Work well done and a weekend away

Well, that was a good effort at blogging more often, wasn't it? I was on a roll there for a while. I'll try to kick it into gear again.

I had a major success at work last week. I was able to move one of my clients into housing! This is a feat that is typically easier said than done for our guests. Most of our clients come to us because they cannot afford market rent housing on their minimum wage pay and then they have to wait years for a public housing or section 8 voucher. However, because of her age, my elderly single client was eligible for Catholic Charities Senior Housing. Because it is HUD subsidized, she does not have to pay any rent at this time and has numerous services at her disposal. So on St. Patrick's Day, two months after she came to Sarah's House, I drove her out to her new apartment in western Maryland. She is a very kind lady and deserving of all things good. Needless to say, everyone at Sarah's House is extremely happy for her and last time I talked to her she sounded very happy herself. It makes me feel very good to know that she is safe and cared for. Please keep her and all of the guests of Sarah's House in your prayers.

In other news, we said goodbye to one of our caseworkers this week. Dione is leaving to finish her degree in Pastoral Counseling full time. We are all very happy for her but, of course, sad to see her go. She was very helpful to me in my learning process and a very calming spirit. She will be missed.

Outside of work, Aaron and I went to Philadelphia a few weekends ago. It was Aaron's spring break and so we wanted to do some traveling. Phili is only about two hours away with lots to do and there were some very friendly faces waiting for us :-) Aaron and I stayed and visited with my cousin Julie, her husband Greg and their one and a half year old adorable daughter Tessa.

I had never met Tessa and Julie and Greg had not yet met Aaron- so we all had a great time catching up and getting to know each other. While in the city, Aaron and I hit up all the important stuff:

The Liberty Bell

The first court house

The cheese steak

Benjamin Franklin Museum

The United States Mint... kind of. It was closed. Aaron was sad.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral

And of course... Rocky. (We also went inside the museum of art)

In addition, we got to meet up with one of Aaron's neighborhood friends to have dinner. All in all, we crammed a lot into one weekend, but still managed to make it fun and relaxing at the same time.

This coming weekend, the Project SERVErs are going on our spring retreat to Ocean City. We'll leave Thursday night and come back on Sunday. Let's hope for good weather! I'll be sure to write about it when we get back!

Love,
Caitlin

Day of Adventure

This Saturday, I woke up with a very unfamiliar dilemma... I had nothing to do! It was a beautiful day in Baltimore and I was in the mood for something new, but had no idea where to start. So I googled "fun things to do in baltimore". The first link that came up was conveniently for "Free things to do in Baltimore". I like the sound of that. The first suggestion on that list was "Go to Antique Row" So I did. 

Then I went to Lexington Market for lunch and watched funky blues band (and some crazy dancing people in the crowd)

Then Faith and Rebecca and I remembered that the Bromo Seltzer was having their monthly open house.  The tower is filled with 15 floors of artist's studios who opened their doors to let us see their art. 

Then, that night we worked the coat check for Our Daily Bread's Annual Donor Dinner.

All in all it was a very successful day. And I know there will be more to come.