March 2024 - Blooming

The metaphor is clear. The darkness and cold of winter melt away, and the light and warmth bring forth new growth. Birds sing, flowers start to bloom, the light stays awake for longer, and those who hibernate come out to play.

March 2020, we hosted our usual spring break teams from various colleges around the country. Teams with a number anywhere between a dozen to a hundred came to serve the neighborhood and learn about communities like ours and God's heart for them. Then the pandemic began. Our first college group packed up and went home to Iowa. The next college group called us up and cancelled, much like many organizations and events around the world. Since 2020, we have not hosted a group for spring break, we've been in a sort of winter, if you will. Fast forward to the beginning of March 2024, Ball State (from Indiana) came to Jacksonville for their spring break. Although 2nd Mile Ministries was not their main host, we were able to facilitate one day of community projects as well as some educational discussions during lunch. We are hoping and praying that this was the first of many future college teams to come, like when you see one flower pop open, in anticipation of many more to come.

Back in the fall of 2023, Jacksonville had a few days off from school due to vicious wind storms. An unexpected result of said storms, a neighbor's tree was uprooted, fell over our garden fence, knocking over a telephone pole which dangled cables and exposed wires over our little tool shed. After many calls with the electric company, a tree removal company, and the telephone company, it seemed like a standstill where nobody wanted to accept responsibility for anything, no action was made, a box unfilled on a checklist that seemed to be in a forever hibernated state. "I can't remove that tree with those wires there." "I can't remove the wires with that tree there." Complaints were filed, requests were made within departments, but no movement. Finally, just a couple weeks ago, a bunch of people came with the proper tools, chopped the overhanging branches, removed the fallen pole, and installed a new one. Finally, some peace, no more wondering if, but now, remembering when. This has significantly improved how the garden looks, and has helped build positive momentum in getting things planted and improving the overall look of the garden. Where vegetables, flowers, and herbs and beginning to grow, bloom, and sprout, the look of the garden is as well.

Our after school program students and our high school workers went to the garden in March and planted pumpkin, okra, mustard green, and collard green seeds. With a fixed irrigation system now in place, these beds will get water automatically every morning, and are already beginning to sprout. The kids were excited to take home some aloe plants as well as sample the chocolate mint leaves in the garden. Every subsequent time we go to the garden, the more enthused the students are to help in any way they can. They also love finding snails, caterpillars, and worms. I'm excited to see whether or not the seeds they planted will bring forth successful produce.

I've learned that with some seeds, they sprout best after a dormant period where they either hibernate in the ground, or are refrigerated for a short while. They are then "woken" up and can be triggered to begin their growth. There are times at the BLOCK middle and high school program that I feel ill-equipped, unknowledgeable, and unconfident in how to direct the program. Do I focus on just fun activities? Do I solely focus on the Bible? On life skills? Leadership development? It's hard to know which Fridays will "hit different" and which ones are duds. In the past 5 or 6 years that I've been over either middle schoolers or high schoolers, this year has been my favorite.

I know all the students relatively well, many from summer day camp, and others from our after school program. Two of the BLOCK students work part time for us. Some of our activities are suggested and even planned by the students. There are lots of cool stories from the year, but I feel that some of the most impactful times are just when the students hang out as a group. During Duval County's spring break, BLOCK met up and took a field trip downtown and simply walked by the river, listening to different bands, watching street performers and just being. At the end of the night, a normally timid group of teens and pre-teens were unironically dancing together to some "We Are Family", a moment I'll cherish from this year. I also introduced spray paint art to the students, a hobby I've had for a while. Lydia, a sophomore and 2nd Mile veteran, was unsure at first at how well her painting would turn out. She was super thrilled with this medium that she asked if we could do spray paint again some Friday. Now, she may not become a professional spray paint artist for a career, but I've seen a once shy, timid, and unsure 2nd grade student, who had low self-confidence become one who others look up to, one who has tried new things, one who found her voice when she works with younger students. If that isn't a beautiful thing, then I don't know what is. I can see her making big impacts wherever she goes in life.