Well this week has been full of fun and
exciting things! I feel like I've been on a treasure hunt.
It started on Monday when I cleared out
the closet where we keep all our craft supplies and whatever else we
might need in any and every eventuality. I put it all into one of
the conference rooms which I had booked for the entire week (except
for a meeting that was already there on Tuesday night). I filled up
four tables with boxes upon boxes of stuff and started going through
some of it.
Why am I doing that, you might ask? I'm
kind of doing an inventory. I'm making lists of what all we have so
that our summer interns can plan activities around what we already
have or can plan ahead for things that we know we will need. I'm
also getting rid of really old things that are no good anymore, like
paint thats dried up and fabric with mouse holes in it. Yes, thats
right, our closet had a mouse it in at some point and it had gotten
into some stuff.
Tuesday was much of the same. I kept
it all in one corner of the room so that I wasn't overwhelming the
room because there was still going to be a meeting there that night.
On Wednesday I was finally able to let it explode all over the room.
I took over at least six more tables with stuff just trying to count
and keep track of what all we had. Hopefully I will have it all
cleaned up and put away by the end of the day tomorrow. I was going
to stay after work and finish it, but then I scheduled an event with
my Little, so now I have a solid deadline. I guess I could let it
sit until Monday, but we have staff meeting in that room first thing.
So I can let some of it sit there, but we really do need the tables
cleared off. At least the ones in the front of the room.
This hasn't been the only thing I've
been doing, though. I had the idea of doing something like a
Hands-On day for community members. As part of Martin Luther King
Day of Service, VISTA wanted to have a statewide event where all the
VISTAs in the state do something for this day. So I thought it would
be good to have a day where people could come and do sessions on
budgeting, financial literacy, meal planning on a budget,
re-purposing clothes, patching and hemming, as well as anything else
I could think of and find volunteers for. Well it seems I wasn't the
only one who had this idea. On the same weekend I was looking at for
this event, one of the community partners that Extension works with
is having a Financial Wellness Conference where they are having some
of the exact same programs I was thinking of having at mine. So when
I talked to the Family Living agent about it, she said I could
probably hold a session of my own and do the sewing or other craft
piece of it. Now my task is to find a volunteer willing to teach
adults and older youth. Ideally I would like it to be about sewing,
but I'm flexible. The title of my session is “Back to Basics.” I
guess I'm really looking for anyone willing to teach anything that
falls under that category. I've only got until January to find
people for this. I also need people willing to man a table at the
“fair” portion of this event. One idea was to have people just
sitting there sewing a hem or a button on, and then people can stop
by and quickly learn the basics of fixing clothes. This may be more
work that I had originally anticipated, and I'm only trying to do one
session instead of organizing an entire program!
Speaking of programming, my after
school program is coming along very nicely. I received emails from
three students at the local UW expressing interest in teaching. I
responded and am waiting to hear back from them about when they would
be available for a training or if they are even still interested.
I'm excited for upcoming JDC visits
because in my digging through tubs of supplies, I've gotten lots of
ideas for community service projects that they can do while I'm
there. These include making basic math flash cards, painting wooden
snakes to donate to a food pantry as toys for young kids, painting
wooden Christmas ornaments to donate to food pantries. As Christmas
approaches I'm thinking about donating stuff for families who may not
have a whole lot. I'm supposed to be living in poverty. Even though
I'm living with my parents, I am living in poverty. For the last few
years, we haven't had much for Christmas, so I know that around the
holidays every little bit is appreciated. While I am still more
fortunate than some, I can still appreciate a generous gesture from
someone I've never met.
On a similar note, the YAC
Trick-or-Treating event was on Wednesday. I was dressed as a very
fashionable young lady from the 80s. I had a grey cut, off the
shoulder sweatshirt with a dragon on the front, bright blue gym
shorts, purple tights, orange socks, and light green high-tops. I
was pretty snazzy. We only had two youth show up, but we were also
competing with trick-or-treating with friends, work, sports, and
other Wednesday night events. In two hours, those two kids managed
to cover three neighborhoods and collect 115 lbs of food to be
donated to the Community Center of Hope. I've very proud of them!
Next week I'm back at my desk doing
more planning and organizing for different events. I'm sure I'll
survive just fine.
Until then!
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