Today officially ended my training with Marcie, the volunteer whose place I am taking. She's been great to ride along with and observe. I'm a little nervous about going out on my own starting Tuesday (we have Labor Day off) but I think I'm pretty well prepared. My time today was spent setting up my desk at my office, writing notes to introduce myself to the few participants I haven't met yet, cleaning out the van I will be driving, and reading over notes previous caseworkers have written in my participants charts. As some of you know, I name my cars - and to continue with the color - model name combo I have going (Greeniechiva - Green Achieva, Silvetta - Silver Jetta) I have decided to name my work van Whit Ventura (White Venture). I'll post a picture of her later. Someone has taken her out for the evening.
Anyways - next Wednesday, Whit and I will be escorting several of my participants to a Bingo Lunch that CAP is having for elderly participants in three of our counties. It's definitely going to be a fun day - but I'm a little nervous about loading up four to five of my participants and driving them an hour+ back here to Paintsville to play their cards. They're going to have a ball though, so that's all that matters. I'll be sure to post some pictures!
So it's another weekend - and a long weekend at that. I think the guys are outside at the moment building a bonfire. Tomorrow we're going to a cook-out at one of our managers homes. He and his wife have eight children - all between the ages of 4 and 12ish. Two are theirs, three are adopted, and the youngest are their foster children - all which have some sort of developmental disability due to previous abuse or neglect. I'm in awe of what little I've seen of this family. So much love! Volunteers living in houses in our other region are coming tomorrow for the weekend. It will be fun to meet more people.
Just got back in from the bonfire. Raul, Heather, and I had a little freestyle - worship jam session. She just strummed on the guitar while Raul and I sang whatever was on our hearts. Good stuff. A lot on my heart. So much suffering, corruption, and injustice all around. But I have hope - in Psalm 11:7.
"For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face."
Good stuff.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Big Girl Panties
Something about myself that I've recognized before, but that has been made even more obvious to me over this past week is that I like to be in the middle of things. It's not a need to be the center of attention really, but a need to be (a) in the know and (b) to feel a part of a group. I think that's a large part of why I enjoy taking on leadership roles so much. Being a leader pretty much implies that you are leading a group of something - so that meets requirement b. And if the leaders don't know what's going on - then who does, thus meeting requirement a.
Late last week five of the people living in the house took off to Ohio to do disaster relief work in the areas that have experienced heavy flooding. It was really last minute - and as much as I wanted to go, I realized I had to stay here and continue training. Needless to say I was really bummed about being left behind and missing out on the opportunity to serve in disaster relief. I almost had myself a little pity-party. However, as I like to say, I put my big girl panties on and had an attitude check. The others were needed there and I needed to stay here. I have nine more months of being part of the group - it would be okay!! And it's not like I was left completely behind either...there have been 4-6 other people here the whole time. Not only that, but I had the chance over the weekend to really help a local family in need.
Saturday morning five of us helped a man in the community finish building a wheelchair ramp for a mother and her two children. Her son is 11 years old has been recently
diagnosed again with leukemia. Not only that, but he has some other developmental disabilities. At one point the thirteen year old daughter tried to commit suicide due to the emotional stress in the family. The wheel chair ramp is for the son who is able to go to school twice a week, but is unable to negotiate the stairs from his trailer in his wheelchair.
That morning, between learning how to use an electric drill, screwdriver, and table saw, I was grateful that I had stayed behind and wasn't in the middle of the big operation in Ohio, but in the middle of the small, but so necessary task here.
Late last week five of the people living in the house took off to Ohio to do disaster relief work in the areas that have experienced heavy flooding. It was really last minute - and as much as I wanted to go, I realized I had to stay here and continue training. Needless to say I was really bummed about being left behind and missing out on the opportunity to serve in disaster relief. I almost had myself a little pity-party. However, as I like to say, I put my big girl panties on and had an attitude check. The others were needed there and I needed to stay here. I have nine more months of being part of the group - it would be okay!! And it's not like I was left completely behind either...there have been 4-6 other people here the whole time. Not only that, but I had the chance over the weekend to really help a local family in need.
Saturday morning five of us helped a man in the community finish building a wheelchair ramp for a mother and her two children. Her son is 11 years old has been recently
diagnosed again with leukemia. Not only that, but he has some other developmental disabilities. At one point the thirteen year old daughter tried to commit suicide due to the emotional stress in the family. The wheel chair ramp is for the son who is able to go to school twice a week, but is unable to negotiate the stairs from his trailer in his wheelchair.
That morning, between learning how to use an electric drill, screwdriver, and table saw, I was grateful that I had stayed behind and wasn't in the middle of the big operation in Ohio, but in the middle of the small, but so necessary task here.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
A Day in the Life of a CAP Volunteer
Typical Weekday:
6:30 (ish) - Rise and Shine
7:55 - Walk to work
8:15 - Staff devotion and morning prayer. Good way to start the day!
8:30ish - 9:30ish - Fill out paperwork for the previous days' visits, write notes to my
participants call my participants to schedule visits, plunder through the
warehouse getting supplies and treats to take to my participants.
