S'wonderful

Work has been pretty steady this week. We are still in a heavy recruitment phase for volunteers as well as outreach for the community to make them aware of our services.
Work has definetely had its challenges this week but what would life be without hurdles to cross.
I have been very tired in the morning, still adjusting to coming back from training and working at LUSH. I worked 9-9 yesterday, the beginning of months of 12 hour days. But I got a ton of products to take home. Tonight we are learning about facial products so I got face washes, face masks toners, and a sample of our $90 moistrizer gorgeous. It smells so beautiful. I'm really getting spoiled with all of these products. I can't wait to take a shower or bath every morning but I don't think this is a habit I can afford to keep up. I mean taking a shower or bath with these products, not personal hygeine overall.

I started reading a book that came out recently from Marc Musick called Volunteers: A social profile. As we prepare for recruitment, I'm trying to gain a more thorough understanding of the best way to recruit not only volunteers, but dedicated, energetic and concious student volunteers. Throughout the year we faciliate weekly trainings that are meant to update volunteers on community resources but also provide time on reflection on the service they have done and what implications it has.

NSP definteley has a dual mission and vision for their organization. In addition to increasing access to community resources for members of our community so they can move closer to their personal and life goals, our organization strives to increase college student's sense of responsibility, citizenship and community awareness. And by introducing college students to issues of poverty and societal inequalities, we hope to develop them into ethical leaders whose service will encourage them to enter a life long committment to ending poverty. Our mission is to put ourself out of business.

I'm currently working on developing not only training but recruitment programs that will get students on board with our movement and educate them about issues of poverty, inequality and thier effects on our community. It's a daunting and draining task. But it can also be energizing, because regardless of how deep and pervasive these issues are, I have an unyielding belief that our generations have the leaders that can bring change.

I just met with a client. Working with him, I feel like a cheerleader. He has very limited computer skills so I constantly find myself encouraging him to do some of the searches on his own and walking him through tasks like how to copy and paste and open his e-mail. It's easy for him to defer to me but I try not to reinforce the idea that I know more about things than he does. My cheerleading experience always comes in handy. I want my clients to leave feeling empowered. We may not be able to get them a job immediately or get them out of the poverty that has plagued thier lives, but hopefully they live with more confidence in their own abilities and knowledge about the resources available to them.

As a generation of future leaders we may not be able to effectively reform the system, completely extract the embedded forms of racism in our institutions or turn every life in our society around, but we can make a difference in one person's life. We can beleive that change is possible and start moving our society in that direction. We can reach out with the privelege we have been given and empower others to achieve their own goals. Yeah, I think we can.

Song: Stand by You by The Pretenders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5pECaW-VMI

Quote: ...people in disadvantaged communities don't need solutions imposed on them. What they require are merely the tools to make solutions work. Khadijah White.