Neat images of U.S. volunteering in 2010
Infographic - Volunteering In America
(except there little graphic of the U.S. makes you think that Minneapolis/St. Paul is in Iowa - opps!)
August 26, 2011
August 22, 2011
Library Fines
So I'm not a very fast reader, but I really enjoy reading. At the start of the summer, I took my younger brother and sister to the library to register for the summer reading program and while I was there I decided to register for the adult program. This year's theme was travel so in the adult program you had to read books (or listen to them or watch a documentary or go to a library event) relating to each continent (except Antarctica). I was enjoying the challenge since the majority of books that I read are set in the U.S. or Europe and they are written by people of the same continents. (Hopefully, this will continue and I'll branch out occasionally)
I quickly (well, quick for me) finished 4 of the continents leaving Africa and South America. So I looked at the list of suggested books for each of those countries. I saw a book called A Thousand Sisters in the Africa list (and not gonna lie, I only read the description because I thought of sororities when I saw it). The summary talked about it being a nonfiction book (out of my comfort zone there) about a women Lisa Shannon who saw a story on Oprah about Congolese women and the trials that they are facing and she decided to do something about it by starting an event called Run for Congo Women and participating in Women for Women International. (I hadn't heard of these organizations before, but they sounded neat and impressive) So I checked out the book and started reading.
This true story about Lisa Shannon and the women of Congo was eye-opening, interesting, and inspiring. It was amazing to see how a simple idea of Lisa's transformed into something so big. The book starts when Lisa starts her first Run for Congo Women (where she was the only participant) after watching an episode of Oprah about the women of Congo. Then she proceeds to do more amazing things to raise awareness for the women of Congo and the trials they face everyday. The book describes her travels to Congo as well as features interesting stories about many women and children of Congo. The book really opened my eyes to the lives of other people. It is hard to think about what life in a war-torn and violent country is like, but this book really painted a great picture of aspects of it. Most of it is still unbelievable to me. It is hard to think about that some women face such struggles when they are younger than myself -- it made me think a lot about what I freak out about and how I should relax about some things because I'm pretty lucky that I don't have the Interahamwe bursting through my door or killing my family, and I don't have to worry about clothes or food or health care or an education. My problems are so small compared to what these brave women face everyday and I need to be more thankful for the simple things that I have and always will have.
Lisa also has inspired me. She started a simple project that grew into a movement. She had goals for the project, but didn't expect a lot from other people. She just wanted to help the women of Congo and her project has grown more than she expected. She really stepped out of her comfort zone and in return made a huge difference in the lives of over 1,000 women who have been sponsored through Women for Women by the money raised in Run for Congo Women. (She also has a list of 10 things that the reader can do to help support this cause in the back of the book. The last is "Dream up something new, like I did".) Pretty inspirational.
This book came to me at such a perfect time too (for many reasons, but one is here)- I was reading my sorority's (Kappa Kappa Gamma) magazine "The Key" a few weeks ago, and there are always little stories about Kappa's achievements in the magazine. While I was reading the most recent issue, I noticed a little paragraph about Kate Spade (yep, she's my sister!) and how she had a line in which the profits were going to Women for Women! Crazy right?
So back to the title of this blog post. After I started reading this book I think I visited NYC, worked at camp, babysat a lot, and basically forgot about the book until I realized that it was going to be due back. So I renewed it and I vowed to finish it quickly because the reading program was ending and at that time I was mostly finishing the book to color in that part of my score sheet (I hadn't realized the impact the book would have on me yet) and to get my prize. But, it ended up taking me a whole extra week to finish reading. The book was definitely worth the monetary fine, but I wish that I would have finished it in time and then used those extra few cents to help the women of Congo. I also missed the reading program deadline and I never got my prize, but I probably got something better - a story about a real women with a real dream who made a real difference. I got a new person to look up to and to provide me with motivation to follow my dreams.
Tonight, I will take the book back to the library and hopefully it will be picked up by someone soon and they will be inspired by Lisa's story as much as I was...
I quickly (well, quick for me) finished 4 of the continents leaving Africa and South America. So I looked at the list of suggested books for each of those countries. I saw a book called A Thousand Sisters in the Africa list (and not gonna lie, I only read the description because I thought of sororities when I saw it). The summary talked about it being a nonfiction book (out of my comfort zone there) about a women Lisa Shannon who saw a story on Oprah about Congolese women and the trials that they are facing and she decided to do something about it by starting an event called Run for Congo Women and participating in Women for Women International. (I hadn't heard of these organizations before, but they sounded neat and impressive) So I checked out the book and started reading.
