Street Youth Ministry: What did you do on your summer vacation?

Sep 1, 2012

What did you do on your summer vacation?

Some girls from the Dripping Springs/Wimberley Service Unit worked on their Community Service Bar by volunteering at the University United Methodist Church’s Fig Leaf Store. This is a ministry for aiding the homeless population in the UT Austin area and serves Street Youth Ministry (SYM).

The girls worked to sort donated clothing, hang and stock the store. Clothing that was not appropriate for the current weather conditions were hung in their storage room. When time came for the street youth clients to shop, they assisted them in locating items they were needing, folded and bagged their items.

When they saw how fast the donated items were depleting, they took their service a step further and held a donation drive to collect additional items for the Store.

On Thursdays the girls worked to prepare the store for SYM. Young adults were invited in for discussion, snacks and could visit the store to obtain clothing and other needed items. About 20 street youth are served each Thursday. Fig Leaf is open to people in need of all ages on Saturdays. The customers began with serving brunch and visitors were able to visit the Store. A few hundred people attend on Saturdays for brunch and shopping.

The experience the girls attained provided a whole new perspective to the topic of homelessness.

The Fig Leaf Store is SYM's chosen clothing partner. They can store and receive a lot of clothing. However, there has been a severe clothing shortage this summer that has resulted in the need to ration clothing. We always need men's shoes, belts, pants, and shorts, but this year we even need simple T-shirts during the "clothing drought!" Donations can be dropped off anytime at University United Methodist Church by the elevator. Please label them "Street Youth" so the closet will know that SYM is contributing to the clothing store even more than it's clients receive!

Join us at SYM.