What's the point?

Today I was asked for some advice from a fellow AmeriCorps member who was feeling like she couldn't make it through the next nine and a half months.

I know exactly where she was coming from.

My first year in AmeriCorps, I wanted to quit more times than I could count. I went so far as to apply for jobs, and was even offered a pretty good one in Seattle, but I decided I had to see it through or I would forever regret it.
AmeriCorps is not easy. It's not all fun family events and helping the less fortunate and feeling good about yourself. It's being too strapped for cash to go to movies with your friends. It's being too tired to even see your friends. It can be really hard to remember what great things you are doing when you are worrying about how you're going to make your car payment, or your electric bill.

One particular moment from my first year of service sticks out in my mind - I was hating my job, hating the program I was teaching, feeling like the kids hated me and didn't want to be there - and then, as the first graders were walking past my desk to the bus, one of them called out "Bye Miss Rosie! I'll miss you!"
I cried.
That was all the validation I needed - I was doing something right, for this child to say he would miss me.

The long term benefits of serving are great - the education award, the nonprofit experience - AmeriCorps has whole studies on the benefits of service - apparently 86% of AmeriCorps State Alumni are satisfied with their careers. (You can read all about the benefits of service, according to AmeriCorps, here.)
Keeping our eyes on the big picture is great, but often impossible. We have to find the joy in the little moments. In the kid who tells us they will miss us. In the hugs we get in the hallways. In the smile of a child the first time they read a word without help.

Being an AmeriCorps Member isn't easy. It's anything but easy. But we are here, serving our communities, to make their lives a little easier. It's only a year. A year that will affect us (and the people we serve) for the rest of our lives.

Here's a little reminder of our purpose as AmeriCorps Members.
(This is the real, official deal, straight from AmeriCorps.gov):

The AmeriCorps Pledge


I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer,
smarter, and healthier.
I will bring Americans together
to strengthen our communities.
Faced with apathy,
I will take action.
Faced with conflict,
I will seek common ground.
Faced with adversity,
I will persevere.
I will carry this commitment
with me this year and beyond.
I am an AmeriCorps member,
and I will get things done.


We are here to make America a better place. The education award is a nice reward at the end, but when we focus on the money (and it's really not that much money), we lose sight of the real reason we are here.

A question for my readers, AmeriCorps members or no: Have you had a day (or week, or hour) where you thought you had made the completely wrong decision for your life? What did you do about it?

Getting Something for Nothing

Living on a stipend, I have to watch every penny. I don't often have extra pennies to spend on things like music, movies, and new clothes. However, I have found several good resources for free stuff. And who doesn't like free?

1) Craigslist free section - This stuff usually goes really fast, especially in my college town. However, I have found some great stuff like a vintage bedframe. If you are unfamiliar with Craigslist, perhaps because you have been living in a cave somewhere, it's a free classified ads website with specific pages for almost every major metropolitan area in the world. Go to Craigslist.org and select your location, then click on "free," and go wild.

2) Freecycle™- Freecycle™ is a "nonprofit group of people," with over 6 million members from around the world. The idea is to give and take free stuff, kind of like a big swap. I have given a bread machine (I'm not even sure why I had that - I don't eat bread!) and clothes and taken things like tomato cages and bookshelves. If you have something you don't use (like a bread machine) laying around the house, post it on Freecycle™ and if anyone is in need of one, they will contact you. If you are in need of something (like tomato cages), post that, and if someone has the thing you are looking for, they will contact you. It takes some work, but it is worth it. 


3) iTunes  - I have a gadget on my Google homepage that lists all of the new free downloads form iTunes. I have gotten some great music, and there are also often tv shows or videos. There is also always a list of free donwloads on the iTunes store front page. There are also a lot of free podcasts out there - my favorite is This American Life.


4) Volunteer - I would never volunteer for something with the expectation to get something out of it other than personal satisfaction and AmeriCorps service hours, but the honest truth is you can often walk away from volunteering with something that has monetary value. Volunteering at the food bank often ends in some free produce - especially stuff that will go bad soon. When I volunteered with Rock the Bulb last week, I got ten free CFL bulbs. If you volunteer to usher at a theater, you will get to see most of the show for free. 


5) Check out your local scene - My town has a free monthly art walk, this summer there was a free concert series, and there are free tai chi classes in one of the parks. Most bars have open mic nights or other shows with no cover. The local bookstore has authors in the store or other free events nearly every night. We have an annual Human Rights Film Festival to which admission is always free. There is usually something free going on in my town, and it's not big. Two cities I have lived in have First Thursdays - admission to all participating museums is free on the first Thursday of each month. Basically you just have to stay informed - most of these free events don't have big publicity budgets. Check out your city webpage, do a Google search for "free (your town)." There's a lot to do, and you might discover some pretty cool things about the place you live.


