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.

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Posted by Dan McConvey under AmeriCorps, Experience Corps | Leave a Comment 

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The start of VISTA service.

Fresh out of school with a degree in anthropology left me with a new perspective on the world, several new ideas, and an unwavering optimism that I could do something to change the world. The kind of major that often resulted in the much feared, “That’s great but what are you going to do with it?” question.

Starting at Generations Incorporated as the Recruitment VISTA has been an eye-opening opportunity for me. I’ve been learning a lot about what seems to work and what doesn’t with recruiting volunteers, which is challenging yet exciting. I am surrounded by several intelligent and optimistic AmeriCorps members, all excited in their own ways for learning about their position, the organization, non-profits, et cetera. We are here for a year or two (or even three if we get hooked), but then we move on to take the skills and experience that we have acquired and move to our next step in life.

As I adapt to the social environment of serving in an office, I have noticed the difference between the staff and myself. The difference that I am noticing is that while I’ve come here with my idealistic, unwavering, fresh-out-of-college kind of optimism, they have a different kind of optimism. It is a sort of grounded optimism. It is the kind of optimism that has been challenged with the reality of running a non-profit (especially in this economy) and pulled through.

Being around these kind of resources, mentors, supervisors, who are so excited to help us all learn and develop our skills and develop ourselves as people has made me realize something about this experience. I may not figure out exactly what I am going to do in the future in a year, but I’m going to have a much better idea of how I am going to do it.

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Posted by Dan McConvey under AmeriCorps | 2 Comments