NYC day 3

 Day 3 had us up and serving breakfast and lunch at St. John's bread and life. They feed the poor and homeless and also have a food pantry where basic groceries can be picked up by those in need.

 Makayla and I worked in the kitchen doing food prep.

We also worked in the serving line during lunch. They do some great work at St. John's there were so many people in there that day needing help and it was eye opening for me. I told James that in my mind when I picture homeless people they are all adults but that morning I saw several small children eating with their families.

 After serving in the morning we went to the Macy's area and we had about a 2 hour window of free time.

 Did you know that Macy's is the worlds largest store? It is 9 stories!!

 It was so beautiful on the inside. Makayla and I didn't dare venture to all nine floors, we hit one of the 3 Starbucks inside and then shopped in the Logo store and purchased some pretty great souvenirs.

 The outside windows of Macy's were pretty spectacular too.

 Makayla and I had planned out our two hour break, our next stop was the Empire State Building, it was only about a block away.

 We didn't have the time to go up to the top but we did explore the bottom and take some pictures!

 On our walk back to our meeting place we shopped at some souvenir stores.

 The next thing we did was take our first NYC subway ride.  It was everything I thought it would be minus the rats, we didn't see any. However, there really are bands playing down there.

 The subway took us to the edge of the Times Square area.

 We had dinner at Ellen's Stardust diner. The waitstaff there are all working while auditing for Broadway roles and they sing and entertain while you are eating. It was really cool!

 Right down from Ellen's was the Broadway sign and The Late Show with Steven Colbert.

 Our waitress singing to Makayla.

 After dinner we had just a small amount of time to explore. Makayla and I went in the M&M store and the Hershey store in Times Square.

 That evening we served at St. Paul's house.

 Their sign is featured in the opening credits of the original Saturday Night Live.

 We bagged groceries to be picked up the next morning. They are used to supplement low income families to get them through the month. They have a 91 year old lady who walks 6 blocks every week for her bag of groceries. St. Paul's is located in Hell's Kitchen. They jokingly referred to it as God's dining room in Hell's Kitchen.

 After St. Paul's our fearless leader Steve offered to take whoever wanted to go back to Times Square so we could see all of it. Of course we went in the group back to Times Square, I wanted to see it at night.

 It was magical and not as crowded as I thought. However, it is smaller in person than on TV.

 Makayla did some shopping at the Disney Store which was 2 stories tall!

 The Disney Store greeter serenaded us with Disney songs since we came all the way from Texas.

 We did some more walking around.

 This is in front of Good Morning America and ABC.

 There is a Toys R Us in Times Square big enough to have a ferris wheel in the middle of the store!

 The iconic armed forces recruiting station.

 and the NYPD office.

 Times Square was really neat! It was well worth the late night! We were very tired by the time we got back to NYSUM to sleep.