This true story about Lisa Shannon and the women of Congo was eye-opening, interesting, and inspiring. It was amazing to see how a simple idea of Lisa's transformed into something so big. The book starts when Lisa starts her first Run for Congo Women (where she was the only participant) after watching an episode of Oprah about the women of Congo. Then she proceeds to do more amazing things to raise awareness for the women of Congo and the trials they face everyday. The book describes her travels to Congo as well as features interesting stories about many women and children of Congo. The book really opened my eyes to the lives of other people. It is hard to think about what life in a war-torn and violent country is like, but this book really painted a great picture of aspects of it. Most of it is still unbelievable to me. It is hard to think about that some women face such struggles when they are younger than myself -- it made me think a lot about what I freak out about and how I should relax about some things because I'm pretty lucky that I don't have the Interahamwe bursting through my door or killing my family, and I don't have to worry about clothes or food or health care or an education. My problems are so small compared to what these brave women face everyday and I need to be more thankful for the simple things that I have and always will have.
Lisa also has inspired me. She started a simple project that grew into a movement. She had goals for the project, but didn't expect a lot from other people. She just wanted to help the women of Congo and her project has grown more than she expected. She really stepped out of her comfort zone and in return made a huge difference in the lives of over 1,000 women who have been sponsored through Women for Women by the money raised in Run for Congo Women. (She also has a list of 10 things that the reader can do to help support this cause in the back of the book. The last is "Dream up something new, like I did".) Pretty inspirational.
This book came to me at such a perfect time too (for many reasons, but one is here)- I was reading my sorority's (Kappa Kappa Gamma) magazine "The Key" a few weeks ago, and there are always little stories about Kappa's achievements in the magazine. While I was reading the most recent issue, I noticed a little paragraph about Kate Spade (yep, she's my sister!) and how she had a line in which the profits were going to Women for Women! Crazy right?
So back to the title of this blog post. After I started reading this book I think I visited NYC, worked at camp, babysat a lot, and basically forgot about the book until I realized that it was going to be due back. So I renewed it and I vowed to finish it quickly because the reading program was ending and at that time I was mostly finishing the book to color in that part of my score sheet (I hadn't realized the impact the book would have on me yet) and to get my prize. But, it ended up taking me a whole extra week to finish reading. The book was definitely worth the monetary fine, but I wish that I would have finished it in time and then used those extra few cents to help the women of Congo. I also missed the reading program deadline and I never got my prize, but I probably got something better - a story about a real women with a real dream who made a real difference. I got a new person to look up to and to provide me with motivation to follow my dreams.
Tonight, I will take the book back to the library and hopefully it will be picked up by someone soon and they will be inspired by Lisa's story as much as I was...
August 7, 2011
Nuts About Nets
My church is in the middle of this huge campaign (called Nuts About Nets) to raise money to purchase mosquito nets to donate to the people of Nigeria in hopes to reduce malaria cases (3 million people die of Malaria every year). Is is so interesting to think that there is a curable disease that is killing a lot of children and adults in Africa. Transmission of Malaria can be prevented with this really great bed nets. They apparently are treated with this safe for people chemical that repels mosquitoes) What a simple mode of prevention! My church has a goal of donated 10,000 nets in the next few months and I thought I would make a small donation to help achieve the goal. ($10 buys 4 nets and each net can give protection to 3 people for 5 years so I thought that my small donation would go pretty far.)
We are getting the nets through an organization called Clarke Cares who's mission is "to save lives and reduce suffering from mosquito-borne illnesses for those with critical needs around the world". Clarke is also matching our donations net per net so even though I could not donate a lot, my small amount will be doubled.
I also wanted to donate to this cause because it was a project that the church we were working at in NYC was supporting as well. I'm not sure if they were partnering with a specific company or how there's really worked, but the goal was the same - donate bed nets to prevent malaria transmission. When I returned home it was neat to see that two churches in different states were supporting the same problem. The churches are about 17 hours away from each other and they both have different problems closer to home yet they both want to help the lives of people in Africa. I love the idea of different groups of people (who are not even aware of each other really) working to solve the same problem. The impact that people working together for the same cause is amazing. I'm excited to see my home church meet its fundraising goal and I hope the same for Trinity in Manhattan.
