Greetings - we are the new Heartland team for LiNK’s Spring Tour! It’s good to meet you all and welcome to one wild ride that is the midwest. In the last 6 days we have managed to cut across half of our beloved nation in a van we call Daisy. Daisy is precious, but she’s been make weird shutters that is making us a little nervous…
We are currently in Baytown, TX right outside Houston. Pat is passed out on the floor, Kat is working vigorously at figuring out our inventory situation, and I’m here staring at these two, plus about 200 rolled t-shirts covering our room. Welcome to Day 3!
I guess first things first. We should get to know each other a little. It’s more comfortable to follow a blog when you feel like you know a little bit about that person or persons.
Meet Pat: Pat is a native of Michigan and has his fingerless gloves to prove it. (They’ve come in pretty handy, as it’s SNOWING in Texas!!) He’s 20 years old, though he’ll be the first to tell you “he’s turning 21 in April!” He’s a veteran when it comes to traveling on the road, as he did a semester on the Invisible Children Middle America Team back in 2008. He has a heart of gold both for social justice and for serving others, and his 6’ 6” stature makes for interesting team pictures.
Meet Kat: That’s right I have 2 teammates with rhyming names - the giggles in my head never go away when I introduce them. Kat is 23 and a graduate from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been interning with LiNK since June 2009 and has definitely had a taste of the LiNK kool-aid and can’t get enough. She’s goofy and whacky and sometimes whips out a Southern accent from nowhere. She’s beasting it out as our Accountant and Merch Gal like nobody’s business.
Meet Leah: It’s hard to write about oneself, but I’ll give it a try. I’m 22 and hail from Western North Carolina where I grew up and will always consider home. Those Blue Ridge Mountains are painted inside my eyelids. I graduated from university last August and have been on the road since - last semester with Invisible Children and again this semester with LiNK. I prefer my sleeping bag to bed sheets and attempt to cut my own bangs. My catch word is “absolutely” and I can’t stop saying it as much as I try.
There we are. Oddballs of course, but it’s what makes a good team. We’re excited to include you on this journey.
Our first few days of screenings here in Texas have been interesting, but fulfilling. Today about 20-30 kids came to talk to us about starting up a Chapter and I’d estimate we collected about 200 letters to Senators Hutchison and Cornyn for ourLegalize Adoption Campaign. We’ll be back at Ross Sterling High School tomorrow to put on another full day of screenings, and I can’t wait to see the response!
Here’s to the next ten weeks!
