Service Saturdays

Looking back, April was my unofficial volunteer-every-Saturday month!
Here is a summary of what I got to do:

April 7th - King's Harvest with my Grandma. My Grandma volunteers here every single Saturday! This Saturday I went along to help in the clothing area of this food/clothing site and shelter. We worked in the hygiene room so I got to hand out toiletries, underwear/socks, blankets/towels/wash clothes, and reading glasses. I had been to King's Harvest before with one of my Red Cross Clubs, but they had done a lot of work since October. The whole place was more organized (yay!). There were not many volunteers that day so I was glad that I came. It was amazing that we were busy the entire morning! Seeing people in need really opens your eyes. (Later that weekend, I went through my closet to collect things that should be donated).

April 14th - We celebrated Global Youth Service Day a bit early in the Quad Cities with a clean-up and tree/shrub planting at Nahant Marsh. Prior to the event, we (local AmeriCorps members and myself) had a few meetings and I worked with the marketing/PR committee. We created a press release for the event and posted the event on various community calendars. The day of the event came quickly and we had great volunteer turn-out! We had approx 100 volunteers who collected 42 bags of trash plus miscellaneous items that did not fit into trash bags, removed over 1.5 acres of invasive species, and planted 200 trees! During the work day, I helped collect lots of trash and then pulled garlic mustard (apparently, you can eat it, but it is invasive). I helped to fill lots of trash bags! (I love work where you can see the progress) I think the project made a huge difference for Nahant Marsh and the youth volunteers seemed to really enjoy themselves! Global Youth Service Day in the QC was a success! GYSD Report

April 21st - Camp Shalom work weekend was this Saturday. All board members are encouraged to participate and I had never been able to go before so I thought I would check it out. I got to help with random tasks around the new lodge! The neatest part about this day was seeing all of these people who care about camp working together. Some of the volunteers had never been to camp before but came because of a friend who loves camp recruited them. As a camper (and even staff), you never really think about/see what goes on before the summer starts so camp is ready for you!

April 27th-28th - 8th Grade Confirmation Retreat -- I got to play games do camp/church things as well as lead my own session which was about experiencing God through service. Our service project at camp was mulching trails. It was a job that I had done many times before and I got to do the project with 8th graders! Mulching is very hard work and not something that I loved while a camphand. Most of the youth seemed to enjoy themselves! We all agreed that it was hard work, but enjoyed seeing our progress and the social/teambuilding aspect of service.

First Fire Call

This morning, I woke up to a phone call around 4am from my Disaster Action Team (or DAT -- it is what we call the fire response team) Captain that there was a fire at a mobile home. So, it was time for me to get up and figure out where the fire was (maybe tonight I'll leave my laptop on just in case...) and head out to help the victims!

I felt nervous as I drove to the fire because I had no idea how bad it was or what it would be like or how the clients (fire victims) would be feeling or how they would respond to us or if we had a place to complete the paperwork. My fire captain must have sensed that I was nearby because he called me just as I was pulling into the mobile home park with some directions of where the lot was. We were meeting in the neighbor's mobile home to fill out the paperwork. I met the clients and a few neighbors as we started on the paperwork. I got to fill out the sheet that we use to put money on the client assistance card (it's like a debit card) while I played blocks with the two year old.

As far as fires go, this one was not too bad. The electrical fire was under the mobile home and everyone (including the dog) got out safety after hearing the smoke detector. The fire department got there before much of anything in the mobile home was damaged. The clients lost very little. (The cat did run away when the firefighters came, but I'm sure he'll come back) They obviously don't have power now, but in a few days that should be fixed and they will be able to go back in! The client seemed relieved that she was getting a place to stay while things get fixed and that her and her son were safe. Yay for smoke dectectors! (They don't just tell you when your frozen pizza is dripping cheese onto the bottom of the oven!)

Check out the National Fire Protection Association Webpage! They have tons of information about fire safety!