It's already the end of October. Tomorrow the fake cobwebs will be pulled off the trees and the plastic gravestones pulled out for another year. The cranberries, yams, and jumbo turkeys will be put on prominent display and we will be inundated with drippy versions of holiday music. The only traces of Halloween - SO last month - the on-sale candy I look at greedily.
I've been at the Hillsboro Family Resource Center for two months, and I can't tell if I feel like I've been there forever or have barely got a handle on things. At times I feel like I'm bumbling my way through, directing a program for 200+ families with little but a yearly report and some materials from last year. What happens if we fall behind in the interview schedule? Who made the emergency Christmas baskets last year? Who knows - but it just makes me determined to write down every possible detail for the next poor, hapless Americorps member.
That's a bit how I feel right now - hapless and hopefully under-prepared for each new day. Sure, I have strengths. I can soothe a sponsor's fears with my calm voice. I know I'm devoted to my job, and will make sure what needs to be done is done. But this program, this Help for Holiday program, is sucking the life out of me. It works in the style of Adopt-a-Family: we find sponsors, sign up families, and then match the two. And monitor them closely, it sounds like...
But I wouldn't know, because the report left by the past member (who has slowly been painted herself in my mind as a god-like Americorps member of efficiency and perfection) seems complete and yet is nicely vague on the details. And then I wonder how I could only gather 200 sponsors, when she found 275 (never mind that there was one more full-time staff at the HFRC than we have now). And how many details I'm missing that I will smack myself for later (but how can I know them, and if I did how could I fit them into my days?). And why I need to spend so much time on this program when it is an organizational pain in the arse and such short-term help to the families.
Such dispirited thoughts! Part of it is, as I said, the frustration with literally spending months of work on a program that serves to provide a si day of food and gifts. Sure, the holidays are important - but I feel like I could hold a fundraiser, plan three classes, and expand our more overlooked programs in this amount of time.
I'm also distracted by friends and other things, and coming up on the most intense work week since I started - three days of work, a day of family interview, a six-hours Americorps meeting, another day of signups, and a day of training. (That's seven days, if you're counting.)
Stupid holidays! Geez.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
This is an uninspired title
Hi.
I have a cold.
I was at work for 13 and one half hours yesterday.
I had to cold call potential sponsors today, one of whom called me back.
...blech.
But despite the outs of an understaffed nonprofit, the ins continue to be worth it. There are so many good and bad moments it's hard to write them as the vivid pictures they deserve. One of my two cubicle buddies, Ruby, freaking out and calling the store about floating specks in her Arizona Tea ("could it be bug poop!?!"). Lourdes prodding me to test out my Spanish on families waiting in line (thank you!). Buying the most delicious, drive-thru real-Mexican-style tacos at the end of the day and making Irene laugh with my this-food-is-ecstasy exclamations.
In that 13.5 hour day (I only worked 12 hours, so it's totally fine), I checked families into Operation School Bell, a program that gives kids new clothing. Kids can only get the clothing if their school counselor (I didn't know they could afford those anymore) deems them eligible - made fun of in school, etc. A sweet group of middle-aged ladies runs the program, and they buy a large amount of clothing out of their own pocket. My favorite is Liz, the one with librarian glasses and a voice full of cheer even when the line is backed up out the door. She often tells me about running out to buy extra clothes without any qualms or airs of being a wonderful, selfless person. I do love meeting the wonderful, selfless people here.
I helped families sign in to Operation School Bell with my limited English. It has improved to the point where I can ask more complicated questions - unfortunately this means that people assume I speak Spanish and give me - aaaah! - several sentences in response. To which I must sheepishly smile and say "uhh, no entiendo..." and point them towards any other HFRC staff.
Today, though, was not so fun - the afternoon was filled with training to be a telemarketer - cold calls to banks asking, in my scratchy cold-induced voice, if they are interested in sponsoring families. Well honestly, just asking for the manager to call me back.
Love you all! If I haven't talked to you in a while, please do call or email me.
I have a cold.
I was at work for 13 and one half hours yesterday.
I had to cold call potential sponsors today, one of whom called me back.
...blech.
But despite the outs of an understaffed nonprofit, the ins continue to be worth it. There are so many good and bad moments it's hard to write them as the vivid pictures they deserve. One of my two cubicle buddies, Ruby, freaking out and calling the store about floating specks in her Arizona Tea ("could it be bug poop!?!"). Lourdes prodding me to test out my Spanish on families waiting in line (thank you!). Buying the most delicious, drive-thru real-Mexican-style tacos at the end of the day and making Irene laugh with my this-food-is-ecstasy exclamations.