One of CAP's biggest programs is Operation Sharing in which over 125 corporations
(including the owners of brands like, Banana Republic, Avon, Listerine, Ocean Spray, Tropicana etc.) donate their defect or surplus products to CAP. Last year CAP received donated materials valued at over 55 millions dollars. As volunteers we get to take these products and distribute them to our participants. But there is no way that CAP alone could distribute all of these materials, so it partners with 1300 other smaller organizations, churches, and non-profits in order to get the items distributed. In other words, a girl scout troop in some other part of appalachia can come to one of our Operation Sharing warehouses and get supplies to distribute to people they are serving. Such an awesome program! And the volunteers get dibs on the donated materials too. Too bad I just missed the banana republic shipment!
9:30-10:30ish - Drive to Knott County. I think I will eventually come to really appreciate this time I have alone to myself. Living with 14 other people doesn't give you much alone time.
10:30 - 3:30ish - Visit my participants. I will probably visit with an avg. of 3 participants a day. This will vary on the days that I have to take participants to their doctor's appointments or to run other errands. I have 25 participants in my county.
3:30-4:30ish - Drive back to Hagerhill
6:00 - Community Dinner and Devotion. Monday through Thursday nights the house eats together as a community. Different people are responsible for cooking each night. Whoever cooks is also responsible for devotion. I'm cooking for the first time tomorrow night. I'm making BBQ Meatballs - one of my favorite recipes from my summer at bear trap. I hope it goes well!
7:00 - Some sort of physical activity. 95% of my day at work will be spent sitting. I'll either be sitting at a desk, sitting in a car, sitting in a doctor's office, or sitting on a participant's couch. Exercising will be a must, although I'll have to get creative. There are a couple of parks nearby - but not any good running trails. I've managed to make-up some of my own.
8:00-10:00 - Hangout with people in the house. We mostly hang-out together on the front porch or watch TV.
10:00-11:00 - Blog, read, relax.
11:00 - Goodnight!
Goodnight!
6:30 (ish) - Rise and Shine
7:55 - Walk to work
8:15 - Staff devotion and morning prayer. Good way to start the day!
8:30ish - 9:30ish - Fill out paperwork for the previous days' visits, write notes to my
participants call my participants to schedule visits, plunder through the
warehouse getting supplies and treats to take to my participants.
One of CAP's biggest programs is Operation Sharing in which over 125 corporations
(including the owners of brands like, Banana Republic, Avon, Listerine, Ocean Spray, Tropicana etc.) donate their defect or surplus products to CAP. Last year CAP received donated materials valued at over 55 millions dollars. As volunteers we get to take these products and distribute them to our participants. But there is no way that CAP alone could distribute all of these materials, so it partners with 1300 other smaller organizations, churches, and non-profits in order to get the items distributed. In other words, a girl scout troop in some other part of appalachia can come to one of our Operation Sharing warehouses and get supplies to distribute to people they are serving. Such an awesome program! And the volunteers get dibs on the donated materials too. Too bad I just missed the banana republic shipment!
9:30-10:30ish - Drive to Knott County. I think I will eventually come to really appreciate this time I have alone to myself. Living with 14 other people doesn't give you much alone time.
10:30 - 3:30ish - Visit my participants. I will probably visit with an avg. of 3 participants a day. This will vary on the days that I have to take participants to their doctor's appointments or to run other errands. I have 25 participants in my county.
3:30-4:30ish - Drive back to Hagerhill
6:00 - Community Dinner and Devotion. Monday through Thursday nights the house eats together as a community. Different people are responsible for cooking each night. Whoever cooks is also responsible for devotion. I'm cooking for the first time tomorrow night. I'm making BBQ Meatballs - one of my favorite recipes from my summer at bear trap. I hope it goes well!
7:00 - Some sort of physical activity. 95% of my day at work will be spent sitting. I'll either be sitting at a desk, sitting in a car, sitting in a doctor's office, or sitting on a participant's couch. Exercising will be a must, although I'll have to get creative. There are a couple of parks nearby - but not any good running trails. I've managed to make-up some of my own.
8:00-10:00 - Hangout with people in the house. We mostly hang-out together on the front porch or watch TV.
10:00-11:00 - Blog, read, relax.
11:00 - Goodnight!
Goodnight!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Being the New Girl
I've been here almost a full week now. I arrived last Saturday afternoon. Hagerhill is only 3 1/2 hours from my grandparents mountain house (near Banner Elk, NC) - so whenever I need to get a dose of NC or some TLC from the family (or friends for that matter), it's nice to know i don't have that far to go.
I'm living at the Johnson House, with what will eventually be fourteen other volunteers. It's located right behind CAP headquarters, so I walk to work every morning. The house is going through a bit of a transition right now. Lots of people moving out and moving in over the next couple of weeks. I'm very happy with the set-up here. I have my own room - and it's not tiny either. Maybe even bigger than my room in my apartment. Most of the volunteers are under 30 and are from all over. Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Kansas, West Virgina. I'm one of the first new volunteers in a wave of newbies to get to the house. It's been only as awkward as one would expect living with new people would be. I think the volunteers who have been here a while are really missing the volunteers who recently left - and aren't quite sure how they feel about developing a new community. I know I would feel the same way though, so I'm just hanging out and patiently awaiting the time when my new car smell fades, I break in the soles of my shoes, and I really feel like a part of the group.
