Tanner’s Mission Trip Moment

Having worked for YouthWorks for two summers as Program Staff, I had many diverse experiences. As I think back, I cannot help but think about my experiences this past summer volunteering at the Arc of Greater New Orleans. I made it a point to visit this particular service site twice every week because I always found it was a great place to connect with the students and even when that did not happened, I had been developing great relationships with the full time workers of the Arc. Throughout the summer my team began to call the Arcmy “baby” because I always was the first to visit – and they knew it was not just for the amazing soup they served there. Every day when I would walk in Eric, a worker with an intellectual disability, would immediately come up to me and ask for a high five. Whenever I would miss a week the next week he would tell me how much he missed me.

It was during one of my last weeks there that Eric decided to sing the same song on repeat for the entire day. Many of the other workers were getting annoyed and even some of the students were quickly losing their appreciation of Eric’s show, but each time I could not help but smile. I could not help but see the smile on Eric’s face when people complimented his singing and showed they valued him. As I watched him interact with the students and occasionally sang along with him I could not help but think, “This is what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. Singing with Eric and helping him see that he has value and that I am willing to give him my time of day instead of ignoring his antics.” I may not have known a lot about Eric’s life, but I knew that he enjoyed life and cared that I came to see him. Working alongside Eric and the other Arc workers affirmed in me a desire to work alongside those who are intellectually and developmentally disabled in the future – it stirred within me a passion I did not realize I had.

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Ever since high school Tanner Risser has had a love for missions, social justice, and working with the marginalized. He worked for YouthWorks in 2013 in St. Louis, MO and then the following summer in New Orleans, LA. He has a passion for working with teenagers and is heavily involved as a mentor on his campus.