Today I helped supervised the decorating of 9 Christmas trees, decorating the lobby and dinning room, and the front of the UMOM building. We also found out that there were 123 families here with 200 families on the waiting list. Whew! Some families are actually grandparents that have custody of grand children. (Bet they are tired at the end of the day.) UMOM also partners with the hospital and a bus that parks in various places around Phoenix to give medical help to those who can't afford it. They partner with other homeless shelters around the city too. Today, UMOM picked up 300 blankets from another shelter and brought them here to UMOM.
I talked with a single mother who was quite proud of her self for getting her GED last night. Her grades are good enough to get into Arizona University. Our NOMADS were in the conference room last night and she held up her grades in the window for us to see! She was so proud of herself! Today she bought a nice dress and plans to dress up for her 27th birthday on December 23 and plans to take her 7 month baby and go out for supper. How lives are changing around here is so exciting to see.
Mark also helped supervise volunteers make garden boxes, 12'x4'. They made 13 of them. Now they have a sprinkler system built in, dirt and seeds planted in the boxes. The plan here it to grow some of the food they eat here. And to teach gardening.
I hope to send you some pictures of the trees that were decorated. We even made a Grinch tree in the clinic area.
We are planning to spend Friday and Saturday nights with Marks mom. A real bed and a real shower sound pretty good right now. We'll take advantage of the washer dryer she has too.
Blessings, from a very tired, Pam and Mark
