Day 2 Chicago, 3/9/26

This morning, we started early with a beautiful Mass at 6:30a.m. led by Bishop Bob, one of the founders of this order. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and got to work under Sister Stephanie’s direction. She gave us different tasks to do in preparation for the food pantry that is held on the first floor of the retreat center every Tuesday.

We worked alongside the sisters and volunteers for about four hours. Whether it was transporting, sorting, organizing, or bagging foods and other goods, we all stayed busy and hard at work. I thought it was amazing to see how many different people were involved in this process and to see how generously people donate. You could tell this service is done out of love and it didn’t feel like just some chores, but rather like this would really make a difference in lives of our neighbors. Every Monday this food pantry goes through 50,000 pounds of food, which is something I can barely wrap my head around.

Once we got done, we got to pray liturgy of the hours with the sisters in the little chapel, which was very slow and intentional. Then we got to eat lunch with the sisters and students from the other school, Ferris State University, that had just arrived at lunch. I really enjoyed getting to sit among the sisters and get to know them a bit more while sharing a meal with them. After lunch cleanup we unloaded a few more pounds of food from a last-minute delivery and prayed a holy hour in adoration. A lot of us did have a hard time staying awake during this hour because of our busy morning, but it was a great time to take a moment to reflect and pray.

The next hour and half of our day was spent with elementary kids at the YMCA. This is a very crucial place in this neighborhood where kids from nearby schools can go after school, rather than getting into trouble elsewhere. We all had a wonderful time playing outside with these kids and just getting to know them and their sweet personalities a bit. We did this with some other students from Ferris, so we were able to get to know them too.

Before dinner, we played hacky sack in the sun and then ate a meal of pizza, tacos, and various items with the Ferris students. They are a big and fun crew, and I’ve had a good time getting to meet a lot of them. After dinner clean up, us Carroll students had a debrief in which we shared the various cool moments that we had from the day.

We really noticed how intentional the sisters are when they work, pray, and speak to people. My prayer for all of us is that we can be intentional and loving as they are and above all, as Christ is.

Alli