Back to Volunteering -- Monthly Service Projects!

As I mentioned, I just got from ASB and came back to work this Wednesday. Right away, I had more service to do! I planned a small volunteer trip for our students Wednesday night. As part of our Monthly Service Projects program, our office organizes service projects for UMass Boston students once a month. This month we found ourselves at The Boston Living Center , an all around resource center for persons living with AIDS or HIV. We were there to serve dinner! Myself and 2 other UMass Boston students came and we worked with Franklin, the cook, in the kitchen. We prepared the dinner for the evening, making sure the food was ready to be put out. I got to serve at the juice bar and admired the variety of juice and other beverages available to clients. The students served the food to clients. We also got to try the awesome pesto pastas and cooked spinach. I really fell in love with the place and how well it is run. At the end of the night Bianca, one of the students, expressed her desire to continue volunteering there on a long term basis. That is a great success for me, as finding students long term service opportunities that match their interests is not necessarily an easy process.

I hope you future and present MACC AmeriCorps*VISTAs will make your way there! It is a great place to volunteer!

~Erika

Post Alternative Spring Break

I had quite a week last week, a week that is hard to put into words. After about 6 months of planning, Alternative Spring Break actually occurred. Ever since I was a student, I've found myself spending time planning and eventually going on ASB trips doing hurricane relief and rebuilding. Three years ago, I found myself in New Orleans leading a group of 11 other students on a Habitat for Humanity build in East New Orleans. Last year, I ended up in Waveland, Mississippi working on a house with a homeowner the entire week with 17 advisers and students. This year, with 12 students from UMass Boston, we made our way to Galveston, TX. We worked so hard the entire week.

Day 1 and 2 we gutted a house in Galveston for Ida, a retired nurse. She returned the favor by taking us all out to Golden Corral, a southern buffet chain (YUM). Day 3 we led students in replanting beach grasses on the beach (thanks to Artist Boat, a nonprofit based out of Galveston) in hopes of keeping the dunes together and growing (more than 15 feet washed away in the storm). We also painted primer on Rosa's home, another Galveston resident. Day 4 we found ourselves trekking out to Surfside Beach, a local beach community and hot spot for summer vacationers in TX. On the drive to Surfside we saw businesses, homes, and the road (we drove on the beach 3/4 the way) utterly destroyed. While in Surfside, students worked on painting and power washing the deck of the local town hall, and a smaller group put up sand fencing to help protect and rebuild the dunes. We returned Friday to paint Rosa's home with a final coat (Avocado green!).

While having this experience was the highlight of my year -- it was physically and emotionally draining all at the same time. I led reflections at night and slept little. I'm still tired today, I haven't had much time to recover. We AmeriCorps*VISTAs are always on duty!

We had fun too though! We checked out Nasa and the Kemah Boardwalk, went to the largest Rodeo in the US, and got a glimpse of the waters around Galveston on an air boat tour. Lastly, we ate so much good food (seafood, burgers, Sonic -- there are no Sonics in MA!). I miss TX and want to go back and help more, but I know that I felt better being able to serve alongside fellow AmeriCorps members there -- I met a fellow Maryland Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA and our amazing AmeriCorps*NCCC Leader Aparna while in TX.

I'm sharing a few videos of the experience on YouTube more are to come!


Yours in Service,

Erika

FSC has an Alt. Spring Break Weekend Get Away!

This past weekend, I took a group of nine students to Holyoke, MA to work on the farm at Nuestras Raices. This was the first Alternative Break trip of any kind for Framingham State College, which is why we decided to stay pretty local and also why we chose to just do a weekend. Given the culture of Framingham State students, this was also the best fit. That culture being one of very hard working students, who often use their spring break as a means to work extra hours and earn a good chunk of money.

I was really excited about the trip because not only was it new to me and FSC, but the 9 students who came on the trip were all very new to volunteering in general. I would say about 2 or 3 of them had any experience volunteering, and it was amazing to see the transformation in them just over two days. On Saturday morning, when asked why they were there, their answers were all pretty identical to each other's, "I wanted to do something different for spring break" or, "I like helping people." Very generic, very basic...not very thoughtful. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed as we went around the circle and I heard one after another repeat the same answer. However, I was really proud and touched on Sunday afternoon during our final reflection when their answers were all very unique and thought out. Each one of them showed with their responses in our reflection activity a personal attachment to the work they did over the weekend and a better understanding of why it mattered. I'd say this was probably my first proud moment as an advisor to college students, and I really loved it. I even love thinking about it now two days later!

