Monday, May 17, 2010

Hello Henry County....D'oh!

This post is for my dad, who I think enjoys the amusing stories of me making a fool of myself better than anything else on this blog...



Today I experienced a bit of culture shock (well, culture reminder) at the difference between cold-calling a rural area vs. an urban area.

I spent the day calling various churches and food pantries in Henry County -- where the only "city" is about 9,000 people, and there are fewer than 30,000 people in the whole county -- trying to drum up some interest for an Ohio Benefit Bank informational event coming up in that area.

First of all, it can be hard enough to explain Ohio Benefit Bank over the phone in a single sentence to people who have never heard of it (and are probably still thinking that it's an actual bank...), but harder still when it's a county with virtually no OBB presence and you are cold-calling a tiny pantry staffed by volunteers and probably not used to getting random rambling calls from Toledo.

People are both more trusting ("No he's not here. Would you like his cell phone number?") and more skeptical ("Who are you again?") at the same time. If that makes sense...

There's also more overlap between personal and business.

One food pantry phone number I had turned out to be a lady's home, out of which she single-handedly ran the service. When another number turned out to be a bank, I thought I'd misdialed but it turned out to be where the food bank coordinator worked. Another church didn't give me an email address but said I could send a flyer through the mail if I wanted.

Several agencies appeared to be run by the same person so I tried to be careful about not calling twice.

But I did get tripped up once.

Strikes One and Two came very quickly after the first words I uttered to the kindly elderly woman who picked up the phone at St. Vincent de Paul in Napoleon. I asked for the name of the contact that the food bank in Toledo had on record. We'll call him John Smith.

ME: Hi! Is John Smith available?

WOMAN: (Pause) May I ask who's calling?

ME: My name is Sarah and I work with a statewide outreach project called the Ohio Benefit Bank.

WOMAN: Well, Mr. Smith has actually passed away...

Crap! That's always embarrassing...

But then to make matters worse -- or at least more awkward -- it turns out that I was speaking with his widow...

D'oh!

But I think I said I was so sorry so emphatically that she couldn't help but feel bad for me. She thanked me and patiently humored me by letting me talk haha.

Strike Three came when I finished my spiel about the event and she was actually interested enough to ask where it was going to be held...uh oh!...I didn't even know! Talk about useful basic information... I had an address off the flyer, but realized I didn't know the name of the building or venue...the perfect way to reveal your big-city outsider status and prove you know nothing at all about her town.

I stammered something and she kind of laughed (at me or with me hmm?) and said that's OK, she could just look at the flyer when I sent it and figure it out. (Turns out it's some kind of county goverment complex...at least now I know...)

So that conversation was awkward enough as it was.

But Strike Four came when I dialed that same number later on in my call list! Apparently the site listed twice and I didn't realize it. (But at least this time I didn't ask for Mr. Smith...)

Still. Of all the places to accidentally call back and have her say, "Um, I think I already talked to you about this..." Yep. Good Old Mrs. Smith.

Mrs. Smith thinks I'm a moron.

But at least she remembered me right? Haha.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Americorps Service Day

Andrea, a VISTA at Toledo Area Ministries, and Sarah Grace, a VISTA at Lutheran Social Services in Lima.


Today was one of several days per year deemed Americorps Service Days.

All the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbank Americorps members gathered in Columbus to do a variety of direct service projects as part of Americorps Week.



My project was helping at a community garden. Other groups cleaned up litter, sorted clothes and represented Americorps at a school fair.

Maureen, who works with me at the food bank in Toledo.


Rich, a supernice retired pastor and one of our newest VISTA members. He works at Compassionate Care in Sidney in Southwest Ohio.


Mitch, a VISTA at United Way of Hancock County in Findlay.


The project site, outside the Mid-Ohio Food Bank in Grove City, near Columbus.


Anthony (married to my good friend from high school, Erica) is a VISTA at Oaks Family Care Center in Lodi, near Cleveland.


Anthony is a natural leader and brought much-needed organization to our directionless final task, the watering of our newly planted garden.


