Missions was a great experience today! We started off the day by arriving at school at 8 and taking a bus ride to the LA Food Bank. We got right to work once we arrived, and then spent the next few hours packaging boxes. It was fun to get to spend time with people from school and the other volunteers while doing this! By the end of the day, we had packaged around 2,000 boxes of food! This was by far my favorite local mission day, and I have experienced it throughout all of high school! The day was genuinely so fun and enjoyable and I am so glad that I was able to experience it.

Jaclyn Paul

I really enjoyed doing volunteer work at the LA Food Bank. So many good things happened while we were helping out over there. We all got put to work on different sides, and in different types of sections. There were already people there volunteering when we got there, but we got to help them and we eventually got a lot done before they left. I learned more things about volunteering than I thought and I think I have some new skills jotted down. I even got to talk to some of the other people that were there before they left. It was a treat and I would gladly do it again next year. 

Eloy Villegas

Today, we headed to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in order to help pack up and ship food to families in need. All of the staff giving us directions and helping us along the way were so nice, and it was so much fun to be able to serve God in such a meaningful way, while working alongside these wonderful people! While visiting, I got the opportunity to work as someone who helps unpackage the goods for the people placing them in the boxes, and I later got to also be the one filling the boxes with those same goods. I’d never done something like this before, so it was new and exciting for me as I packaged food up with my fellow learners! We were all able to encourage each other, as we swapped roles and kept the boxes rolling through the conveyor belts. I had so much fun volunteering here for missions, and I’d just like to thank my friends, facilitators, the staff at LA Regional Food Bank, and mostly God for blessing me with this wonderful opportunity to serve him and help others as a part of the CCHS family. I hope I get the chance to do it again someday!

Shaye Villegas

Day 1 of CCHS Local missions was great. Most of us got together and took a bus to Butterfield Park. At the park we picked up trash, painted, filled in holes that dogs dug, and more. A man named Benito, had all of this work on his to-do list and we got it all done for him! Most of the signs, curbs, and trash cans were faded, so we took paint and repainted most of them! In the dog parks, we shoveled and  distributed dirt to get rid of the holes that the dogs have created. A few of us also took down the American flag and replaced it with a brand new one. Trash was left around the park from the weekend, so we picked that up as well. We ended the day with a nice lunch from the parent team! It was a successful day. 

Mallory Whitlock

My personal experience for day 1 of Local Missions was amazing. It started with my group going to the park. The bus ride was very fun. When we got to the park they immediately made us work. Me and a few of my friends were told to work on the water fountain and we were working. One of them, Chase CW, was very focused and helped us with it. After a few hours, we were done. When we finished I was told to work on the foul poles and repaint them. I worked on around 5 and when I was done I was treated to a great lunch from the parent team. Overall Day 1 for the local Missions Team was great.

Reid Monroe

Today, a group of 11 of us went to Ms. Lupé’s house to clean up her yard. When we first got there we split into 2 groups, a group of boys and a group of girls. The boys went to the front of her land while us girls worked in the back. For the first half hour señora Lupé was in the front helping the boys, then she came to the back to check on us girls. The first thing we asked her about was what she wanted to keep what she wanted thrown away, so she told us what to throw away then came to talk to me. She had asked me what my name was then we got to talking for a few minutes and had told me a little bit about herself. She was very sweet and reminded me of my grandmother, I had told her that and she had told me I reminded her of her granddaughter coincidentally enough. We really connected throughout the day and I told her I would be more than happy to come again to help her finish the job more. As we were about to end our job we found some old records and she let a couple of us take them home to keep. Afterwards we packed up and took a group photo with señora lupé, and she had told all of us girls that we are all very beautiful hard working girls and the boys are very handsome hard working young men and she was very thankful for us coming. Then me and her hugged and before I left, she told me she was very grateful for my help today, and she hopes that as I grow I will continue to be just as beautiful inside as I am on the outside. Overall today was a great learning experience and it really helped me realize why God had called me to go to her and help. I was super grateful for the connection we made and I hope to make more of a difference this week as I did today along with the rest of our missions team.