Unison Health and Wellness Fair

Unison Health hosted a Health and Wellness Fair at the Erie Street Market in downtown Toledo today.





Amy and I manned the Ohio Benefit Bank table. We had some good conversations with some other agencies, several of whom were excited to learn more about OBB. So hopefully we have some presentations to schedule in our future!

Most people I talked to today seemed to already be receiving most of the benefits they were eligible for, but many took OBB information for friends or relatives.

One nurse we talked to said she knows of co-workers who pick up extra money on the side charging to fill out food stamps applications, etc. She disapproves of the practice, and said if she hears of anyone thinking about paying someone to do their application, she would send them to the OBB where they can do it for free.

I also spoke with a crazy lady, who told me she was 2,000 years old and the mother of Christ, as well as the mother of Michelle Obama and a whole host of others. (So does that mean Christ and the Anti-Christ are brothers-in-law? Kidding! Sorry, I couldn't resist...)

When we arrived, it was hard to find a parking spot because the weekly Farmers' Market was also going on, and, WOW, it was huge!



The last time I went it was early spring, at the very beginning of the growing season, and there were maybe four vendors there. Talk about a difference today.





Also, I'd long heard rumors but I verified today that the Farmers' Market does indeed accept food stamps as well as WIC coupons! Yay! The market is open 8am to 2pm Saturdays, and the EBT swipe machine is available on site until 1pm.

I myself purchased some fine, locally-grown produce. But, alas, not with food stamps, because it was past 1pm. Next time!

Reentry Resource Fair in Fremont

Tonya Bailey, Americorps VISTA Leader with the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks, talks with a Sandusky County inmate about community resources available to assist him in making the transition out of incarceration.

This morning, I journeyed east, to the lovely Fremont, Ohio, for a Reentry Community Resource Fair.

We checked eligibility for public benefits and did applications for recently released and soon-to-be-released Sandusky County inmates.

(Check out the cartoonish black-and-white striped jumpsuits. I didn't realize they still used those!)

We were also supposed to be helping with resumes and job searches, but, alas, no takers.



We, the Ohio Benefit Bank, were in our own little side room, but the main fair, above, was huge and had a nice turnout!

Here's an article about the fair from the Fremont News Messenger.

Hey! I'm CPR Certified Now!

Today Maureen and I were certified in CPR and First Aid by the American Heart Association during a free day-long class at the Lucas County Department of Health.



The last time I had any CPR training was in junior high, so the day was full of lots of good common-sense reminders as well as some new and updated information.

For example, did you know you are supposed to lean your head forward, not tilt back, when you have a nosebleed? Otherwise blood could trickle back and cause problems for your ear/nose/throat areas. Makes sense if you think about it, but I'd always thought you tilt back.

Or that a person having a heart attack loses 500 heart cells per SECOND? Wowzers. That's why ever second is crucial during CPR.

It was also probably good for me to practice being authoritative and taking control of a situation: "YOU! (pointing at someone) Call 911 and bring me that AED!"

Best of all, we got to watch the episode of The Office where Stanley has a heart attack so Michael makes everyone take CPR training at which Dwight tries to harvest the organs of the dummy.



SIDE STORY: Today was a little nuts.

First I couldn't find the health department building. Once I found it, I circled the area several times, navigating annoying one-way streets, trying to figure out which parking lot I was allowed to park in.

Once I got inside, I was told the class was on the 2nd floor. But that door was locked. Turns out it was actually in the basement, which was a huge creepy maze of boilers and dirty sinks and rusty metal cabinets.

Then, just as the class was starting, Bernice my supervisor called, having issues with her laptop/projector set-up during a training. None of the obvious problems I could think of over the phone were the issue, no one else was around to help and she was in front of a class right then, and she wanted me to come try to fix it. So I left the class and drove over to see what I could do.

Luckily I got it working.

But just finding her was rough. There was a sign on the main door saying the training was in an annex building. No clue where that was. No further signs. Went inside and asked. Found out it's a few houses down the street. Walked there. Door was locked. But I could hear voices so I knocked. Bernice let me in.

