G'Moring!

So this morning I was met with one of the coldest, dreariest days I have ever encountered. And tonight they're expecting snow showers. SNOW SHOWERS!

Morning got started off with a bang because we had a really good meeting with one of the organizations in our building about how we could collaborate. They're a couple of volunteers training right now and its pretty calm in the office. I have to go to work tonight which I am not very excited about. I'm not really interested in anything that doesn't include the words soup or hot chocolate.

Our client numbers are steadily increasing. I was working with a client yesterday who was looking for housekeeping jobs. The issue, people aren't spending extravagant amounts of money, which means they probably aren't going to hotels which means a lot of people in this city are being put out of work with very few if any skills that can be easily transferred to other types of work. I had a really interesting discussion with my friend Priya last night about what is best for the economy, that being whether people should spend money or whether they should not. I am seeing the effects of people not spending like they used to, entry level job cuts and less openings for temporary jobs as well. The low income seem to be the least involved but the most affected by these unstable shifts in the economy. So I don't think people should stop spending completely, but our extravagance in times when people in our country can barely meet their needs seems out of place as well.

This week I have been in an inner debate about the role of our nonprofit sector in the overall health of our country and communities. Especially in times like these when the real solution seems to be a complete restructuring of the way we do things rather than just bandaging up the system we do have and the people who get pulled through it. But there are people that need help now who could care less about politics or big picture things. Or should I say don't have the privilege of thinking that way.

Okay back to work, I actually have things I need to get done and if I stay focused this actually might be a productive day.

Pictures...

Our volunteers preparing for 'client survivor' I had to be the mean shelter lady

In DC at our meeting, talking about how wonderful NSP is

Volunteers at our New Volunteer training on Sunday learning about making a budget on a low-income

Dysfunctional Hierarchy

Our Director of Program Tony telling us about program development and assessments, oh my!

Cannon and Fops!

Enjoying our awesomeness at the meeting

Josh

The girls after dinner

Kanlaya (sp?) yummy Thai place

Breakfast! We got to spend three days in these wonderful law firm with wonderful food, all donated

Waiting outside union station for the rest of the group

Ben's "Birthday"

...from DC and of our volunteers!

birds without wings

If there was any week to treat mess ups/failures like learning opportunities, this is the week.
I feel like the ends of my life slowly unraveled. Although when I look at the times similar to this, patterns in my behavior emerge:
1. Avoidance of responsibility
2. Lack of accountability
3. Not planning ahead
4. Lack of follow through.

So yeah, it would be tedious and almost masochistic to go through the details of the week but the end results were having to pay $300 to use our office space for our all day training yesterday, getting written up at Lush for not having anyone to cover my shift, not taking my comp day when I was supposed to take my comp day and well let's just end it at that.

These weeks are always the most fun, but yes learning experiences. Opportunities to confront the pitfalls in my temperament and work towards working through them or providing safety nets for myself. I just would like a nice vacation away from everything so I can get my head screwed back on. But alas...

So DC was AWESOME !! It was a really great trip and really gave me the energy to hit the road. Ofcourse being out of town for three days didn't help my disorganization at all but I really enjoyed being away. I love my organization and the people I work with, it can't be said enough. There was some challenging talk about the economy and how it will affect our organization and the world of philanthropy over all. It was one of those long, everyone is quiet in the room conversations that involves some deep emotion.
Life is a challenge, you gotta hit the road running..

Our office had the all day training yesterday. It went well although our vols starting getting really tired towards the end of the day. It was def. a challenge to keep the energy up but the conversations were really great.

Our office is actually getting into a rythym which means I have a more structured work week. I'm still having a scatterbrained day, I forgot my cellphone and my landlords key to the building but what can you do.

