Sunday, September 2, 2012

Julie Martin- Week 7

My final week of SOS consisted of helping Alex Sanchez prepare for his first year teaching 3rd grade at Starke Elementary, spending time with the girl I mentor (helping her be a mom for the first time), and working of the "Big Idea" for Bonner Congress. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these. Alex had a great theme for his classroom (Airplanes) and it was a lot of fun being able to decorate and organize everything for his students. It was nice hanging out with the girl I mentor and watching her mature into a woman and awesome mom. I loved planning for the "Big Idea" as I got to work with Jennifer. I also made phone calls to make sure it was a going to be successful and I had the opportunity to speak with the new Bonners at their orientation about it. I already have a lot of support and many Bonners seem interested in service abroad. I hope students continue to be interested in the topic this year and get more involved in our "Big Idea" then ever before. Bonners can count hours for helping Jennifer and me with our "Big Idea" so if you are interested please contact either Jennifer or me. :)

Julie Martin- Week 6

I finished an old project I was working on with the Center for Business Excellence called Project- Self. They are young adults who mainly aged out of the foster care system who could use a little extra help with finances. These young adults must have a job or be in school to qualify for financial assistance and the money could be used for rent, monthly payments, etc. Basically my job was to contact these young adults (about 50) and do follow-ups, check to see how they are doing. I mainly served as an extra person for mental support. If they need anything though, I contacted the Center for Business Excellence and tried to get it for them. For instance, one young adult need his car fixed otherwise he had no transportation to get to work and therefore was going to lose his job. Then he would have more trouble with finances. Luckily, the Center for Business Excellence was able to help and get his car fixed. He did not have to pay for anything and he was able to keep his job.
 
This week was also very special because one of the girls who I mentor had her baby! She had a beautiful healthy baby boy on August 8th. Everything went well with her and the baby. She even texted me while she was in labor and I was able to go visit her in the hospital the very next day. It was so wonderful to be there and walk through that process with her! :)