6) The internet - There are a lot of scams, a lot of "sign up for a loan and we'll give you a free gift card," but there is some legitimate free stuff out there. You can watch movies and TV shows for free on Hulu. There are a lot of websites with lists of stuff you can get for "free." Be careful with these! Often they are looking for a way to get your information and get you to sign up for things. I have, however, found some  great stuff on these sites, such as the iTunes code to download the Austin City Limits Sampler CD for free. Just be smart, and remember what mom always told you: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.


7) Ask - I know, duh, right? But what happens to that banana at the grocery store that is a little too brown? What about the grapes that fell out of those fancy bags? Ask the produce manager, and often you can get those things for free. Those grapes make great raisins, if you have a dehydrator. We need books for our program at school, and will be asking local thrift stores and used book stores to keep us in mind - some thrift stores will give you first dibs, especially if you are representing a non-profit organization and not just yourself (although it never hurts to ask for yourself as well).


Happy Free-Stuff Finding!

How many volunteers does it take to screw in a Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb?

The answer is - a lot.
Today I volunteered at Rock the Bulb with Project Porchlight, which is part of One Change, an organization that educates the public about energy use and the idea that changing one thing can make a big impact.

Project Porchlight's "Rock the Bulb" is a lightbulb exchange and an education program, with lots of really cool activities that demonstrate why we should use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs as opposed to traditional incandescent ones.
For the first half of the day, I was at a booth with two human-powered generators - one hooked up to a bicycle and one with a hand crank - with a switch box with a CFL and an incandescent bulb. The idea was to show people just how much energy it takes to power an incandescent bulb vs a CFL. We always hear that the CFLs use less energy, but it is really cool to actually see and feel how much of a difference there is between the two.
For the second half of the day, I worked in the Bulb Exchange, getting people their free CFL bulbs in exchange for the incandescent ones that they brought in.
I learned a whole lot about Compact Fluorescent Bulbs today. They make them now that you can put in recessed lighting, they make dimmable ones (if used in a fixture made after 1995), they come in all different shapes and sizes.
A LOT of people came through the event. I think the final count was a little less than 2,000. Most of them brought in 10 lightbulbs to exchange - that's 20,000 lightbulbs exchanged! The amount of energy saved by switching those bulbs is extraordinary.

One Change says that they are an organization that is dedicated to letting all people, regardless of race, economic status, or political views, know what they can do to make a difference. I was sort of reminded of AmeriCorps, because they reach out across those boundaries that normally exist, especially in environmental campaigns. It is a shame that our environmental groups tend to target the upper socio-economic classes, and One Change tries to break that tradition - very well, I believe. The majority of our citizens can't afford to put solar panels on their roof or collect rainwater in cisterns. A lot of people can't even afford to purchase CFLs - they are pretty expensive. The opportunity to exchange the bulbs they already had and to learn about how the CFLs will be saving them money is a great first step - a simple, easy change - toward more responsible energy use.

I overheard one of the power company employees talking to a customer who asked him if there was a noticeable drop in energy consumption in areas after they had evens like this. He said there absolutely always is - how cool is that?

Building a community

Last night the ELL (English as a Learning Language) program at our school held the first of it's monthly ELL Family Nights.
No other school that I have ever worked at or even heard of has a program like this. I think it's amazing. A lot of the time, non-English speaking families want to get involved in the school but feel they cannot, because they do not know how. The language barrier is extreme, and often schools miss out on great parent involvement because of it.
The ELL family night was held in the library. We walked into the school and were greeted by the ELL Paraeducator - she is basically an "aid" - not a certificated teacher, but so dedicated to the school and her students that she organizes these events every month. We were offered nametags and directed to the library by signs in many languages.
In the library, there were three tables labeled "Spanish," one labeled "Punjabi," one "Vietnamese," and one "Russian/Ukraine." At each table, a translator. A volunteer translator. One of the Spanish translators was one of our "Office ladies," and the others were volunteers that the ELL teacher has found throughout the years.
Our school principal spoke first, welcoming the families and telling them about the school and why we have these nights. She said that often the ELL families are the most informed about the school because they come to these nights. Whenever anyone spoke, it took over twice as long as it usually would - the speaker would say a phrase, then wait for it to be translated, and the library was abuzz with all the different languages. Though there were five different languages being spoken in the room, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of community. These families care about their children's education and their futures. They are looking forward to giving their children opportunities that they might not have had growing up, and are working toward that future.
A PTA (Parent - Teacher Association) officer spoke about volunteer opportunities - the fundraiser, the vision and hearing check, and other upcoming events. She and the principal encouraged the family members in attendance to sign up to help out. Many of them did.
I am so heartened by the simple idea of these family nights. One of the most important things that our principal said to the families was that our school is proud of it's diversity. It doesn't matter if you don't speak English well enough to read a newsletter - if you want to be involved in your child's education, you should be. I am excited to be at a school that offers families opportunities to do so.