Once we were finished in the gardens, we took a tour of the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, which recently moved into a new facility three times larger than its old space.





It was HUGE.

(Courtesy Mid-Ohio Food Bank)


And pretty.



A cool mirror outside the bathrooms thanked volunteers for their work.

After the tour, we joined the rest of the project sites for the "fun half" of the day at a little old single-screen movie theatre in Columbus, where we ate pizza and ice cream, and watched...



...The Princess Bride? Yep.



I have to say, Americorps Service Days, while its always enjoyable to spend a day out of the office, are a bit of a joke. It's nice to dig in the mud, do some direct service and especially to see all the people we don't see every day, but it's odd to specify a single day as a day of service when essentially EVERY day of this job is a service day...

Also, it seems more productive to work on a project in our own communities rather than drive two and a half hours to mainly stand around with not enough work for all of us at the same project.

And The Princess Bride? Good movie, but weird choice for a mandatory-attendance event. Even odder, since I heard Food Inc was in the running, which I would have preferred to watch and which would have made a lot more sense.

Ah well.

As you wish :)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Community Garden Project



Today some fellow VISTAs and I took a tour of a community garden in North Toledo called The Greenhouse Project.

The project, which isn't far from downtown, behind the Unison building off Cherry Street, includes not only beds of flowers and veggies, but also a greenhouse, laying hens, bees, worms, compost and construction projects. There are plans for fish, meat chickens, turkeys -- maybe even goats.



The project is part of the Toledo Botanical Gardens - Toledo GROWs network. The site partners with the juvenile justice system, mentoring kids just released from jail or prison as they work at the site, learning planting and building skills.





It reminded me a lot of a book I recently read called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver, in which a family embarks on a yearlong project to live off the land as much as possible, with an emphasis on supporting locally-grown produce.

The tour was led by Bryan Ellis (pictured here), a local construction contractor who clearly loves working outdoors and with the kids.

One of the laying hens.


Some fresh eggs. People in the neighborhood often walk through to check out what's going on and take home fresh eggs.


Bryan rescuing the chicken named Tina Turner from pecking around the bees.


Inside the greenhouse. In the background is the start of what will be an aquaponics project, a symbiotic cultivation of plants and fish in a recirculating environment.


These are chicken tractors, aka mobile chicken coops. The meat chickens live inside and the pens are moved each day so they always have fresh grass and new bugs.


Some of the kids placed through the reentry system. They learn about planting, take trips and learn construction projects, including building picnic tables, decorative tressels and sheds, which they take orders for.


Read more in this article from the Toledo Blade. A video from The Blade is below. Rob, the kid interviewed, was there while we were there.

Monday, May 10, 2010

McCain On Community Service, Human Rights

(Photos courtesty Doug Martin/owu.edu)

On Sunday, I went to my alma mater Ohio Wesleyan University's 2010 commencement ceremony to hear U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) deliver the commencement address.





I barely knew anyone graduating (only the younger sister of my college roommate -- that's her, the blonde on the left) but I was interested that McCain would accept an invitation to such a small school (he also gave the commencement address there in 1997) and curious to hear what he would say.

It was actually a really good speech: short, cleanly delivered, focused on the graduates and their parents, and not political.

Although OWU's students are a diverse group, the overall leaning of the student body is definately liberal, but the response to McCain was very respectful and he got a standing ovation at both the beginning and the end of his remarks.

A full transcript of his remarks can be found here, but here are some excerpts:

McCain encouraged the graduates to work for human rights and dignity and to love freedom, even if not bearing arms for their country.

"All Americans share in the obligation to stand with those who are denied the rights we too often take for granted here. Even if you are never elected to any office or never meet a foreign policy professional, a responsibility remains."

"If the defense of human rights abroad is a concern of the American people, it will remain the concern of our elected officials. And if it is a concern of our government, the world will take notice."

This section reminded me of Americorps' mission.

"I have faith that you understand that assaults on the dignity of others are assaults on the dignity of all humanity. You will not look upon tyranny and injustice in faraway places as the inevitable tragedy of mankind’s fallen nature. You will see them as a call to action – a summons to devote your time and talents to a just cause that is greater than yourself, the cause of human rights and dignity."