On our trip we did a lot of great work. Half our group plotted out land for the farmers, and half the group cleaned up and took an inventory of tools in the sheds. The second day we moved a whole bunch of frame pieces for a new greenhouse they're building. We got a lot of work done in a very short period of time, and the people at the farm were very grateful for it.

I have to admit that while this project has definitely not been my favorite part of my AmeriCorps*VISTA year so far, I am very pleased that I decided to take it on. Looking back, it caused me a lot of stress and I remember thinking repeatedly, "I can't wait until this is all over." Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that it's done with and have a huge feeling of relief because of that. However, even though it's not something I necessarily loved doing, it was a really great opportunity for me to gain a lot of skills that I didn't have before. Logistical thinking and being very detail oriented are not necessarily two of my stronger points. In planning any kind of trip, those two skills are very important and so I definitely appreciate the opportunity to fine tune those areas of my skill set.

I'll close with some photos of our trip - Enjoy!!

Spring Semester -- In High Gear

Hello AmeriCorps*VISTA Friends,

It has been a busy few weeks here in the office, with the director out of the office on vacation, I was in charge! A few weeks back at the beginning of February we had our office’s first ever spring volunteer fair (Spring Into Action: Volunteer and Opportunities Fair). Look at the cool poster I made!

Microsoft Publisher has become one of my biggest allies this year in advertising on UMass Boston’s Campus. School was out until the end of January, so things picked up real fast in the office.

The response to our autumn fair was so great we decided it was time for a spring fair. I was in charge of organizing it again, and surprisingly we had many new organizations present! Overall the fair went really well and turned out to be not too stressful despite the fact my supervisor was out sick, which meant I was running the fair literally all by myself! We had made connections with other organizations on campus too which was really nice, because they came to me asking to come to the fair and now I’m aligned with many of the student centers and offices on campus personally as I organized the fair.

Right now my work has been revolving around Alternative Break, with less than 1 month to the trip it is really push time to get everything done. We worked with a travel agent to book our plane tickets to Galveston and I just today reserved the vans we will be driving while down there. I’m sure I’ll have a ton of pictures to post once Alt. Break hits on the 15^th.

We’re also getting to that time of year where Corps members are starting to think about next year, and what is next. Many of the Corps members have been getting acceptance letters to graduate school, many are thinking about another year of service, and many can’t even wrap their heads around how far we’ve come.

Tomorrow is our half way point meeting with our Supervisors and MACC; I’m looking forward to tomorrow and how we are going to lay down sustainability for our programs into the future.

Yours in Service,

Erika

Wow - January already? This year is flying by. The students are having their first day of classes here at Framingham State for the spring semester and things are just beginning to get really busy.

The months of November and December seem to have been blended together in my head for some reason, most likely because I was out of the office most of the month of December for our Early Service Training (aka EST) and following that, our holiday break. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at EST in December. The entire MACC*VISTA family stayed together at the Essex Conference Center in Essex, MA for most of the week of the 8th. It was really great to be able to reconnect with many of the VISTAs that I don't get to see on a regular basis, and also to get to spend more time with even the VISTAs I have become pretty close with. The time out of the office to sort of reinvigorate our sense of purpose was also excellent. I very much enjoyed the discussions and insight brought about by all of the workshops that we had as well as just the really valuable conversations I had with my fellow VISTAs during downtime.

I'll even provide for you a cute photo of all of us. Don't ask me why we've all got our hands in the air like that, I really have no idea.

More on the FSC front, all the way back in November the United Way and my office (Student Involvement) co-sponsored a day of service. We had about 20 student volunteers and we visited about 4 different houses in the Framingham & Natick areas raking leaves for homebound elderly people. We were nervous because the original date that we were supposed to hold this event was rained out, so we were unsure if many of our volunteers would come back for the rain date - and many of them did! We had a great turn out and though it was a long, very cold, day all of the students were in great spirits throughout the entire thing and at the end went home smiling.

This was the first coordinated day of volunteering that we did with the United Way, with whom we have a partnership that involves getting students more involved in the local community. Many of the students that came belonged to clubs that are service oriented, but many of them were pretty new to the volunteering scene. It was a really great experience. We even made it to the local newspaper, very exciting!

Here are a few photos of my students hard at work. I assure you that I, too, worked diligently...but someone had to take the photos!

Til next time,

Dana

Dear Internet World,

It has been a while, has it not? With the winding down semester comes more time for writing! Many of the students at UMass Boston have headed home, and are awaiting the holiday season. Our classes officially end tomorrow and won’t resume until the 26^th of January. This means more fun planning for events and activities.