New Friends

Today we had a "Southern Culture Lesson" at the home of one of my new team members. She has moved here from North Carolina to be a VISTA for the Reading Corps. She wanted to share some of her favorite foods with us, which is something I can happily agree to. I love food. Especially when it's fried.

My new team members, all of whom I have known less than three weeks, all checked ingredients and read labels to make sure there was some wheat-free food I could eat. I missed out on the fried chicken and the biscuits, but ate some delicious cheesy-grits, fried green tomatoes, collard greens, black-eyed-peas, and sweet tea. Delicious.

AmeriCorps may be all about helping others and fighting poverty, but one of the best fringe benefits is the people you meet. I am still friends with several people I served with three years ago, and am sure that I am forging lasting friendships now, with people from across the country. These are people I probably wouldn't meet in my daily life without AmeriCorps - but we are all here, united by a common goal.

And by food. Especially those fried green tomatoes. Yum.

Patriot's Day

"Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." 
--Martin Luther King, Jr


By signing the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in April, President Obama declared today, September 11, a National Day of Service.  (The Serve America Act also triples the size of AmeriCorps and raised my stipend, among other things.) A day to remember, to mourn, and to improve our county. September 11, eight years ago: a tragedy, a horrible attack, a shock.
I was a senior in high school, and got to school for zero period at 6:15, PST. The first plane hit the first tower right at about the time I was eating my breakfast. Before first period, I heard people talking about planes hitting buildings, and thought they were talking about a movie. Even when my first period teacher said "I'm sure you've all heard about the horrible accident in New York..." I wasn't sure what to believe. Our school principal told the teachers they were not to turn on the news, but my government teacher believed that we were living through one of the most significant events that we would ever see, and turned it on. 
The images are still burned in my head. 


I'm sure we all have stories like this, just as my mother remembers where she was when JFK was shot, we will all remember where we were when the towers fell.


But what about the people who were too young to understand what was happening? What about my children, will they understand what 9/11 means? Or will it be to them what Veterans Day is to me and many people I know - a day off from school and work? Making 9/11 into a day of service and remembrance, asking people to give back to their community and their country, ensures that we will not forget. Even Fox News thinks that the day of service is a good idea, and we usually don't agree on anything. (I do, however, know what the iron curtain was.)


Today, the Northwest Washington Reading Corps team went to the Citipoint Food Bank's new location and helped them unpack and organize. We folded and sorted clothes, built shelves, sorted food, repackaged food, organized dry goods, and basically tried to make sense of a warehouse shoved full of food, household items, furniture, and everything else under the sun. (For example, we found a framed sketch of the Pope.)


After three hours of work, it was declared that we were "done." They have a long way to go, but things certainly looked better than they did when we walked in. 
Before we left, the ladies in charge asked us to please take any perishable food items that we wanted. The food bank will still not be open for a few days and the produce and baked goods were already well on their way to rotten. 
So, in addition to the good feelings I got for participating in the first ever Patriot Day and National Day of Service, I now have a kitchen full of fresh vegetables and fruit. Which is very nice when a girl is living off of $6 a day for food! 


Did you do anything to commemorate today? Did you participate in one of the many service projects across the country? Even if you missed the opportunity to serve today, you can do it tomorrow!

First Day of School

The title says it all: Today was the First Day of School. First day for students, first day for teachers, first day for us Washington Reading Corps members.
Unfortunately, the fact that is was the First Day is pretty much the most exciting thing about the day.
We met our site supervisor, the principal, and the other teachers we will be working with. We got a brief tour of the school - I was surprised at how much room there is in the school. With 362 students, they still have spare rooms for reading specialists, Title 1, and other specialists. The largest class is 32 students, which is very large, but not unheard of.
We will be working with our site supervisor and other staff members over the coming few weeks to figure out where our role should be, as we are the first AmeriCorps/WRC members to be at our school. We will plan our tutoring times as well as other programs, hopefully including a breakfast reading club and an after-school group.
We will be spending the rest of the week getting settled, and Friday our whole NWWRC team is participating in a day of service for Patriot's Day. I wasn't even aware that "Patriot's Day" was an official holiday, but there it is, written in my calendar. As a National Service organization, it makes sense that AmeriCorps would participate in a day of remembrance and service. Are you doing anything to commemorate 9/11?