"Make this your legacy, and 20 years from now, maybe longer, you will be able to know that you made history, and made our country and world better. Not perfect, but better."

He also talked about failure, using the opportunity to poke some fun at himself:

“We are all afraid of something. But we should not let the sensation of fear convince us we are too weak to have courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice.”

"You might think that I'm going to advise you not to be afraid to fail. I'm not. Be afraid. Speaking from considerable experience, failing stinks, just don't be undone by it. Failure is no more a permanent condition than is success."

McCain was selected as speaker for his legacy of public service, and congratulated OWU on being nationally honored for community service.

“Many of you have already given your hearts and talents to causes greater than yourselves,” McCain said. “Your leadership … will surpass the achievements and correct the deficiencies of my generation’s leadership.”



All in all, things were very low-key. It was easy to find seats and parking spaces. I was surprised there seemed to be very little security and they didn't search bags.

Apparently there was a group of protesters, holding signs against the Arizona immigration law that McCain supports, but I never saw or heard them.

And I ran into a fellow journalism major I graduated with who now works at the university and who got to pick McCain up from his hotel and bring him to commencement. Very cool.



Here is our president Rock Jones ringing the bell that has opened and closed the school year every year since the university started in 1842. The bell looks sturdy but makes a superdinky, anticlimatic noise and everyone laughed -- including McCain.

UPDATE: This video is from Channel 10 in Columbus. I've been fighting with it all morning, trying to make it embed properly without all that side crap, but I give up. Sorry.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Chilly Day At The Ballpark



Today I attended my first major league baseball game (woo!), the Indians vs. the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very enjoyable because the weather was miserable: overcast and chilly with 30 mph gusting wind. (But at least no rain.)

This is me in the first inning, no longer wearing a hat because it had already blown off twice.



I'm a bit ashamed to say we wussed out and only stayed through the fourth inning...although that was longer than many people around us.

But yay for Americorps and the Indians for hooking us up with free tickets! You can't beat that.

Here was our view:





Americorps got shown some love on the big screen -- which, by the way, was built by South Dakota-based Daktronics and was once the largest video display in the world at a sports venue. Props.



At first, our section was full of other Americorps members from across the state, but everyone cleared out pretty quick -- either in search of warmer seats or to head home early.

We were asked to wear Americorps gear, but as it turned out no one would have been able to tell because everyone was bundled deep beneath winter coats and hats. (Why didn't I think to wear my spiffy HarvestCorps jacket?!)



It definately felt more like football weather than baseball. The stands looked pretty sparse...and we witnessed more than one fan lose a full plate of nachoes to the wind as they carried them back to their seats...



Here's us saying farewell (and good riddance) to Cleveland. Off to listen to the rest of the game on the drive home, back to the warmer side of the lake. (The Tigers prevailed, 6-4.)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Agency Relations Conference



Today was the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Foodbank's annual Agency Relations Conference at Camp Miakonda, a Boy Scout camp in Toledo.

All its member agencies (the soup kitchens, shelters, churches, organizations, etc, from across the region that pick up food from the bank to distribute in their pantries) gather to learn what's new and hear various speakers -- including myself and Maureen, talking about food stamps and the Ohio Benefit Bank.

Maureen and I and our supervisor Bernice spent the afternoon the day before tying balloons and going all caveman -- pounding stakes in with a rock -- to direct walkers along the 1/2 mile walking route from the parking lot to the council lodge where the meeting would be held.



It wasn't so bad to hang out in nature for the afternoon.



In fact, it was such a gorgeous day that, after we were done, Maureen and I decided to hang out in nature some more. We went to a nearby metropark to plan what we were going to say the next day at the conference.



This morning, Maureen and I were at the camp bright and early.

While Maureen helped one of the foodbank's drivers shuttle people from the parking lot to the lodge (in a beautiful SUV donated for the occasion, thanks Matthews Ford!), I put together the packets of handouts for each person.



