#uwkc

Being Proven Wrong, Happily (Eugene)

When I was first assigned to Redondo Beach, I was skeptical. The beach is surrounded by apartments and houses that are expensive due to location. Logically, this meant the people who spent the most time near the site were relatively affluent -- this is the opposite of what I had seen at other sites. Additionally, the site is like that of a park, only with less of a reason to drop by. The rocky surfaces and jagged gravel in place of sand makes it unfavorable for recess, and the distance is inconvenient. As the first few weeks were filled with serving, mind my judgement here, people who didn't necessarily need the food, my skepticism became cynicism.

The majority of the people who got food were those who happened to be there at the time; not many came for the food itself. When asked what the program is for, and pressed for more details other than being a Summer Meals Program, parents would be taken aback, their eyes sympathetic. "We don't need it then, you can save it for someone who does." As these days went by, I wrote in my VISTA report that perhaps this is not the best place for a site. There are two schools that allow Redondo to be a meal site, but they are on opposite sides of Redondo and the site itself did not cater to the residential areas of the students. But I think that my thought process blinded me to those who did need the food, and came each day.

Wednesday was a rather busy day. Wednesday marked my first day that I will be at mutiple sites within the same afternoon. I will be doing the lunch meal program at Ronald Methodist Church and then go over and help prepare and serve a free meal to community members of Shorleine at Popy's Cafe. (Click the title for more information).

Because I will be at multiple sites this summer it is nice to have my home base which I would consider Ronald Methodist Church to be. I'm expecting to feel at home at all my meal sites once I settle into my roles at all of them. At RonaldI feel accepted at this point by the staff, volunteers, children and parents at this site. Because of this I'm excited to start collecting data on how families found our program and the improvements they think we could make to have more growth and stability. It is also nice once you've established yourself at a program to be missed. The children awaited my return to continue our UNO match, which I should mention I still have not won. I will continuously tilt my hat to our UNO champ, who a week in is still undefeated. We also had up to 25 children at our site. Because families came at the end of our meal we actually ran out of lunches. Fortunately the church had donated (non reimbursable) food so we did have something to give them. Wednesday's seem to be our high day, or word is spreading about our site.

The later half of my Wednesday was my first day at Popy's. Shorelines free community dinner. After we closed Ronald Methodist I drove over. Everyone greeted me warmly, although explaining to them how I got involved is rather tricky. "I'm an intern for United Way of King County's Million Meal Campaign. This program is partnering with the YMCA to get meals to children in the community. Dale Turner Y needed extra help at Popy's so they asked me to come here which I thought would be a great experience and outreach opportunity." Man, I need to come up with a shorter spiel.

Anyway as I've worked at any community programs like this I was prepared to get my task in the food preparation stage. This Wednesday? DEVLIED EGGS.  And I mean every step. Cracking the eggs, cutting them in half, removing the egg yolk, sifting the egg yolk, making the deviled egg mixture (egg yolk, mayo, spices) and filling the egg. (See some of the steps and finished results bellow.) By the end I was quite proud.

The nice thing about these more tedious tasks like I had (cracking 60+ eggs)  is inevitably they will send another volunteer in to help you. And during this time you get to have a really great conversation. Mine Wednesday was a retired volunteer who after letting me know his journey to volunteer, let me know about Shorelines intervention and child abuse prevention methods. (ACES - click here for the study I found) Since I studied criminology and am immensely interested in this type of data I was quite excited. And to partner with volunteers and programs believe in the community and that the community especially with programs like this  can help and create a safe haven for children and/or adults who need it. I was impressed how this conversation tied into what I want to do with my life and pieces of what I am doing now.

Later in the evening I received my second task of the day during the serving time. My mission was to man the desert table.

This actually was wonderful because the line of people who come through go right by me. I said hello to everyone, and they were excited to see a new face in the group of volunteers. This is what I love about programs like this, both volunteers and people that come to dinner want to be there. Many of them were curious about me and I can tell they will talk to me next time I'm there. Some of them already came over and hovered over the deserts (after first meal was complete), partially to keep their eye on their next desert but mainly to get to know me and were delighted to see that I do both listen and talk with people no matter their background (Thanks Human Service program for teaching me how to effectively actively listen). I was hoping to see more families at this dinner to spread the word about the lunch program, but I guess we'll see next week.

This is a really interesting site. As some of the volunteers told me and I observed you have a mix of people who need this as a meal, and people who come for conversation and a community feel. I don't really care why they are there, I'm just glad they are.