In that 13.5 hour day (I only worked 12 hours, so it's totally fine), I checked families into Operation School Bell, a program that gives kids new clothing. Kids can only get the clothing if their school counselor (I didn't know they could afford those anymore) deems them eligible - made fun of in school, etc. A sweet group of middle-aged ladies runs the program, and they buy a large amount of clothing out of their own pocket. My favorite is Liz, the one with librarian glasses and a voice full of cheer even when the line is backed up out the door. She often tells me about running out to buy extra clothes without any qualms or airs of being a wonderful, selfless person. I do love meeting the wonderful, selfless people here.
I helped families sign in to Operation School Bell with my limited English. It has improved to the point where I can ask more complicated questions - unfortunately this means that people assume I speak Spanish and give me - aaaah! - several sentences in response. To which I must sheepishly smile and say "uhh, no entiendo..." and point them towards any other HFRC staff.
Today, though, was not so fun - the afternoon was filled with training to be a telemarketer - cold calls to banks asking, in my scratchy cold-induced voice, if they are interested in sponsoring families. Well honestly, just asking for the manager to call me back.
Love you all! If I haven't talked to you in a while, please do call or email me.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Round 5
I am officially one month in, and all is going well in Americorps land. I have held a volunteer party (awkward conversations and generic prizes required), called to ask for donations (oops, you're hosting a hygiene product drive right now? Thanks, and keep going!), directed 40+ volunteers in a room that holds 10 people comfortably, and ran an event that wasn't wildly successful in its goals (getting rid of excess clothing donations) but wildly successful in teaching both myself and Irene (my supervisor) what is important and what works.
I have also bonded with my coworkers - about the crazies that Violeta encounters on the front desk of the Center, why Ruby ends up listening to endless stories from her clients at her health insurance appointments. Irene and I got lost and when we asked a woman in a quiet manicured suburb for directions, she hurriedly kept walking her dog and said she had no idea where Highway 26 was - because the two twenty-somethings in business casual are pretty dangerous looking. We had a good laugh over that one.
As you can see, I have already fell behind in blogging, which isn't a surprise considering I feel that I haven't had a spare moment in the past six weeks. Not only my schedule, but my mind feels like it is constantly chock full, just a drawer you hurriedly stuff papers into while deciding to ignore that it reached capacity sometime ago. After all, where else are you going to put your notes?
Besides the days that work dominates my life (Monday through Thursday), it seems a feat on the weekends to finish a few simple chores. I am reveling in the fact that I bought laundry soap this weekend, and still dreaming of the day the organization of my room extends beyond floor piles. I have absolutely loved the past two weekends - last week I flew back to CA for my friend's wedding, and this weekend college friends reunited. We even made a full Thanksgiving dinner for our friend who is leaving for the Peace Corps in less than a month. It has been truly wonderful! But for the one who feels lonely after an hour by myself (it's true), I am really looking forward to a few hours where I can wake up late, watch tv, and watch the hours slip away without the sense of panic.
I don't know if this hectic, full-to-the-brim lifestyle is uniquely Americorps or uniquely mine. I do know that this is supposed to be about my Americorps experiences and so the next post will (I promise!) be less complaining about my oh-so-busy but enjoyable life, and more about my actual work at HFRC.
Love you all!
I have also bonded with my coworkers - about the crazies that Violeta encounters on the front desk of the Center, why Ruby ends up listening to endless stories from her clients at her health insurance appointments. Irene and I got lost and when we asked a woman in a quiet manicured suburb for directions, she hurriedly kept walking her dog and said she had no idea where Highway 26 was - because the two twenty-somethings in business casual are pretty dangerous looking. We had a good laugh over that one.
As you can see, I have already fell behind in blogging, which isn't a surprise considering I feel that I haven't had a spare moment in the past six weeks. Not only my schedule, but my mind feels like it is constantly chock full, just a drawer you hurriedly stuff papers into while deciding to ignore that it reached capacity sometime ago. After all, where else are you going to put your notes?
Besides the days that work dominates my life (Monday through Thursday), it seems a feat on the weekends to finish a few simple chores. I am reveling in the fact that I bought laundry soap this weekend, and still dreaming of the day the organization of my room extends beyond floor piles. I have absolutely loved the past two weekends - last week I flew back to CA for my friend's wedding, and this weekend college friends reunited. We even made a full Thanksgiving dinner for our friend who is leaving for the Peace Corps in less than a month. It has been truly wonderful! But for the one who feels lonely after an hour by myself (it's true), I am really looking forward to a few hours where I can wake up late, watch tv, and watch the hours slip away without the sense of panic.
I don't know if this hectic, full-to-the-brim lifestyle is uniquely Americorps or uniquely mine. I do know that this is supposed to be about my Americorps experiences and so the next post will (I promise!) be less complaining about my oh-so-busy but enjoyable life, and more about my actual work at HFRC.
Love you all!
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