On Wednesday, March 30th, Brooke and I met up with Josh and Genesis to volunteer at the Tri-City volunteer center. There was a thrift store and a food pantry, but it was part of the same organization. We walked in after school at about a little before three o’clock. On our way in, we bumped into Ms. Norma Lopez. Brooke and I were led into a little conference room and we were given three pieces of paper to sign. Josh and Genesis came in after us. After that, we were assigned to work at the food pantry and Josh and Genesis were assigned to wash windows. We were led into the food pantry and were told to log in on a piece of paper. We were given a bright yellowish/greenish vest with a volunteer badge. We were told to bag onions, three onions each bag. To make things more efficient, me and Brooke decided to run an assembly-line type thing so I put the onions in the bags and she would tie them and throw them in the bins. When we were all done with the onions, Brooke went into the office for a bit to do office work and Genesis and Josh joined me and Norma in bagging potatoes next. When Brooke was done, she came back in and all five of us were working together. We had an assembly line going again! It was a really fun experience. There were about six or seven other volunteers aside from us. I had a lot of fun, especially because I was going with my friends and also because it made me feel good that I was giving back to my community by helping out. The man in charge was named John, he was very nice, but we didn’t talk much since he was quite busy. While bagging the potatoes we were blasting music and singing and dancing to it. We made the best experience out of it and I wouldn’t mind going there whenever I could. The only thing was that the food pantry closed kind of early so we could only stay for a max of an hour and a half. I think I will be coming back here. I really liked it especially because you can just come and volunteer whenever. Overall, I loved this experience and will be coming back soon!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Taters & Tunes!
When we were assigned our reaching for equity final project, I immediately knew that I wanted to volunteer with senior citizens in some way. I don't really get to interact with my grandparents and I know the elderly who are put in homes don't get to interact with young people a lot either. When Josh, Brooke, Karlie and I tried to volunteer at the Fremont Healthcare Center, however, a whole bunch of shenanigans went down. Pretty much, the activities director was on leave, not available, or "might" be there in the afternoon so I called the Tri-City Volunteers as a back-up and that's where Josh and I went on Wednesday. We got there and had to fill out paperwork, assuring them we weren't sex offenders or anything, and then we were assigned to cleaning windows. I was Windex-ing and wiping and Josh was disinfecting all doorhandles. We also cleaned the windows of their thrift store and talked about going back because it looked like a fun place to shop. After we were done making those windows and doorhandles sparkle, the lady in charge took us to the food bank where we met up with Brooke, Casey, and Norma. They had already been there for a little while and showed us what to do. After putting on some superchic working vests and gloves, we got to packing potatoes for families in need. It was really laidback because the people in charge were just kind of doing their own thing and letting us do ours. After changing it from some country station, we listened to our type of music on the radio and packed potatoes in a sort of assembly line. I ripped off the bags from the roll, opened them and held them out for Josh, who would put a good amount of potatoes in it then hand it to Brooke, who would tie it and place it in the barrels. There were students there from other schools and two random men, but we were really the only ones enjoying ourselves and making volunteering fun. Although we were having fun, I also felt like we were really helping those in need. The potatoes, onions, bread, and more in the warehouse go to families who aren't necessarily able to get such things as easily as others. Tri-City Volunteers, however, does a good job of making sure these families have access to these foods. After having a good afternoon, we definitely plan on volunteering at Tri-City Volunteers for the rest of our project's hours and most likely our community service hours as well.
Reflection
The Tri-City Volunteer center was a great place to learn. As soon as Genesis and I got there we said we needed to volunteer. A lady gave us 3 pieces of paper that we needed to fill out, which we did even though Genesis forgot to mark the box that says I am not a sex offender. We immediately got to work by washing windows, inside and out. I was cleaning the door handles with lysol wipes, and I did a pretty good job at it. We cleaned the thrift store windows next door also, Genesis and I were thinking about going back just to shop at the thrift store because they had a lot of cool stuff. After cleaning, we wen't to the back room where we met up with Casey, Brooke, and Norma. There were also kids from other schools volunteering there. We began packing potatoes which would be used for people with food stamps or for people that couldn't afford food. It was an eye opening experience because you never get to see whatn other people have to do to get their food, and packing the potatoes made us think about what it would be like to work in a Sweat shop on an assembly line. Overall the experience was an eye opening one and I want to do all my future hours there. Perhaps including the 40 I still need to graduate, just because it was a place I felt good volunteering at. I wonder what we will be doing next time we volunteer there.
Volunteering at the Tri-City Volunteer center
In the Videos : Me, Genesis, Brooke, Casey, and Norma.
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