NYC 2015 -- On to Indy

We made 500 miles today. Our target departure time was 6 a.m., and we were on the road by 6:10, stopped for a breakfast sandwich, and hit the Avenue of the Saints by 6:20. Traveled through three states today—Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.

On I-74 in Indiana the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light came on. Oops, we forgot to have the car serviced before we left, not realizing how many miles we had driven since early April--like about 4,000! So I looked up Jiffy Lube in Indianapolis on my Smartphone, made a call to check it out, and lucked out picking the one of the three that was on the route to our hotel.

Their advertising is spot-on. They really do get you in within 10 minutes and out about as fast!

We drove through downtown to our hotel, past Lucas Oil Stadium. Our hotel is near the IUPUI, the Indiana University of Purdue Indianapolis. This area has been revitalized with plantings and sculptures. There are warehouses but also new apartments for students.

The university shuttle.

Interesting sculpture with glass and metal.

I thought it looked like string. I touched it, and it WAS.

Going...

…and coming back.

Being adventurous eaters, we always like to try restaurants that the locals recommend. The desk clerk said we should try Yats, which features Creole cuisine. It wasn't too far away, so we decided to walk about 3/4 of a mile. It was just like we were back in Louisiana like last summer. Etouffee--yum. It was only $5 for rice, etouffee, and bread, but it was served on Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. However, they were the REAL Cajun flavors we love. Carl had crawfish and mine was chicken & chorizo, both served over rice. If you’re in Indy this coming July for the National Elks Convention, Yats has 3 locations in the city. Oh, just like in the South.

The walk back helped us work off the calories. Fortunately, there were benches along the way for a brief rest now and then. We crossed a bridge over picturesque Fall Creek.

You know I'm a shutterbug, and I just couldn't resist snapping some interesting things we passed.

It's a robot on top of a warehouse building.

And it's a big Mr. Bendo on top of Ralph's Mufflers building!

Allium are my FAVORITE flowers.

Fine Arts Center

Just weird.

Splurged on the hotel for a room with a Jacuzzi tub. 

After ten hours in the car today, it was worth it!

This is a newly renovated hotel 

on the right side of the tracks?

MMDC–Thursday and Friday

On both Thursday and Friday Karen and Susan sewed more one-handled teacher bags for Haiti. The goal is to make 5,000. On Thursday there were 2 of us working all day and one person working half a day, and we completed 52 bags.

On Friday there were several of us sewing for part of the day—Susan and Karen, a local volunteer, and the inside coordinator. In addition, the gentleman who was running the serger can prepare 80 bags a day for hemming.

The tub of bags in the foreground have been serged along the top edge and then the handles and side seams are serged. We couldn't hem the tops and attach the handles fast enough to keep up with Greg. On Friday we only completed 49 bags.

Meanwhile in the desk making center, Carl and Jay completed quality control on the 9 desks made at Trinity UMC. Here Jay notes “mind the gap”.

Jay discovered a new jig that will be needed at Trinity to make sure the next batch of desks are drilled properly.

Carl and Jay built a couple more desks in the past 2 days. There are NO finished desks in the warehouse because they all were shipped this week to Central America.

Team Trinity will be building 12 more desks in Charles City with the pre-cut lumber loaded in Jay’s pickup on Friday afternoon.

Room had to be made for 12 boxes of birthing kits, school bags, teacher bags, and health kits which were requested by a church in Austin, MN, to take to Haiti. Jay will get them as far as Charles City and then their church will come to pick them up.

Brad was moving empty flood buckets which need to be washed out.

More medical equipment has arrived. This will go to Belize eventually.

The third warehouse is looking good. The concrete floor has been power washed after it was swept of dirt earlier this week.

The good news is that Trinity UMC in Charles City will be coming back to MMDC. The dorms were booked solid for 2016, so we selected the second week in June of 2017.

The accommodations in the dorm are quite comfortable. Volunteers pay only $15 a night for their lodging. They can prepare their own meals, and there is a comfortable living room and dining room for communal activities. We often had devotions at noon time. In the evenings we’d read and relax, usually making an early night of it after going out for supper.

The bedrooms have 2 bunk beds and 4 people could share each room. Usually only the bottom bunks are used, so we have signed up for 16 people to share the 8 rooms, but more people join us if they wanted to sleep in a top bunk.

The team members from Gladbrook and Cedar Falls spent most of the week working on Personal Dignity kits. In the past 2 days they assembled an entire pallet. That’s 28 boxes with 20 PDKs in each box for a total of 560. We are bringing 2 boxes back to Charles City to be distributed at Jordan River/Messiah Food Pantry.

For those of you who shared in our “virtual” journey via this blog, we hope you will be inspired to do good works for others by volunteering your time, talents, gifts, and service in the future. — Susan

MMDC--Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday evening, which was St. Patrick’s Day, we went to a local pub in Chatham called Fat Willy’s. We heard there was a parade coming—it went the block from the corner to the pub! All 10 people! Anyway, Jay had to try the local Springfield signature sandwich called the Horseshoe. It has sourdough bread on the bottom, meat (hamburger or chicken or ham, you name it), another slice of bread, cheese rarebit sauce over all of that, and fries over the top. Supposedly the fries are the nails in the horseshoe.

On Tuesday evening Susan and Karen worked after supper on our UMW crafts for Easter. We made little felt bunny bags, which we’ll fill with candy. We also made little girls’ bracelets with Easter charms and colored beads.

On Wednesday Karen and Susan sewed school bags again. We had help for half a day and ended up
sewing the handles on and hemming the top of 54 bags.

Here Susan is turning a bag right-side out.

 Karen is attaching the handle. These are one-handled teacher bags for Haiti.

Meanwhile, Jay and Carl helped clean the floor of the new warehouse which is under construction. It sat in the open air all winter because the walls and roof didn’t go on until this week. With a couple from the Cedar Falls team they scooped the dirt in to piles, loaded them into a wheelbarrow, and hauled all of the dirt outside.

That was really hard work (resulting in blisters and sore backs), so this afternoon they went back to doing quality control on 3 more of the 9 desks made by Trinity UMC. After making sure that the desks go together properly and sit level, the desks are disassembled. Then Carl and Jay counted out the nuts and bolts for reassembly once they reach their final destination. Those go into zip bags and are kept with the pieces of the desks as they receive several coats of polyurethane.

The third warehouse is really taking shape. When we got here on Sunday, there was a basic wooden frame. Today the walls were completely closed in and the siding went on.

We never know what tasks we will be asked to do tomorrow. Those from Gladbrook and Cedar Falls who were assembling Personal Dignity Kits got their 500 completed today, and then they were asked to assemble 100 more. Tomorrow is their last day of work, but we will work on Friday.