I'll be honest by the end of Wednesday I was tired, smelt like eggs and chocolate cakes, but definitely left Popy's with a good feeling (we served over 90 meals) and great budding relationships, with knowledge of a a brand new world I didn't know about before.  

Today I'm working on outreach strategys for the sites opening next week and organizing the food donations.

There are two big things I learned today.

FIRST OFF you can get fined for leaving flyers on mailboxes. So please appreciate the picture I posted but please do not follow in my footsteps. Even though we ALL have got them, apparently it is a big no no. If there are unavoidable fences or watch dogs like I've faced, pass the mailboxes and move on to the next house :(!

Secondly, today I learned I will be part of 4 DIFFERENT meal sites this summer. Ronald Methodist Church, First Lutheran, Kenmore Elementary, and Poppies!

Today I met with my supervisors that oversee the Northshore YMCA Summer Meals program. Northshore oversees  three sites. Two open sites at Kenmore Elementary and First Lutheran Church in Bothell. The other is a closed sight at Kokanee Elementary that caters to their ELL program. These programs are opening next week.

Something at these sites that is completely new and is very exciting to me is we have a Adult Table and a Tote Bag program. All of these donations are non reimbursable and are donations of the Y Can Drive (or simular donation drives) or of community members.

The adult meals will be available during lunch and available to bring home. Much like schools doing backpack programs, the tote bags are filled with  variety of foods available for families to bring home every other Friday. Two Fridays a month we will have them at First Lutheran, the other Fridays will be at Kenmore.  Part of my work will be packing the tote bags and transporting them to the sites.. I went through 40 bags today to make sure that they had the correct foods in them. 

Each Bag Comes with:

-          4 Hot or Cold Breakfast Cereals

-          4 Granola/energy bar

-          4 Snacks

-          2 Big Bags (Ritz sized bags) or 6 small crackers

-          2 canned meats

-          4 Fruit or Vegetable Juices

-          4 Dish Meal (Mac & Cheese, Soup, Chili)

-          1 Penaut Butter

-          1 Jelly

-          4 Milks

The diversity in the programs are already pretty evident. I'm curious to see which type of program gets the most increase and retainment. I'm hoping that with all our powers combined all sites will see significant growth.

Off to our check in meeting. I wonder what other stories are out there?

TOMORROWS ADVENTURE?: Ronald Methodist Church Meal (Uno competition, Drip Drip Splash, Reward Cards for the returning kiddos!) and Poppies in the evening!

Today I completed a volunteer information sheet. It has basic information. It's a great resource for volunteers! Campaign Corps members can feel free to use this and tailor it for your site or use it to learn more about this great program!

- Brooke

_______________________________________________________

Summer Meals Program 2013 Volunteer Information Sheet

_______________________________________________________

The Problem and the Solution:

*Hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to the learning process. Lack of nutrition during the summer months may set up a cycle for poor performance once school begins again. 

  About 99,000 school children rely on free or reduced-price lunch during the school year. But in the summer, only 1 in 7 takes part in free meal programs. So in hundreds of locations, community partners are setting up meal and activity sites where meals will be made available at no charge to attending children 1- 18. The Summer Food Service Program for Children is designed to fill out nutrition game and make sure children can get the nutritious meal they need.

Polices and Rules:

Meals are only available for children and teens ages 1-18. Children CANNOT share their meal with adults or caregivers that come to the meal programs.

Children must eat meals on site. Children* cannot take meals home.

YMCA Meal Program sites will have Share Boxes.  Unwanted and untouched food can be left in a Share Box. Children must stay at site to eat extra meals from the share box. However children can take fruit or vegetables home.

Children must receive a full meal. *(for lunch)

One serving of milk (8 fluid oz.)

Two or more servings of fruits, or two or more servings of vegetables, or two or more fruits and vegetables (3/4 cup total)

One serving of grain or bread (1/2 cup or 1 oz.)

One serving of meat or meat alternate (2 oz.)

Meals are only served during approved meal service times. Check with your supervisor when your sites meal times are.

Meals programs are part of USDA programing. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities:

Assist supervisor with daily tasks, oversight and goals of the program.

Follow the policies and procedures of program.

Interact with youth and families in program.

Lead activities and games with youth.

HAVE FUN!!!

_______________________________________________________

** 

Information on meal statistics taken from:  http://www.shorelineareanews.com/2013/06/dale-turner-family-ymca-summer-meals.html