Today we spit up into two, and eventually three groups to help out with two different soup kitchens to serve the community. The morning began with piles and piles of tuna fish and PB&J followed by an assembly line of sandwiches and fruit. From there we split up into two groups to serve the food to the community, essentially an outreach program. Our driver, Jose, was our historian as well as tour guide of the Bronx. He had some very interesting stories, but the one thing that remained consistent was how when he was a kid and before most parts of the lower half of the city, such as the Bronx, Harlem, and East Side were full of drugs, prostitutes, and slums. However, today the only "poor" area that remains is the Bronx, and according to him one day even that will disappear. Yet what always remains consistent is the homeless and need for jobs no matter what district. We saw many unemployed immigrant workers standing underneath overhangs at gas stations just looking for day time work. These people come to America hoping to find jobs in order to send money back home only to be left out in the cold. It's really sad. While the rest of the city may have been cleaned up and dramatically changed since the 1970s, there is still a large homeless problem that needs to be addressed before the parts of the city can really be called "clean".
-Amy
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