Happy Thanksgiving!!

This past week was spent preparing and carrying out Thanksgiving festivities for the tenants of the PG. Monday we had dinner in the ballroom. It was really nice for the tenants to have an event of their own in such a beautiful place. See below:




People brought friends and family, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I didn't realize how many tenants I actually know.. there were so many people coming up to me thanking me and wishing me a happy thanksgiving. I feel like I'm finally settled into the job, it's a good feeling. Honestly, my favorite part of the job is talking to tenants. I love working for CGC, they really are doing amazing things. A couple weeks ago my office had to get tenants to sign a postcard in favor of low-income housing and an overwhelming amount of people came up to sign. I was surprised how many people took pride and concern in their future. I had the opportunity to talk with a few tenants who never come up to the office through the signing. It was neat to hear some people talk about low-income housing. One tenant told me that the PG saved his life, that if not for our CG, he'd be on drugs in the projects somewhere. Another man called the PG the Waldorf of low-income housing. It really is amazing how an idea like CG has been actualized, and how many people it is serving for the better. I'm thankful to be a part of it.

In other news, things could not be going better with my community. We all get along great, and have a lot in common. We all just finished reading Twilight, and we're all oddly obsessed with Friday Night Lights. We had a Thanksgiving feast on Sunday night, after a week of fasting (kind of an awareness activity prior to our Thanksgiving week full of plenty). It's nice how we all take on our own role in the household, whether it be with cooking, cleaning, trash clean up, etc.. Everyone is really responsible, and extremely easy to live with. I didn't know what to expect going into this year, and community was not something I thought about or really cared about. I was more focused on the other JVC pillars, but after a few months, I can confidently say that community has become my favorite part of this whole experience. I was definitely cautious when I first moved in, and maybe I was a little too on guard, but I feel really safe and comfortable in my neighborhood. It took me last night to realize that when friends we're joking about Harlem and asking me how it was and telling me they were concerned about my safety. I guess you can't really know a place until you live there for awhile.