Food Stamps

Yesterday, another AmeriCorps member and I went to the Department of Social and Health Services to get our Food Assistance. I applied online on Monday, providing information such as my income, rent amount, average energy bill, and so on.
On Thursday I got a letter saying that my application had been received and reviewed, and I was to come in for an interview with documentation that what I had put on my application was true. I brought in a copy of my lease, my photo ID, Social Security Card, car registration, electric bill, and a bank statement.
We arrived at DSHS at 7:45am and checked in with the automated system.
At 9:00 I was called for my interview.
The interviewer briefly went over my application. I showed her the letter from my AmeriCorps supervisor stating that I am and AmeriCorps state member covered under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, and that my monthly living stipend is excluded as income for all DSHS assistance programs. Because my income, as far as DSHS is concerned, is $0 a month, I qualify to receive the maximum amount of food assistance - $200 a month.
Then, after I got to sit an wait for a while longer, I finally got my Electronic Benefits Card.
By 9:30, the other member I was with had not been called for her interview yet. She and I checked in at the same time, and just when she was about to ask what was going on, she got called back. At 10am. Two hours after we checked in... wow.
Funding for DSHS has been cut recently, even while the amount of food assistance offered to people has gone up (three years ago, the maximum benefits were $150 a month). DSHS has had to cut back on their hours and staffing, even though the number of people they are serving has increased. Since June of 2008, the number of Americans receiving food stamps has increased by 22%. (Source)
Recently, National Public Radio did a short piece on this trend. They interviewed Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), who, in 2007, took part in the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge. He lived on a food stamp budget for one month. You can read or listen to the interview here.

I have a challenge to all of our Government Representatives - live off a food stamp budget not for one month, but for a full year. 


Even with the increase in benefits, I will be able to spend a little more than $6 a day on food. That's not much. I want to see the people in control of the governments spending do the same thing, and then, with a straight face, tell the people of America that we are spending too much money on welfare programs such as food stamps.

Do you think you could live off of $6 a day for food?

Day 2

Yesterday was much of the same stuff as Monday, and I was exhausted, so I didn't post anything. Did you miss me?
Today began with our community scavenger hunt. Our program managers came up with a list of things for us to find in the communities we are serving. Since I am lucky enough this year to be working in the same city I live in, I got to explore my town.
I discovered that I live only a few blocks from many of my team members, so we all met at the college campus to carpool. Five of us crowded into one car, and we were off, discovering exciting things about our community.
Funny thing was, all of us have lived here for a while.
But, while we may not have discovered anything truly "new" about this awesome town, we did get to drive around like mad and take pictures while we did it.
Some of my favorite things on the scavenger hunt list were:
-"Take photos of two of your favorite outdoor sculptures downtown." (Our town has recently spent quite a bit of money on public art. Most locals hate it. I love it because of it's ridiculousness. )

-"Take a picture with a rocket. Any rocket. Even a REAL rocket."

Now, here's where I did learn something new:
-In 2005, the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch ranked our town 4th in the United States for the most coffee shops per capita - 2.1 shops per person! ...Take a picture of your group at a coffee shop.

So, when people ask if Pacific Northwesterners really do drink a lot of coffee, I guess the answer is a definite yes. I don't even know how 2.1 shops per person is possible - but it is a college town, so I guess it makes sense.


This afternoon some of the group leaders got to get together and discuss what we would like to do in small groups the rest of the year. I think we came up with some good ideas, one of them being "how to actually live off your AmeriCorps stipend." $1050 a month doesn't really sound that bad at first, especially when you are right out of college and haven't really had to do things like pay rent, utilities, etc, on your own. I am scared to death I will miss a credit card payment or forget to pay my electric bill one of these months, and I've been doing this for a while.

There are also a lot of resources available to low-income people in this state and in this country. I had no idea how to take advantage of many of them my first year, and I am still learning now. For example, the local Community Action Agency/Opportunity Council provides assistance in paying heating bills. You have to provide proof of income and expenses, as well as a bill for your primary source of heat. I have not had my gas turned on yet, but when I do I will see if I qualify for this program.

I applied online for my Food Assistance on Monday and have not yet heard from DSHS. I will be calling them tomorrow to find out what the hold up is - their website says your application should be processed in the next business day. I gave them three days, I think that's fair. Hopefully by this weekend I will have my EBT card and can eat something besides tuna and beans.