We are getting the nets through an organization called Clarke Cares who's mission is "to save lives and reduce suffering from mosquito-borne illnesses for those with critical needs around the world". Clarke is also matching our donations net per net so even though I could not donate a lot, my small amount will be doubled.
I also wanted to donate to this cause because it was a project that the church we were working at in NYC was supporting as well. I'm not sure if they were partnering with a specific company or how there's really worked, but the goal was the same - donate bed nets to prevent malaria transmission. When I returned home it was neat to see that two churches in different states were supporting the same problem. The churches are about 17 hours away from each other and they both have different problems closer to home yet they both want to help the lives of people in Africa. I love the idea of different groups of people (who are not even aware of each other really) working to solve the same problem. The impact that people working together for the same cause is amazing. I'm excited to see my home church meet its fundraising goal and I hope the same for Trinity in Manhattan.
August 3, 2011
Community Garden
(I got behind on my blogging so I did a lot of catching up today)
A few weeks ago, during probably the hottest week of the summer (I know July in IA is hot, but seriously July 18-22 were awful), I (with my little brother and sister) signed up to help with our church's community garden. It seemed simple - we just needed to water, weed, and harvest as needed. It was fun, but I realized that I don't know that much about gardening (Like basically nothing about growing veggies or when they can be harvested or identifying a few things). I even had some problems identifying weeds...
But it ended up to be a fun week. We had to go water a lot because it was so hot, but that was fun and we tried to weed a bit before we got too hot. The best part of the week was definitely harvesting. My little brother loved looking through all the plants to find veggies. We harvested a zucchini (which I ended up cooking), a few tomatoes, and a few onions. The volunteers usually take the harvests to a local food bank, but since we didn't have much we brought it home (which is also allowed). The idea of the garden is a really neat one - various volunteers from the church take care of the garden and the produce is distributed to local food pantries as well as community members.
Even though I learned that I was not a very knowledgeable gardener, it was still a fun week and I definitely felt that I was making a good contribution to the community garden. (I think my siblings enjoyed it too!) I may sign up for another week, but I might have to do a little more research first.
A few weeks ago, during probably the hottest week of the summer (I know July in IA is hot, but seriously July 18-22 were awful), I (with my little brother and sister) signed up to help with our church's community garden. It seemed simple - we just needed to water, weed, and harvest as needed. It was fun, but I realized that I don't know that much about gardening (Like basically nothing about growing veggies or when they can be harvested or identifying a few things). I even had some problems identifying weeds...
But it ended up to be a fun week. We had to go water a lot because it was so hot, but that was fun and we tried to weed a bit before we got too hot. The best part of the week was definitely harvesting. My little brother loved looking through all the plants to find veggies. We harvested a zucchini (which I ended up cooking), a few tomatoes, and a few onions. The volunteers usually take the harvests to a local food bank, but since we didn't have much we brought it home (which is also allowed). The idea of the garden is a really neat one - various volunteers from the church take care of the garden and the produce is distributed to local food pantries as well as community members.
Even though I learned that I was not a very knowledgeable gardener, it was still a fun week and I definitely felt that I was making a good contribution to the community garden. (I think my siblings enjoyed it too!) I may sign up for another week, but I might have to do a little more research first.
Road Rulz - NYC (Day 7 & 8)
Friday was a bittersweet day for day camp. It was sad because it was our last day, but welcome because we were so exhausted from such a busy week. That morning we drove to day camp since we would leave NYC from camp later that afternoon and since I had not driven in the city yet, it was my turn! Yay! Actually, I did not love city driving. It was so intense and it was not even that busy or a very long trip. (And I used to want to live in the city so badly!)
It was a pretty relaxed morning and we got to do yoga during day camp! I still get the little songs randomly stuck in my head and I actually felt the workout the next day. It was so fun! It was amazing how engaged the kids were during it also - I think it was the most focused I had ever seen the day campers. I don't know how the yoga instructor did it, but I wouldn't have minded to have a small portion of the power she seemed to have to bring home with me. We also helped the day campers make paper plate masks that morning.
