Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Splash, Then Come & See

A large part of Mission Year is focused on justice: reconciling relationships, disrupting oppressive systems, and shedding light on local and global injustices that impact us all.

This weekend my team was able to put our Justice Project to work. We saw that folks in our neighborhood were not entirely aware of the resources available to them, so we decided to have a Resource Splash Day where service providers and local vendors would provide free and low cost services to residents of Fifth Ward.

The event exceeded my expectations and our whole team was able to engage with our neighbors in a fun and productive way as we stood in line for free snow cones, painted faces, ran through the Splash Pad, and talked with service providers who offered medical testing, pet food, housing counseling, home repair, and a whole lot more.

Swayne, a man of many talents, cut hair in his mobile haircut unit and performed motivational hip hop on the Jam Stage. His story is really interesting. Swayne had a tracheotomy a few years back and was told by doctors he may never speak again, let alone rap. He proved them wrong and went on to record several songs, perform at multiple venues, and is first known person to record over 10 projects with a Tracheostomy Tube in use.Check out some of his stuff HERE!

We had about 200 community residents show up to our Resource Splash Day, and it looked like they all really enjoyed themselves. 



The day after our Resource Splash Day was Mission Year's Come and See art benefit, one of our final fundraisers and a way to let the community know how we have been impacted by these last 10 months in our neighborhoods. 

Celeste accompanied me to the event. I performed poems, we shared some pie and brownies, drank coffee, and Celeste insisted on holding Quentin. 






Most of these photos were taken by Don at Love Is Studios. Check out his Facebook! 

If you would like to continue to help make events like these possible, and get a limited edition t-shirt for donations $50+, check out Mission Year's current Finish Strong campaign by clicking on the banner below and feel free to choose my name from the drop down menu!

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