On the way back to my car, this pit bull/boxer escaped from its owner, ran across a street (in front of a truck) and started jumping all up on me and following me down the street.

Shook off the dog and made in back to the class without missing too much.

Then, over lunch, went with Maureen to the Government Building down the street, which has a cafe on the 13th floor. Sat down just in time to hear an annoucement that there was a fire drill planned -- for the 13th floor only.

Ohh craziness. Haha!

Visit to the Toledo Zoo

(Back: Sara, Caroline, Ina, Maureen, Sharon. Middle: Me, Andrea, Kylee, Amy, Sarah Grace, Sarah Grace's daughter. Front: Beth)

Friday was our last monthly VISTA meeting with three of our members whose years of service are up in July, so we incorporated one last group outing...to the Toledo Zoo!

Sarah Grace's daughter came along.

We rode the African Safari train.



Saw some giraffes from the train.

I touched a big snake.

Mo and I saw this huge ape.

This little one was active and super-entertaining!

Sitting in mud to cool off.

We'll miss you Sharon, Sarah Grace and Andrea! Good luck with all your upcoming plans!

Americorps Service Day Update

Photo Courtesy of OBB Mobile Express Blog


Remember Americorps Service Day when we went to Grove City and planted a garden outside the Mid-Ohio Food Bank?

It grew!

Americorps workforce to triple by 2017

Check out this article.

The Serve America Act, signed by Obama in 2009, plans to increase the number of AmeriCorps workers from 75,000 to 250,000 members by 2017.

Go team!

Yes, it's yet more federal spending...but think of the good that could come out of this. Americorps stipends? That's a lot of bang for the buck.

Put-In-Bay!

Me at work. Not too shabby :)

A group of lovely VISTAs journeyed by car, ferry and golf cart on Tuesday to Put-In-Bay Island in Lake Erie for a Resource Fair.

Mo's cart had some lack-of-speed issues, but she loved driving it anyway.

The OBB Mobile Express came too!



The fair was inside the island's fire house/senior center.





Not too many people came through the fair, but we did get a chance to talk to several other agencies and some sites around the island, as well as got a write-up in the island paper, so hopefully we got the word out a little more.

We found out that the island's only grocery store does not accept food stamps. So for the several island families who have food stamps, getting food is quite a process, especially in the winter, when the only way off the island is by plane or snowmobile if the lake is frozen enough.

Hopefully the owner will sign on as a USDA retailer so that food stamps can be used on the island. Especially because it's easy to apply online and doesn't cost the store anything to implement.

Greenhouse Project, Part II

New stone path built by juvenile offenders

Today a group of VISTAs came to Toledo and took a tour of the community garden project in North Toledo called The Greenhouse Project.

A smaller group of us had toured the garden about a month and a half ago, but several other VISTAs heard about it and wanted to see it too, so we went again.

It was amazing how much had changed even in that short of time! The project is continually growing and adding and beautifying the site. They never stop working!



Big progress made on the Tilapia hydroponics project. There will be more than 2,000 fish in there soon!

Huge new expansion garden across the street.

More bees added

New water-collection bed

Special raised bed constructed for a woman in the neighborhood who is in a wheelchair and can't reach the regular raised beds but still wanted to garden.

Fulton County Expo

Our last of three planned Expos was on Tuesday, this one in Fulton County.

It was held at Open Door of Delta, an awesome community resource that offers a little bit of everything -- OBB site, thrift store, food pantry, shelter, job board, and more. They even already had the room arranged so that it took us only a total of about 5 minutes to set up for the event, which was nice.

We had a great turnout -- 12 people at the first session and 4 at the second -- and some solid interest in becoming new sites. Yay!

Russell giving a tour of the OBB Mobile Express.

The inside of the Mobile Express. There are room for two laptop stations where clients can have applications done.

The only slight hitch was during the final session, when we had a mini-debate with one of the guests, who seemed a bit peeved that food stamps don't have a time limit attached to them. But I shouldn't even call that a hitch. It's a valid question and it was a respectful discussion.