Mickey D's and Mondays

Hey, hey, it's Kendra again. Monday morning the four of us plungers were met with yet another adventure. I'm sketchy on the details of what the other half of our group did that day--I know they were able to visit some museums and monuments--but like I said, I'm not quite sure of the whole business. So I apologize that I'll just be writing from the plunge perspective because we weren't able to meet with the rest of our group Monday!

Monday began at 5 AM under Anthony and John's direction. We rolled up our bedding and made a bee-line for McDonald's to use the restrooms and get some coffee. From what John and Anthony explained to us, 5 AM is the standard wake-up time for someone living on the streets because the business owners usually kick them off their property at any time later than that for making their business an eye-sore. Mickey D's was an experience all its own, as one of the other plunging group's guides nearly had his bag pack stolen and we were all cussed out by an big, angry customer, but I still don't know what we did. I think he was just generally angry, no harm done!

After warming up with a cup of coffee at McDonald's, we trekked to St. Matthew's Catholic Church for breakfast. The weather seemed to be off to a nice start, but it was a bit chilly as we waited to get in and get our food. We were served dinner foods for breakfast (I'm talking a tossed salad with a turkey and cheese sandwich!), it was good and unconventional...and I don't know if tomatoes have ever tasted that good to me before! We listened to a Bible reflection following breakfast and were able to interact with and observe the small percentage of the homeless population that was present. Most of the homeless in D.C. are single, Black males. We were told that statistic before we began and breakfast alone was enough to prove it. We all seem to be struck by some of the Church volunteers who seemed extremely condescending and witnessed the anger the homeless had for their pleas falling on deaf ears when a councilman from Housing First stopped by to say a few words about how much the government was doing for the less fortunate. Needless to say, between 5:30 and 10:00 AM, I got a lesson in obscenities!

We heard from one of those served at St. Matthew's that there was a job fair going on at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, so the four of us sought to find it. Although the job fair didn't appear, we did manage to find a nice place to rest for a bit (though we were warned that sleeping was NOT allowed!) before checking in with Jonathon, the NHC director at 12 pm.

After leaving the NHC office, the four of us stuck together and went back to the Interim library because we'd had such a positive experience with the kind librarians there. We spent most of the afternoon there and Denton even tried to apply for a library card, which was unsuccessful without an I.D..

After we got tired of sitting, we journeyed to the White House and gazed on it from the park across the street while eating dinner provided to us the previous night by a group who had laid food and toiletries beside us while we slept. We were intrigued by a group that looked like a small military school in uniform who stood in front of the White House and yelled "CANADA!" and even considered the implications for doing such a thing in their country?! Denton was preoccupied for the most part with watching the snipers atop the White House and Matthew made a pal in one of the fat, gray squirrels in the park area where we sat.

After sitting on the bench for a while, we started getting rained on, at which point, we huddled underneath a metro station and teased ducks waddling in and out of it. Although we had had supper, we were offered three different opportunities to acquire food and blankets. I think that was a really affirming experience for all of us to see those generous with their time and rich in compassion caring for us. But I think what I was even more astounded by was the community that exists among the homeless. Those people not clean from drugs and alcohol are frustrating to their peers who are trying to get off the streets. We were so well taken care of and so loved out guides that we couldn't stop talking about it!

We walked from one metro station to another to call it a night while John and Anthony watched over us. Anthony gave us all little souvineirs and Denton and I were both lucky enough to get some "Mr. [Malcolm] X sunglasses (ka-pow!). We huddled up a little more for warmth that night and were ready to go for the remaining six hours of our plunge!