What have I been up to lately? Well last month was a huge month of events for us at UMass Boston. I planned almost all of the programming. I organized a speaker panel on Hunger and Homelessness with local organizations including One Family, MHASA (Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance) and Homelessness Empowerment/Spare Change present. I also organized a Fair Trade awareness day and raffle which was really cool. I had items donated that were Fair Trade from jewelry to chocolate samples and we got to offer them to students, staff, and anyone in the building. I really enjoyed this event because it turned something I’m passionate about, food and fair trade, into part of my work plan!

We also did two volunteer days one at Habitat for Humanity and one at the Red Cross Food Distribution center. While at the Habitat for Humanity build day, we gathered a new group of students for service. There were 7 students present. I had only met one of the students before, but all who signed up showed up enthusiastic for the day. We had several different jobs throughout the day, including hammering, sawing metal bars, raking, and more. Despite the cold, we really got quite a lot of work done, and built a small community of workers and friends during the event. The vibe we had going was just all positive. We kept busy finding new jobs and the students present really worked hard at the site. I think the site coordinator was very happy with us at the end of the day. At another recent volunteer day during Hunger and Homelessness week, I volunteered at the Red Cross with a group of 8 students. Most of the students really wanted to do more volunteering work after the day of service, so I promised to continue to email them opportunities. Throughout the day we sorted food and handed it out to patrons. The students all were very enthusiastic, and again I only had met one of the students previously. One student got very lost, but despite her frustration, still managed to find her way to the shelter. Another student I was unable to meet during the event. On the train ride back into town she happened to notice I was on the same train as her. She came over to thank me for running the event, and was very excited for the service she had done.

I also just had my first fundraiser for Alternative Spring Break. We wrapped gifts at Borders bookstore. Borders offer a gift wrapping table and all supplies to non-profit organizations during the holidays, and we are able to collect donations. It was a ton of fun, we spent our down time trying to learn origami together and we rose over $100.00 between the two dates. The students got to know each other better and we had a blast (despite the lack of sleep from all present due to finals). ~Erika

Ah, the *VISTA life!

Alternative Spring Break has become such a huge part of my life. When I got to Framingham State College, I was surprised to see no ASB program in sight and so my supervisor and I decided to play with my workplan a little bit to include ASB. I know it's something that many students want the opportunity to do and so I thought it would be pretty awesome to work with the students to make that happen here. I should tell you that I, as an undergrad student, never in my life planned an ASB or even went on one. That makes the whole process that much more exciting! Yes, it's been challenging to get the hang of all the details and whatnot, but I think (and hope) we are going to be pretty successful. I have selected two trip leaders and as such, the trip will be largely student run, which is a concept that I really value a lot. I place a lot of emphasis on leadership development in college students and am really excited to be able to help a couple of my own students to gain a pretty decent leadership experience in our ASB.

We also decided to keep the trip local, which I was nervous to tell the students, but I think it's going to be awesome. We are going to be in Boston doing service projects for the week of Spring Break which is helpful to us in our first year planning an ASB as it will take a lot of the big pressures off of us while we learn how to do this (transportation, etc). What I like the most about staying in Boston, though, is that my students are going to get a chance to make a real impact on their own community and will also be able to go back to their work site and see the difference they made, and volunteer with the organization again.

I have to admit that all this ASB business makes me kind of nervous, but I am excited to get this going and leave the program behind me when I leave FSC.

Also, lately I have been reflecting a lot on my decision to become a MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA and how satisfied I am with my choice. I know I have already talked about this before, but I feel the need to visit it again. Last night some of us MACC *VISTAs went to a VISTA social at BostonCares and met some other really awesome VISTAs from Massachusetts. That is, VISTAs who are not a part of Campus Compact. We played some fun, cheesy ice breakers (oh, how I love them) and got to hang out and talk to some really interesting people. I have to admit going into it I felt a tad awkward and was a little nervous to socialize, as I often get shy with new people (which is something most people who know me would tell you is probably a lie) but it was really fun. What I appreciated most was being able to visit the VISTAs from my own Corps that I hardly get to see. It's nice to have an excuse to get myself into Boston on a more regular basis, as I have come to find myself getting pretty attached to my friends in the Corps. Anyway, the point is, on very long T ride home last night, I thought so much about my career plans and the friendships I've gained because of MACC and would not change a thing in the world about my decision to serve this year!

Stay tuned, I'm having my first big volunteering day next weekend!

Much *VISTA Love,

Dana