Song: philosophers stone by Van Morrison

go the distance

I took the day off at Lush. It was much needed and I'm excited about the long day of possibilities.
That's what it feels like, I work all the time now and all of time is scheduled and I spend 12 hours a day looking for what other people need. This morning I was taken back by the feeling of possibility and openness in my day.
I'm called back to the days of my earlier posts where I tried to decipher why it is that I serve. I was reading this in the call of service and it brought me to the thought:

The longer she looked into the matter,however -- the closer she looked at her own life -- the more she realized that her burnout had its own distinctive history and character...The call of service is a call to a new chapter of life -- its earlier story, its prior chapters, with their achievements and losses, will surely come to bear on what happens in the future, though each person's idealism can have its own surprising victories, some of them achieved against the great odds of a particular past. "My whole life before I started the service work was a long stretch of burnout," a student told me, offering a much-needed ironic perspective on the subject. When we single out the low spells of volunteers, we forget that for others...life itself may be a sadder story than the passing low points that are called burnout. Youthful activists are often able to use such low points to become more realistic and reflective and, in the long run, sturdier in the community service work they usually continued doing.

You know when people run races how theirs that gun shot that goes off. I think in all of our lives we have a gun shot moment. Something that starts us off running and it may take a while into the race before we realize why we're running or what exactly we're running to. I think in a much deeper way my service has begin to tap into a lingering question of need that lies deep within the character of my life. Spending days working so hard to get people what they need makes you start to realize that needs are a part of the human experience, and they are very much apart of yours. What if you search and you search and it can't be found, where do you go...

like a polaroid picture

I took the day off and I am much the better for it.
I'm enjoying the great scene of the foliage in my wonderful neighborhood and of course cruising online.
Everyone should take sometime to yourself, its important.
I'm uber uber uber excited about being in DC on Monday and can't wait. I'll be away from the blog from a while but will be back shortly, with pictures!
Love you all, have a great weekend.

running as fast as I can..

I had a great morning at the Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger's Food Stamp Forum. It included National and Local leaders, inlcuding or own awesome Mayor, discussing the revamp and what we as nonprofit leaders can do to ensure that people hear about them. The Food Stamps program has been recreated into the SNAP program and Pennsylvania has developed some more accesible Pennsylvania requirements that will allow so much more people to sign up and get his much needed benefit.
I have been exhausted lately which always makes me emotional and I caught myself getting all teared up. It was all good news but just hearing some of the family stories was hard.
As glad as I am to hear about all of these current changes, I think that we as a country are getting really good at treatment but not prevention. I think there is more we can all be doing to ensure that people have fair wages...I shouldn't get into all of this now, I'm too tired.
I'm taking a hopefully relaxing day off work tomorrow. It was hard, considering there is so much to do in the office before we leave to DC and I don't want to leave too much on Shawn's plate but I sat with him and talked with him and it's best for the long run.
I had a tough emotional night and I just feel like I'm on the verge of burnout.
Work hard, play hard. Good night.

Song: Give a Little Love by Rilo Kiley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RbkyCmeMas (kept me going this week)

Song 2: Shine by Anna Nalick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgiZz-aqheU (this one too)

Quote: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle. Plato.

sleepy!

I am very tired, and I haven't had much energy all week. I'm trying to scout a day this week that I can either work from home or just take a day off. I'm low on pretty much everything and we're only going to get busier.
Working with our volunteers has been pretty energizing though. And I've been reading through some of my first blog entry's when I started to rekindle the energy I had when I first began. I'm so glad that I started this blog and that so many other people have also been able to benefit from it.
One of our volunteers is so pumped and I'm happy to be apart of this experience with her. It reminds me of my excited about everything days, which I guess I'm pretty much still in. There are so many opportunities for students to do something in the world. I just got information about a conference that I got to participate in last year and was able to pass it on to all of our offices. Hopefully we'll have a big NSPresence at CGIU this year. Our students get to work on poverty alleviation and understanding on the broader issues every day. I've learned so much from them already.

Okay toodles. Gotta rekindle the energy before a long night at Lush.

Song: Silver lining by Rilo Kiley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6-W3fCUok8&feature=related