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This article was written for the Pacific Odd Fellow newspaper in Oregon
 Bus 6 poses for the cameras after leaving New York City The United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth program had a very nice trip this year. Bus 6 was made up of 4 Delegates from Utah, 6 from Idaho, 13 from Washington, and 19 from Oregon. This group flew to Philadelphia separately on July 7th. The Tour Leaders were Trey Anderson (Oregon) and Mary Dunivan (Washington). The first night in Philadelphia we had a birthday party for Brad Stokes from Utah. The next day we toured Philadelphia with the assistance of Walker Lodge who has done this for many years. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the home of Betsy Ross, and much more. We also got to see the reenactment of the first reading of the Declaration of Independence, which was a lot of fun! That night we drove into New York to meet up with another 81 Delegates from Michigan, Ontario, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. We stayed at the Southgate Towers in Manhattan and walked over to the Empire State Building where the view from the top was marvelous! There were about 450 delegates total this year, in New York for 4 separate weeks.
Monday, July 9th we toured the United Nations building and heard from two speakers. As we left the building we were stopped by barricades and watched President Bush’s motorcade drive by. We then went to 5th Avenue for a few hours of shopping, or at least window-shopping. Tuesday we again went to the UN and heard from various speakers. Later, we toured the Financial District around Wall Street and got to go into the New York Stock Exchange. That night we had a Talent Show, which was a lot of fun. Delegates danced, sang, played piano and trumpet, and did skits. The Tour Leaders even got to do a take-off of "Singing in the rain". Wednesday morning we headed to Central Park to do a community service project. We weeded and raked around the outside of the park |
for 2 hours and it was a neat thing to do. That afternoon we returned
to the hotel for our preliminary speeches. UNP Delegates doing community service at Central Park. The speech topic this year was "How the UN programs have improved the state of the world’s children." Delegates were divided into 6 small groups and two winners were chosen from each room. Out of the 12 finalists, 8 were from our Bus 6 and 5 were from Oregon! The Oregon Delegates did very well! After the preliminary speeches, we headed down to Broadway to see the great play, Les Miserables. Thursday morning we rode the subway down to Battery Park and went out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Regretfully, due to heat we were not able to climb up to the crown this year. We then went over to Ellis Island and saw the buildings where immigrants used to go to. That evening we had the Speech Finals, where one winner is chosen each week. The winner for our week was one of our Bus 6 Delegates, Stephen Reed of Kennewick, WA. He won a $1,000 scholarship for his effort! After the speeches were over, we had a brief dance and were off to bed!
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In Williamsport, our bus driver had to leave us for a medical reason,
and he was replaced the next morning. Our two drivers were excellent drivers, who knew the places to see and worked well with the
kids and the leaders. Sunday we drove to Gettysburg and toured the battlefields there. In 3 days of fighting in 1863, 51,000 Americans died in this small area. It is a remarkable area to see. That evening we drove into Washington, DC. After getting into our hotel in Georgetown, we toured the National Cathedral, which was just a few blocks away. Across the street from our hotel was the Russian Embassy and just a bit behind us was the Vice-President’s home. We then went to the new Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial after dark. From there, we walked around the Tidal Basin in the moonlight to see the Jefferson Memorial. Monday we were joined by Harold and Norm from a local lodge. After a great breakfast, we toured the Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial, which are all side by side at one end of the Capital Mall. Then we headed for Arlington Cemetery where we saw the "Changing of the Guard" at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. After lunch, we spent some time touring the various Smithsonian Museums. That night we visited the Capital and the White House, though we did not have time to tour either. Tuesday, July 17th, we left Washington, DC. We stopped at the Washington DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as we left and then headed for Baltimore. In Baltimore we stopped at Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner as the fort was being shelled. We ordered pizza from Dominos and they delivered right to the park. We sat around in a circle, discussed our trip, answered questions about our lodges, and generally said goodbye to each other. We then drove to Philadelphia, boarded planes and came home. It was a wonderful 11-day trip. The Delegates on our Bus 6 were just
wonderful young people to be around. You should be very proud to have been
their sponsors. I hope they will visit your lodges and tell their tales. Thank you for your support! Trey Anderson |
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