But not only am I a replacement (of sorts) at the Johnson House, but at work too. I'm an elderly services caseworker with CAP responsible for participants living in Knott County. I have been shadowing the volunteer who I will be replacing this past week. Every day this week she had the difficult task of letting our participants know that she will be moving back to Ohio and will no longer be coming to visit with them. It was hard watching both Marcie and the participant tear up during each conversation. I had to remind myself that I wasn't the bad guy. But then after Marcie explained that I will be taking her place, each participant looked at me and smiled and said things like, "Well, I'll get along with her just fine", "I'd be proud to have you come and visit me", or "I know I'm going to love you too."
Talking about Marcie, Mickie, one of my participants, said, "We'll never be able to replace you. There's not another Marcie." Marcie replied, "No, but you can add." Mickie smiled and energetically agreed.
Change is tough. It can be awkward, frightening, and make us tear up. It takes time to get adjusted to and comfortable with. But we have to remember that change isn't always the bad guy. It's the opportunity to add experiences, not replace our old ones. That means that every time we face change we are given the chance to grow more, give more, receive more, learn more, love more, and be loved more.
I hope to have a lifetime of adding.
I'm living at the Johnson House, with what will eventually be fourteen other volunteers. It's located right behind CAP headquarters, so I walk to work every morning. The house is going through a bit of a transition right now. Lots of people moving out and moving in over the next couple of weeks. I'm very happy with the set-up here. I have my own room - and it's not tiny either. Maybe even bigger than my room in my apartment. Most of the volunteers are under 30 and are from all over. Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Kansas, West Virgina. I'm one of the first new volunteers in a wave of newbies to get to the house. It's been only as awkward as one would expect living with new people would be. I think the volunteers who have been here a while are really missing the volunteers who recently left - and aren't quite sure how they feel about developing a new community. I know I would feel the same way though, so I'm just hanging out and patiently awaiting the time when my new car smell fades, I break in the soles of my shoes, and I really feel like a part of the group.
But not only am I a replacement (of sorts) at the Johnson House, but at work too. I'm an elderly services caseworker with CAP responsible for participants living in Knott County. I have been shadowing the volunteer who I will be replacing this past week. Every day this week she had the difficult task of letting our participants know that she will be moving back to Ohio and will no longer be coming to visit with them. It was hard watching both Marcie and the participant tear up during each conversation. I had to remind myself that I wasn't the bad guy. But then after Marcie explained that I will be taking her place, each participant looked at me and smiled and said things like, "Well, I'll get along with her just fine", "I'd be proud to have you come and visit me", or "I know I'm going to love you too."
Talking about Marcie, Mickie, one of my participants, said, "We'll never be able to replace you. There's not another Marcie." Marcie replied, "No, but you can add." Mickie smiled and energetically agreed.
Change is tough. It can be awkward, frightening, and make us tear up. It takes time to get adjusted to and comfortable with. But we have to remember that change isn't always the bad guy. It's the opportunity to add experiences, not replace our old ones. That means that every time we face change we are given the chance to grow more, give more, receive more, learn more, love more, and be loved more.
I hope to have a lifetime of adding.
A New Habit
It has taken me a week to finally get the internet working on my computer. Turns out I was entering the wrong network password. But I'm good to go now!
Since I'm embarking on this new chapter in my life, I'm attempting to pick up a few new habits, including making my bed every morning and spending time with the Lord every morning. So far, I'm five for five. I'm wondering which will be the most difficult to keep up. Something else I'm giving a go of is keeping up a blog.
This blog is your window into the poverty and beauty of the region and people of Eastern Kentucky. It's also your window into my life here in Appalachia. Those of you reading this, I'm missing not being able to see you or talk to you as regularly as I'd like. So stop by here every once in a while - and after you leave, send me an e-mail or leave me a message updating me on your life. But I guess this blog is largely for myself too. If this first week is any indication of what this year is to be like then I know I'm going to hear countless stories and learn precious lessons that I am going to want to remember for my own growth and benefit. If I can get something from them, then perhaps, so can you.
Love and Prayers
Since I'm embarking on this new chapter in my life, I'm attempting to pick up a few new habits, including making my bed every morning and spending time with the Lord every morning. So far, I'm five for five. I'm wondering which will be the most difficult to keep up. Something else I'm giving a go of is keeping up a blog.
This blog is your window into the poverty and beauty of the region and people of Eastern Kentucky. It's also your window into my life here in Appalachia. Those of you reading this, I'm missing not being able to see you or talk to you as regularly as I'd like. So stop by here every once in a while - and after you leave, send me an e-mail or leave me a message updating me on your life. But I guess this blog is largely for myself too. If this first week is any indication of what this year is to be like then I know I'm going to hear countless stories and learn precious lessons that I am going to want to remember for my own growth and benefit. If I can get something from them, then perhaps, so can you.
Love and Prayers
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