Micah Corps Learns From UMM

The Micah Corps spent this past week learning from and working with UMM (United Methodist Ministries).

On Monday, we talked with Stephanie Ahlschwede, the director of UMM. She talked to us about her journey in becoming involved with the United Methodist Church and with United Methodist Ministries. She spoke to us about the mission of UMM and the history. Later on in the morning, Nathan Morgan, the "Emperor" of the Big Garden project spoke with us about the Big Gardens and about food deserts. We were amazed to find out that even in Nebraska, and in Omaha, there are places where there is no access to a quality grocery store where people can buy fresh produce and fresh food. It is because of this that food deserts exist.

On Tuesday, we met at the Blue Flamingo, a thrift and fair trade store run by UMM, at their new location at 1909 Leavenworth St. We helped to organize, paint, and clean the store and the areas around it for their upcoming Grand Opening which was on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of July. We all enjoyed our time there.

Tori works hard moving fence behind the store. 

Throughout the morning, we split up into three groups of two. Tori and Katie worked out behind the store picking up and making the back look nice.

Elizabeth and Elena work on sorting out clothes , a very intense task.

Elizabeth and Elena sorted out clothes for the morning between the Men's and Women's clothes and between the different seasons. The final group was Jonathan and Adam. They worked on painting the front door of the store.

Jonathan is proud of his painting skills.

On Wednesday, the team went to meet at Heart Ministry Center with Lisa Maupin and Jaime Trobough. They work with the Volunteers in Mission Experience in Omaha. They learned the behind the scenes work of working with a group coming in for a mission trip from anywhere from two to five days. Later in the day, the team met back up with Stephanie and took a walking tour of the area around where the UMM building is. We got to see the different types of art in the area; that of the street art that was commissioned across from the UMM office, to a mural being painted on the back of a grocery store . We were also able to see one of the Big Gardens in the area.

Mural being painted behind the Avanza Grocery Store.

The final day of working with UMM, the team met up with Nathan Morgan, "Emperor" of the Big Garden Project again. This time, however, we got to get our hands dirty, literally. The morning was spent at the Nebraska Children's Home in Omaha, covering the ground with mulch to prevent weeds from growing. It was hard work, but definitely worth it!

Jonathan, Katie, and Adam work on filling a wheelbarrow with mulch to spread in the Garden.

Nathan helps Elizabeth to shove mulch and fill one of many wheelbarrows.

After an amazing week with UMM, the Micah Corps was ready to head out to Washington D.C. this morning (Sunday). After a long day of travel, we made it here and were able to even go out to eat at a great pizza place. However, to get there, we applied some of the lessons of last week, and became "neighborhood detectives" or made sure we were aware of our surroundings. In doing so, we noticed, right under our noses, a food desert, where we walked block after block and only saw one place to eat for over a mile. We hope to continue to keep our eyes open to the issues that face people today as well as enjoy our trip here in Washington D.C. More updates throughout the week, so come back tomorrow!