Easter Egg Hunt

On Easter, Taylor and I helped an annual Easter egg hunt.

Helping out (not so much)

Edwin and I went back to the center again. We did what we did before, we washed our hands then put on the vest indicating we are part of the group. When we walked around we realized that there was a lot more families visiting this time. This was a good thing for us because this mean that there will be less people for us to sing for. Though I feel bad for the people who didn't have a family to spend their time with. After we sang for the people in their rooms we went to cafeteria where we started playing music on the CD player and people broke out dancing. This time it was a lot more fun because I didn't fell out of place because I knew what I was doing.

Wild Land Drills

Today, at our weekly Monday we met up with firefighters to help set up a wild land drill. Since the weather is going to get hotter and dryer, we went to a hill where we could practice these drills. They used a Type 3 engine, which is all wheel drive and is lifted, so it can go drive on not so trust-worthy terrain. We helped them set up, and when they finished the drill we helped them put it down. They pulled hose, and set it up to fight the "fire" around 1000 feet. They need so many feet of hose since on a wild land fire, the terrain and weather is always unpredictable. It could go up trees, or the wind could change directions, and go very fast.



These drills are vital to Fremont. With the Niles Hills, Mission Peak, Morrison Canyon, and Coyote Hill, we have some big places to cover. With the wild land season right around the corner, every little thing helps. Practicing for the real thing is a smart move. Since we usually don't have many warnings, we can't get rusty. The explorers are here to help the firefighters prepare for that, since potentially we could help on wildfires too.

Fresh Out of the Oven

Friday was my third time going to the Tri-City Volunteer Center. This might be my last time since it was kind of boring. I went right after school with my friend Joden Ulep from American High School. First, we went into the office and my friend filled out his papers because he was a first-timer. Normally, there are a lot of people there, but this time it was so "dead". There was almost nobody there volunteering except for the man that was in charge of the pantry (John). Aside from us two there were three other people. At first, we were bagging toilet paper. It was two rolls per bag. After we ran out of bags, we went to push carts out for the people who were waiting for their food. There were no more slips so we went to bag breads. There were all types of breads: brown, raisin, onion, French, sourdough, etc. We were told to just put any type of breads in there, as much as we could fit. We had to "break the bread" in order to fit it in the bag. A lot of the breads were really hard and stale. Some breads, I had to twist with all my might! My arms got really tired. And some of the breads smelled really bad, but some smelt really good! They even had breads bigger than my head! I didn't have a picture this time because I had no camera or phone with me. At the end, we swept up and cleaned the tables.

That New Book Smell

For the third post of the Equity Project, I went back to the Alameda County Library. I have not been able to go for a while, and was almost expecting to be reprimanded for my no-shows. Surprisingly, I was greeted warmly by Marta, the head of volunteer services at the library, and went straight into the work I would do for another two hours. Like last time, I had to process books, but this time I was able to process brand new books. While the process was similar, this time I had to also place a color-coded sticker on the side of the books that you see in the library. Something that I really appreciated about working this time around was being around new books. After Border's began to close down all over the Bay Area, no one has really been around a new book for a long time. I think the fact that the library began to process new books for people to enjoy was admirable since many people are switching over to ebooks like the Kindle or those on the iPad, and hardly anyone gets to enjoy the physical turning of a new page or the initial stiffness of the spine. I think the library is important in preserving a pastime that might be considered obsolete nowadays, since many future generations might not even experience the joys of holding an actual book, and I am glad to be a part of the preservation.

Third Times Not The Charm So Much..

For my third post, Joshua Christy and I went to (surprise) the Tri- City Volunteers. Josh and I felt like veterans already so we just walked in, put on our vests, and got to work. This time around, there was still a lot of people but none from our school so we were the only ones representin'. We did the same old, same old: bagging food, bagging cans, and suh-weeping. There was, like I said, a lot of volunteers that day like there has been lately so each activity was kind of short-lived, except for bagging cans which we did for a while. The creepiest thing happened actually. We were bagging cans, get a can of this, 2 cans of that, oatmeal, and a dessert. There was this man kind of telling people what to do so I figured "alright dude is in charge". But turned out he wasn't. He kept staring at me and I was like "please proceed to photograph me that picture will last longer". In my head of course. And he goes ".. that's where I saw you! You live at (insert my apartments' name here)!" I have never seen this man in my life. Imagine the thoughts I thought. I will be watching my back from now on. Afterwards, there was literally (pronounced licherally like Mr. Shawn says it) nothing to do so we were put to sweeping. Again the accurate duo strikes. We both felt that it was getting repetitive as we had feared so we weren't exactly sweeping ardently. *vocab word. It feels good knowing we're giving back but I feel we could expand our horizons and try other places. There's a lot more people volunteering at Tri-City nowadays, therefore, there is now more things being done and less for us to do when we show up late in the afternoon. So for our 4th post, Josh and I are going to find a new, exciting place and put in work. Watch out, world.

Coach Blanco

Over spring break me and Nick decided it would be best if we tried to help out with coaching kids in the little league. Nick made a few calls, calling many old coaches without success, but finally we received a chance to help out. The coach's name was Rob and he coached the kids at Mattos Elementary,  home of Centerville American Little League. We scheduled our visit on the last Saturday of spring break and once we got there we went straight to work, helping in anyway possible.


We were kept pretty busy while there. One of the first things we did there was get out the equipment for the team while they did there daily routine of stenching and running. This was easier than i though as the equipment was relatively light, compared to the ones at school i had to carry for football. When we were done with the equipment, they had us stand next to the coaches, who were were hitting ground and fly balls to the kids and catch some balls as they they through them back to us. When it was the kids turn at batting we stood out on the field and catch balls that went our direction. The whole day was relaxing and fun and i enjoyed it a lot. Being out on the field again was great even tho it wasn't football and i wasn't playing, i still had a wonderful time. The experience was great and i wouldn't mind going back and helping the team out again.