind this next year is this amazing community we have, but I am encouraged we will continue to be supported by them even while we are on opposite sides of the country.

While in Charlotte, we worked with “I am 24/7”, a ministry that empowers youth in the Grier Heights neighborhood in Charlotte. When I moved to Charlotte in 2020 following my college graduation, I moved into a house in Grier Heights along with other full/part-time staff for “I am 24/7”. I spent my extra hours after work with the kids in the neighborhood coaching their sports, school tutoring and taking them to Chick-fil-a (a LOT of rides to Chick-fil-a). Cain, Davis and I worked with Ben Paige (executive director/co-founder) to dig a trench at a staff house in the neighborhood and to replace a wall in their office space. During our work, I was reminded of how inspired I am by Ben - he has spent the last 13 years in Grier Heights living a selfless life. While talking about our experience in Charlotte, Cain said “Ben inspired me not only through his words but through his actions that speak volumes. I wish there were more people who would give their lives away in the places they live like Ben..” To learn more about what Ben and what “I am 24/7” is doing, check out their website and their awesome video!

Work gets done much faster with Clumsy, Tripp and Hayes showing us how it is DONE.

Happy Halloween with the Paige family! The best homemade costumes.

Before

During

After

Showed off the bus to some of my Grier Heights friends and players from the I am 24/7 team I coached. Bona (pictured above) thought it looked like the Fortnite bus!

Worlds continued to collide as we spent the remainder of the week in Greenville working at Mill Village, a non-profit Cain’s sister Jessica works for. We were also spoiled by Davis’ mom who chauffeured us around, cooked us meals, and even had an endless supply of reverse osmosis water, it tasted so good! Yum! Mill Village is confronting local poverty by offering their services of social justice, healthy food, bicycle access, youth employment and entrepreneurial training to the area. We worked with multiple different branches of the organization: cleaning up facilities and delivering produce boxes for Foodshare, building bike racks for Village Wrench (Mill Village’s bike branch) and revitalizing community plots for Village Farms. During a pleasant post-work bike cruise, Jessica explained to me that Greenville County ranks as one of the worst counties in the US for upward mobility – a young adult born into poverty only has a 4.7% chance of upward economic mobility to the highest quintile of income distribution. Working with other staff and volunteers similar to Jessica gives me optimism for the area of West Greenville that their needs are addressed and being fulfilled by multiple different approaches. For a better understanding, of the organization, visit Mill Village’s website.

Natalie showing her strength on the drill.

Before

During (where's the watermelon?)

After

Handing out produce boxes with Food Share

Ms. Davis is the best, and she matched our bus!

Cain with his two sisters (Rosa Marie and Jessica) and Osbourne Brown in Greenville

We continue to experience generosity and wisdom from new perspectives. Brent Warwick treated Cain, Davis and I to lunch. Brent is working with Mill Village and was in my community group with Christ the Redeemer Church in Clemson. After his thoughtful questions about the bus, we turned a question back on him asking “if he were in our shoes what would he be hopeful for.” In his answer, he mentioned he would hope for “transcending experiences” during the trip. Transcending is a solid word. It has stuck with me because we are on this awesome road trip where we have the potential to experience amazing things. We should be hopeful to have these AMAZING experiences, and not just hope for mediocrity. This challenged me to hope for these transcending experiences, and to do a better job of being more prayerful for them. God is a big God who can do miraculous things. I am hopeful that as we continue our way around the country, He will provide experiences that will transcend the rest of our lives and the lives of those we encounter along the way. Following this week we debriefed on experiences we had, Davis mentioned our lunch with Brent was his highlight because the wisdom he shared regarding moral values in work and how we can portray ourselves differently. For example, sharing in how we acquire success rather then greedily keeping secrets.

After stopping in Athens, Georgia with an effort to watch the Georgia vs. Tennessee game in the stadium, we head to Fayetteville, Arkansas to parter with a local non-profit in town.