During the conference, Maureen spoke about food stamps and then I talked about the Ohio Benefit Bank and what it means to become a site. We also mentioned our upcoming OBB Expos and there seemed to be some interest.

We were both nervous because the room was full. I would guess there were about 90people there, representing 58 different agencies. The room was big and echo-y and we had to use a mic.



I thought our portion went well, although it was a little sad the lack of OBB knowledge.

When I asked how many people were OBB counselors or worked at OBB sites, only a few raised their hands. When I asked who had heard of OBB or knew what I meant when I said OBB site, not many more raised their hands.

Oh well. That just means we have some more work to do in educating people about OBB. But the good thing is that the people at this event all already have a relationship with the food bank, so we already have that trust and connection when we approach them.

Other speakers talked about the new mobile food pantries, the importance of accurate record-keeping and reporting of distributions for federal and state funding purposes, and programs available through the Northwest Ohio Development Agency (pictured speaking above) to help families struggling with financial issues, like credit issues or foreclosures.

Then lunch was served. It felt like being back at summer camp.



All the food was made from items found at the food bank. I thought that was a cool idea.



To decide the order of tables being served, trivia questions were asked. I didn't catch if there was a reason, but the answer to nearly every question was "Rhode Island." Soon people started catching on and just shouting Rhode Island for every question.

And this, because I know my dad always asks for more funny details: Later on, after lunch, a completely unrelated question was asked -- I can't even remember what -- but some jokester shouted "Rhode Island," which made me laugh out loud.

Here was my meal.



Yum.

The paper placemat below shows pictures of previous Agency of the Year award winners, which are announced during lunch.

This year it was Our Lady of Lourdes church, which is right down the street from where I live! It's the church that hosted the Interfaith Hungar Awareness Service back in September.

Unfortunately, the representative from that pantry was unable to attend to accept his award because of an emergency with his son, who was in ICU. So that put a little damper on the congratulatory mood, but hopefully everything is OK...

Race for the Uninsured 5K



This past weekend I ran a 5K, my second ever and my first in four years.

Fellow VISTA Maureen and I spontaneously decided to sign up one day last month, but then it ended up she couldn't make it.

My only goal was to finish the 3.1 miles without walking and, despite a wrong turn along the route in which I accidently shaved off 0.2 miles (oops I'm a cheater!), I succeeded. So I was happy with that.

Out of 39 runners, I finished 30 with a time of 27.38.47. (At least I wasn't last!) I also got a lame-ish blue tshirt and met some funny people.

Maureen and I found the race off the superhelpful Toledo Roadrunner Club's event calendar.

We liked it that the race didn't start until 10 am and that it wound through a wooded trail in the Swan Creek Metropark, which was both easier than paved roads on the knees and, as a bonus, offered pretty scenary as distraction.

It also seemed like a fitting cause given the health care bill that had just passed.



But the main thing was that all proceeds from the race benefited the Mildred Bayer Clinic for the Homeless.

I never heard a total, but from entry fees I'm guesstimating it raised about $600. Woo!

Washington Local Schools



On Monday, my boss Gayle and I met with the social worker for Washington Local Schools at Whitmer High School.

We were there for an Ohio Benefit Bank site visit, the last step before a new site signs up for trainings and becomes official!

I first met the social worker at the community resource fair Whitmer hosted back in January. She took an OBB brochure and expressed interest in learning more. Now she is poised to become a site!

Whitmer is located about a subdivision away from the Michigan border and is part of the Washington Local School district, which, despite being inside Toledo is separate from Toledo Public Schools.

I'm really excited that they are coming on board. I think there is great potential for the district to use OBB for their students and families in need.

They are planning to start the program with just the social worker trained as a counselor and then see how it goes and maybe it will spread into the junior highs and elementaries.

Gayle talked to the social worker about applying for the district to get an Americorps worker starting in September to help out and she seemed excited about the possibility of an extra pair of hands and someone to explain, market and promote the OBB within the district.

It's times like these I almost wish I WAS doing this job for a second year so I could follow up with sites I've built relationships with and follow along to see how things turn out with them.