Mission Trip – Love Local 2025 Day 2: The Hub Argentine (The Official Entry)

 Greetings from Earth, fans. For those who wish to continue the intrepid adventures of the U.S.S. Leawood, please re-visit the Day 1 blog and proceed wherever with your own imagination. Today, we’re back to earth and spending a second day with Carter Ellis and The Hub Argentine. 

Perhaps you’re not familiar with The Hub. Let us enlighten you. The Hub is located at the Metropolitan Ave UMC building in the Argentine community and is a ministry of the Kansas City District of the UMC. In July 2020, Metropolitan Avenue UMC closed after 132 years of vital ministry in the Argentine neighborhood. This closing gave birth to two new United Methodist ministries in its place: Ushindi UMC and The Hub. Ushindi United Methodist Fellowship is a vibrant United Methodist Congregation with worship services in Swahili and Kinyarwanda on Sunday mornings at 10AM. Now 5 years old, The Hub is established as a non-profit organization in the Argentine community with many partners. Happy 5th Birthday, Hub! 

On with the blog.... 

We gathered at LUMC at 8AM and after a brief talk about the day ahead we left for The Hub for another day of service and new discoveries, equipped with our water bottles and determination to make a difference. There we met with Executive Director Rev. Carter Ellis, an ordained elder and Associate Pastor at The Church of the Resurrection. As you may remember, she has preached at LUMC several times. She welcomed us and handed out our assignments. She’ll be the first to say she can’t and doesn’t do it all herself but has a dedicated team and volunteers supporting her. And boy is she great at coordinating volunteers! 

Today was a Community Market Day at the Hub, with the Food Pantry and Clothes Shop open for business for several hours this morning. The Community Market is open 2-3 hours twice a week and 2nd Saturdays to folks living in the two area codes surrounding the Hub. They have canned and packaged foods, meat, fresh produce, and personal hygiene items available in the pantry. It’s just like a regular grocery story, with carts, aisles, stock on shelves, checkout...the difference is the food is free and families can pick it up with points assigned according to the size of the family, from singles to 5 to even larger. They’ve set up quite a system with a goal of feeding a family from several days to a week. All the food is either donated directly or purchased with donated cash or grown in their own little garden. They were offering delicious fresh peaches today from their garden. Tasty! 

They had other staff checking out the food and otherwise helping the shoppers, but members of our team were recruited to bag. We used doubled paper bags with handles until they ran out toward the end...convenient for carrying home for folks who lived nearby and environmentally responsible. Excellent planning! 

Another part of our team helped in the play area set up to keep young children occupied while their parents were shopping. We all know how distracting kids can be in a grocery store! 

Another part of the team helped with the clothing store. They were working with other experienced volunteers in the clothing storage area, where they helped unbox, separate, size, and place on hangers. There was a steady stream of clothes racks being wheeled down the hallway to the actual store during the open hours. The goal is to provide 2 items a week, which is expected to provide 2 outfits a month. A very practical, thoughtful approach. 

But before all this could happen, our painting team had a job to finish. Yesterday had seen a coat of primer applied to the tile of 2 bathrooms that started out pink and green, respectively. The primer, which had to be applied over roughened tile (we’re talking plenty of elbow grease here), was white and by itself made a huge difference. But to finish it off, a special 2-coat epoxy paint was used, and it smelled to high heaven! Kudos to the dedication and perseverance of the paint team! They had to apply the first coat in the morning, then the 2nd within 3 hours. So double kudos! It was a true challenge, but all agreed it was a job well done and a real accomplishment to be proud of. The new white bathrooms are beautiful! Carter was speechless. 

We also squeezed in a little harvesting in their garden.... okra and yellow cherry tomatoes. We also let her know she had a couple of eggplants that looked ready. 

Plus, we broke down boxes that had been used to bring in clothes and food and took them out to the recycling bin. It is good to be responsible stewards of God’s Good Earth.... 

Carter gathered us at the end of the day and thanked us profusely for the wonderful improvements we made to the Hub and the help we provided to make for a successful Community Market, and our flexibility to do what she needed. 

We headed on home but drove past the huge block-long “Anthology of Argentine” mural on Metropolitan Avenue, depicting the history of the Argentine community in Kansas City, Kansas, painted in 1998. Check it out. It’s huge! 

Then it was back to LUMC, for a human puzzle game (youth vs adults), a delicious meal of tacos with all the fixin’s (Taco Tuesday, of course!), followed by a brief worship session where we shared our impressions of the day and how God is working in our lives and the lives of the Argentine community. 

Not as exciting or exotic as yesterday’s blog.... but there you have it. 

Blog Team 3: Bruce Bove and Gene Samuelson

See prior post for pictures from the day.