Friday, February 26, 2010
A Week On
For AmeriCorps State Members at Generations Incorporated (G.I.) February break is a week off from our sites but it isn’t a week off of service. In fact it’s a time when we are busy in the office ensuring the integrity of our program by completing monthly paperwork and a time for us to develop and create literacy game to help our Reading Coaches improve the reading skills of the children in the program. It also gives our AmeriCorps Members the chance to serve with other non-profits in the area. Over the break we served at two organizations, The Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services and Cradles to Crayons.
The Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES) is a non-profit located in Somerville that promotes the dignity and independence of older adults. Established in 1972 as part of the national movement towards community-based care for the elderly, this program serves thousands of older adults and younger people with disabilities. Every third Wednesday of each month, SCES hosts their Brown Bag Program. During the break our AmeriCorps members helped out by writing names of clients on brown bags, unloading boxes off pallets, packing bags in an assembly line and replenishing items when they got low.
We had a BLAST!
Cradles to Crayons (C2C) is a Quincy-based non-profit that provides homeless and in-need children with the basic essentials they need. Since its inception in 2002, C2C has provided cribs, clothing, toys, books and much more to thousands of disadvantaged families in the Greater Boston area. C2C’s Giving Factory is a large warehouse that holds the merchandise sorted by volunteers then given to social workers and families in need. While at the Giving Factory we packaged essential materials consisting of shoes, clothes, winter jackets, school supplies and toys for over 60 children, ages 0-12.
Once again, we had a BLAST!
Throughout our year of service at Generations Incorporated we work long hours training and assisting older adults within our communities, helping them become healthier and more active. We commit to long days, usually two sites, working 1-on-1 with children while looking for new ways to increase their literacy skills. We are always interested and enthusiastic when given the chance to work with other organizations in our area. Not because it’s something different but because it gives us the opportunity to help even more people.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Healthy Day features Boston’s Experience Corps Program
To read the story, click here!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Photo of the Week: Social at Jack Satter House
Volunteers, friends, AmeriCorps members and staff members gathered for a social event at the Jack Satter House in Revere to share personal stories of service and celebrate Generations Incorporated’s achievements in their community. Site Team Leaders, Board Members, and GI Staff shared messages of appreciation and encouragement to Experience Corps Members. Everyone exchanged uplifting accounts of their students’ progress and about the positive affect the service has had on them. This highly successful event reminded us all why we are so proud to be a part of Generations Incorporated and we even inspired a few prospective volunteers!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Revere Coffee Club
I had the opportunity to host the second Revere Coffee Club. I entered the Whelan Elementary School around 9:30am and met with a volunteer who had already arrived for the coffee club. People started trickling in as we started the coffee pot and set up the donuts for everyone. Since we were in our own Generations space we were able to set up the room how we wanted. All ten of us sat at a long table by the windows enjoying the sun. At first there was some hesitation about how this “social event” would move forward. “There is no agenda, what are we supposed to do here?” As everyone sat back, sipped on some coffee and started talking, the lack of a set agenda was inconsequential.
Conversation flowed from topic to topic, as volunteers reminisced about the Revere of the past. They spoke of the fun they had had at the centennial commemoration of Revere beach. They told stories about the small town feel they had as children when they knew the names of each family in their neighborhood. Whether it was fifteen years or several decades ago, the Revere of the past was alive in their stories.
One of the volunteers told me how excited she was about the coffee club and Generations as a whole. After retiring she had found it a little more difficult to find the social situations she was accustomed to. She told me that Generations added a significant value to her life; she was thrilled to be involved in social clubs like the coffee club and excited about the book club that might start in the coming months. Another volunteer used the opportunity to thank everyone at the coffee club for being so welcoming at the site, making her transition into the program very comfortable and enjoyable.
Overall the coffee club was a great success. Everyone stayed longer than planned and as we all cleaned up together we talked about how exciting it will be to come to next month’s coffee club.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Experience Corps and Washington University study highlighted by U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Dept. of Ed. and the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed the study conducted by Washington University this month. The study released in April 2009 found students with Experience Corps tutors made over 60% more progress in learning critical reading skills. The WWC rated the study as consistent with their evidence standards. To read the full article, click here.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Food for Life!
Over and over again research studies tell us that a nutritious diet is essential to both physical and neurological health. While this age-old adage may seem base and dull, especially when we equate it with Lima beans, Brussels sprouts, and an absence of chocolate cake, an inter-generational group of AmeriCorps members and Experience Corps members recently learned that it is anything but. Under the guise of healthy cooking on a plant-based diet, we learned how to make a stir-fry, an easy bean salad, and of course, chocolate mousse.
This delightful and delicious experience was provided by Food for Life, an offshoot of The Cancer Project, which promotes cancer prevention and survival through a better understanding of its causes, particularly the link between the disease and nutrition. After briefly explaining the science behind why certain foods can help prevent different types of cancer (see www.cancerproject.org for details), our knowledgeable presenters from Food for Life, Emily and Lauray, took their places behind a table cluttered with hot plates, vegetables, spices, knives, bowls, a blender, and even a large metal instrument called a salad shooter. In short, they had transported an entire kitchen to a classroom at the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, the use of which was generously donated for the event. While Emily and Lauray chopped, whipped, braised, stirred, sprinkled, and tossed, explaining each step along the way and fielding a bombardment of pertinent questions, a skeptical audience eagerly awaited the moment when we would judge their philosophy via our taste buds: can food this healthy and beneficial to us really be just as scrumptious as a Krispy Kreme doughnut or a deep dish pizza?
The answer arose the moment we had our first taste of these recipes: a resounding yes! Not only did the AmeriCorps and Experience Corps members devour every last morsel of the dishes prepared by Emily and Lauray, but they donned the presenters with an enthusiastic standing ovation and an incessant stream of verbal praise. I had many audience members tell me that they planned to prepare these dishes for their families and friends that night, and that they would share them with other volunteers and staff members. It turns out that not only is a nutritious diet essential to both physical and neurological health, but it can be just fun and delicious as it is good for us!
The night following the event, I tested this idea once more when I made Food for Life’s healthy chocolate mousse, which has a base of tofu and soy milk, for my three roommates. Although they too were quite skeptical of the ingredients, their response to the dessert can be summed up in one enthusiastic word: yum!
Meg Licht is a Recruitment *VISTA with Generations Inc.
