In the Summer of 2008 two of my friends and I went downtown in Oklahoma City and saw the number of homeless and needy people that were not being let into the community shelters for reasons that we saw as ridiculous. We went and fed and gave water to them and just talked with them about their lives. This helped us get involved in the downtown area and help these people get the food they couldnt easily get because of the shelters not letting them in. As I became more involved in my high school, it became harder to keep my grades up, and my friends both moved away.

I'm am going to put the poor to work, which involves remodeling old homes and when the house is done they will live there. They will be givt.e shelter, food, and a job around the house. This will solve poverty, the housing problem, deaths, and unemploymen

Each year our youth group at Resurrection Lutheran Church in St. Joseph, MN plans a mission trip. This year we decided that instead of traveling thousands of miles we could make a difference close to home. Also with the economy the way it is we thought it was important to plan a trip that would be less costly yet still necessary and rewarding. In 2010 the group goal is to reach out and assist homeless and needy children in Beltrami County, Minnesota. This community is located 160 miles from RLC. Beltrami County has some of the highest poverty rates in the state.

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