After lunch, we went to Central Park for field games. It was nice to be outside and teach the kids some new games too. It was still strange being in a huge and beautiful park in the middle of a busy city. When we got back to the church our group sang Camp's "Song of Blessing" (a song that the staff sings every week at closing worship) for the kids and we said our goodbyes (one day camper seriously wanted to go with us - I actually thought that he might sneak into the van for awhile). Then we got held up for a bit while we waited for the Police Dept. to move the cars that had parked us in - I just don't get why it is okay to park where ever you like in NYC. (It is kinda like a high school parking lot when it is snowy outside, but all the time and adults are boxing you in)
That night we drove to Koinonia in Highland Lake, NY. (It is the camp that our camp director used to work at so I had heard many stories set there and now I could see it in real life!) We explored the camp a bit (they had baby pigs and a goat and a pretty lake) and then the campers made a yummy dinner! It was so strange to be surrounded by nature only a few hours from the city, but the camp was beautiful. I would have loved to stay there for a longer amount of time. We also sang some songs and chatted all together. It was a great last night of our trip!
The next morning we left camp super early to start our long trip back to Iowa. I started the drive and kinda freaked out when we drove by the Scranton exit (we didn't stop to buy any paper though :( ). I also hit a bird with my windshield that morning... (that had never happened to me before) We also drove away from a gas station with the gas thing still in our car... opps! It was hilarious though!
It was a pretty relaxed morning and we got to do yoga during day camp! I still get the little songs randomly stuck in my head and I actually felt the workout the next day. It was so fun! It was amazing how engaged the kids were during it also - I think it was the most focused I had ever seen the day campers. I don't know how the yoga instructor did it, but I wouldn't have minded to have a small portion of the power she seemed to have to bring home with me. We also helped the day campers make paper plate masks that morning.
After lunch, we went to Central Park for field games. It was nice to be outside and teach the kids some new games too. It was still strange being in a huge and beautiful park in the middle of a busy city. When we got back to the church our group sang Camp's "Song of Blessing" (a song that the staff sings every week at closing worship) for the kids and we said our goodbyes (one day camper seriously wanted to go with us - I actually thought that he might sneak into the van for awhile). Then we got held up for a bit while we waited for the Police Dept. to move the cars that had parked us in - I just don't get why it is okay to park where ever you like in NYC. (It is kinda like a high school parking lot when it is snowy outside, but all the time and adults are boxing you in)
That night we drove to Koinonia in Highland Lake, NY. (It is the camp that our camp director used to work at so I had heard many stories set there and now I could see it in real life!) We explored the camp a bit (they had baby pigs and a goat and a pretty lake) and then the campers made a yummy dinner! It was so strange to be surrounded by nature only a few hours from the city, but the camp was beautiful. I would have loved to stay there for a longer amount of time. We also sang some songs and chatted all together. It was a great last night of our trip!
The next morning we left camp super early to start our long trip back to Iowa. I started the drive and kinda freaked out when we drove by the Scranton exit (we didn't stop to buy any paper though :( ). I also hit a bird with my windshield that morning... (that had never happened to me before) We also drove away from a gas station with the gas thing still in our car... opps! It was hilarious though!
Eventually, we finally made it back home and my daddy, little sister, and brother were waiting for me in the church parking lot. We unloaded the vehicles and said goodbye before going home to enjoy showers and sleeping in real beds (not that the floor hadn't been amazing all week).
Overall, the trip was probably the best week ever (I say that a lot, but seriously, it was amazing). It was great to bond as a group while experiencing a new city, doing some service work, praising God, making our own meals, meeting new people, and traveling. New York City was such an exciting place and I think I'm still reflecting on all of the fun that we had while there! It was such a unique experience and one that I will probably still be trying to explain the true greatness of to other people for months. Also I'm still laughing about some of the inside jokes we shared. It was an exciting and unforgettable learning experience that really taught me a lot about people and culture as well as gave me an opportunity to work in a place very different from home. I got to travel to places that I had only seen in movies/tv (now I can say "Hey, I've been there!"). I think the only thing I would change is that it was not available to me when I was a camper and maybe make the drive a tad bit shorter (but really a lot of funny moments happened during the drive). I'm very thankful that I got to be a part of the Road Rulz staff. It was a truly unforgettable week and I'm pretty lucky to have gotten to experience it all. I would sign up again next year without hesitation if they would take me!
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