Here We Go, Together.

On Friday, I read an article in the Arizona Daily Star headlined “Arizona is now no. 2 in poverty.” One in five Arizonans are living below the poverty line. And I’m fairly certain that a life hovering above that line is nothing near easy. So, that statistic can’t even begin to capture the amount of individuals living with too little food, unsafe housing, and an immeasurable amount of stress. And here I am in South Tucson, Arizona. As of last year, the poverty rate for this 1.2 square mile of a city was at 46.2%. That’s almost half of the population living below this “line.” The Primavera Foundation where I am working has several emergency shelters, as well a handful of transitional housing programs. As of late, they are usually all at or near capacity. Earlier this week I spent the morning in the central intake office. People can call this office to learn about and apply for housing programs. Because I am so new to the foundation, I could not actually answer telephone calls- I simply l

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for sure. After a week in the green, rainy, cool Stony Point, NY, we headed to the hot, dry, not-so-green, but fascinatingly beautiful Tucson, AZ. We’ve unpacked our things, biked, settled into our in-need-of many-repairs home, biked some more, been to Southside Presbyterian Church, spent some time biking, and started our new jobs. Oh yeah, and did I mention we bike everywhere? As I spent some time reflecting I thought about what I expected to feel in my return to Tucson. I expected to be reminded of painful things. I expected to be overly contemplative. And I expected to be forcing myself to stay present. But, God has blessed me incredibly as I have been here. I have been reminded of the incredible community of people that make up this culturally diverse place and the joy it brings me. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be present in this place once again. I pray that through my work and life I will learn to spread a rose-like fragrance