What I Do

Eliminate poverty.

That's my mission this year.

It's the mission statement of the Americorps VISTA program and I love it. So succinct -- and yet so daunting, nay, impossible. But I'm an idealist by nature so I think there's nothing wrong with forging ahead, throwing my back and heart into worthy projects with the certainty that, surely, if I work hard enough, care hard enough, think positively enough, things will work out in the end.

But, since I'm also a procrastinator by nature, this blog has some catching up to do.



Last month, I made the 1,000-mile trek to Toledo, Ohio, for a year-long stint as an Americorps VISTA member, which is basically a fulltime volunteer. It's like the Peace Corps except I stay here in the United States. (God. I typed U.S. at first and tried to leave it alone, but had to go back and make it United States on first reference because I just can't shake the AP stylebook. That's like the Bible for journalists.)

Anyway.

I do get paid, but only a stipend and it's deliberately at the poverty level, which works out to a little more than $10,000 a year.

I'm working for the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, part of the organization known nationally as Feeding America.

My job is a community trainer for the Ohio Benefit Bank. I'm based out of the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank in Toledo, but cover an eight-county region in Northwest Ohio.

Whew.

The Ohio Benefit Bank is a free, Web-based software program (much like Turbo Tax in format and ease of use) that lets low-income Ohians sit down with a counselor and apply for public assistance programs, such as food stamps, child care subsidies, home heating costs and more.

My job involves "capacity building" for Ohio Benefit Bank -- spreading the word about the program; locating, recruiting and setting up new OBB sites; and teaching new counselors how to run the program.

I swing -- sometimes hourly -- between excitement at having an entire year to focus on the possibilities this program has for improving people's lives and feeling overwhelmed at how little time a year actually is for learning everything I need to know and then putting it into effect.

At times like those, I just have to remind myself to take a deep breath. Slow down. Do one thing at a time. One step at a time. And just trust that it WILL make a difference.