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?