Worth the Wait

Last week we opened our brand new building at Room in the Inn. After 15 months of construction, inconvenience, and transition, I have to say that it was completely worth it. The new space is twice as large as our old one, and so much nicer. Some amazing moments have already happened here in just the past week...

*Jeff decided to take one of the participants around the building and give him a personal tour. This guy is one of the ringleaders around the Campus...the one we all know is selling drugs on the corner. Yet when Jeff showed him our new space, he actually cried.

*Another participant, who is usually kind of a jerk toward everyone who works at the Campus came in Monday morning to pick up his mail. He was as pleasant as can be, especially compared to normal. He told me how much the new building really made him feel worth something, and how much he appreciated everything that we did here.

*Sitting in the new Day Room on Tuesday morning, I heard people share their stories. I heard one man tell me about his former career as a musician. In fact, he toured Europe with Neil Diamond many years ago! I listened to people tell me memories about projects they did in grade school and visiting blackberry farms with their family in the summer. I got to ask people about their future goals. The entire atmosphere has been so much more open to conversation and connection.

*Wednesday morning, I played pictionary with Lucia and 4 participants and had a blast. I can't even tell you the last time I played real pictionary, if ever. Today I played Spades and earned some respect from the guys who never expected a young white girl to know how to play cards :)

There have been plenty of hardships that have happened this week within our community, but we have been there for each other even in those moments. I don't regret for one minute staying here another year.