All in a Day's Work

Last week, I participated in two community service opportunities in remembrance of September 11th. Last Friday, a few other VISTAs and I went helped clean up a school that Hamilton Living Waters would use to make a community center for elementary and teenage children. It was a nice change to do direct service! Capacity building is important, but it's also good to see a direct impact from your actions. We organized the chairs throughout the building, and carried over a 130 chairs up the stairs ( no elevators!) Yes, we all had our work-out for the day! In addition, we swept up all the shards of glass and the inches deep dust and dirt of the the floor. We were all coughing, sneezing, and wheezing when we were done. In the area, there was a problem of young teenage males, throwing left behind bricks and large rocks into windows of the school. I was really impressed with the staff at Living Waters' ability to empathize with the males, opposed to expressing their anger. They realized that the boys did not have soccer teams or baseball teams where they could constructively utilize their energy. Thus, they turned to throwing rocks into glass windows, burning picnic tables, and sneaking into the building to huff paint. To help, we picked up large rocks and bricks throughout the area; however, the rocks did not end! Whenever we pick up one, we found five more! Oh well, I hope our efforts deterred the teenagers from throwing glass in windows.
In addition, we picked up trash around the building and playground. It was also interesting to read some of the graffiti of the playground before we removed it! In the end there was a noticeable difference in the appearance of the building and the organization inside.
At the end of our day, we sat down and reflected about September 11th. We learned what each one of us was doing when we found out about 9/11, and our thoughts about its impact today. It was a really a meaningful day; I learned about issues effecting in local community in remembrance of an event that impacted the nation.
On Saturday, September 11th, I tabled a booth at the Evangel Church of God’s Community Day Event. It was amazing to see the sense of solidarity in their community. They began the event by having the Boy Scouts raise the flag at half mass, raise it high again and was followed by the singing of the National Anthem. The event was very coordinated and had something for every age. There were inflatable games, face painting, a bike parade, a petting zoo, and desirable door prizes. In addition, they had a live band perform. It was hard to compete with that! There was an insurance company and another non-profit at the event that also seemed to have trouble getting too many people who were interested. While the MC’s mentioned OBB throughout the event and why it’s important, it was difficult to get a big flow of people to come into my room for Quick Checks. It also didn’t help that I internet was very on and off. It would decide to work for a Quick Check for one person, but not the next person. The church requested that I leave literature so that they can pass it out in their food pantry. One woman, who had said she was not interested in public benefits last year, said her circumstances have changed drastically and is very interested in public benefits. The more and more outreach events that I do, I realize the impact of the recession. People are working hard for their families, but there is simply not enough available work do to.