Maria (W!) SoS - Weeks 2 and 3 - combined!

So I've realized that my blog titles are just so ... NOT interesting. But, that's OK. Maybe I'll come up with something more entertaining.

Working a 9-5 job is a lot different than I expected. Actually no, it's exactly what I expected. Very tiring. I don't know how on Earth I'll manage doing this in the future with kids and a family and managing to have a social life. I just want to go home at the end of the day and stare mindlessly at the television until it becomes a socially acceptable time to go to bed. I love my apartment, and being able to cook all my own meals, something I got used to while abroad. I'm very excited for the lovely Scarlett to move in with me next week!

Anyway, I have to back up a ways, because this blog is overdue. We're going to go back in time to the week of May 9-14. Alex Sanchez and I worked LONG hours on the Bonner videos, viewable on Youtube at the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vJtJjDiMTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nFdXX3g3Y

We spent three days straight in the computer lab at media services, editing the videos, picking the music, writing out the blurbs, running out to get more footage, taking pictures, decided to scrap one of our videos and frantically trying to come up with another video, which we pulled together rather quickly. As I said in my last post, these videos were submitted for the SLI Bonner Video Project, so we'll find out next week if we won anything. I know at least three or four of our incoming Bonners have watched the videos to get more information about the program, so it's already starting to serve its purpose. Score :)

Week 3 ... What happened last week? This is a problem - early dementia!! I can't remember. Oh yes! We started working on our Community Partner Database project, which I'm very excited about. Last week, we cleaned out the filing cabinets where the old files for our partners were stored, created new folders, finalized and re-finalized the interview form, and printed copies for each community partner. We then proceeded to call all 45 of our partners in one day (split between myself, Mary [our new Americorps VISTA], and Tyce [who will be the Environmental Issue Area chair person thing]) to begin setting up appointments. This is where the years of working in a chiropractor's office came in handy - I've had far too much practice calling people to set up appointments. Far too much. But that's OK.

When we weren't making phone calls and organizing files, I was surfing the Internet. I'll admit it. I went from webpage to webpage to webpage ... to research local food assistance programs (and you thought I was looking at Facebook :D) for a pseudo-Community Based Research project. I've found SO much information. It's slightly ridiculous how many programs (both federal and non-profit) are available to people who need help getting their next meal or meals, and yet so much need is going unmet. I saw some statistics (by the way, we are the county with the highest level of poverty in Central Florida - 13.1%!) that completely shocked me. Florida spent over $350,000,000 in food stamps (called SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - they sure like their acronyms) last month, just last month alone. I don't have the numbers in front of me, otherwise I'd list stuff off for your reading pleasure. This is up almost $100,000,000 from this time last year. Um, that's a LOT of cash. And people are still hungry. I researched several other programs that offer food assistance from the government, the local food bank (different from a food pantry! They distribute food to organizations that distribute food to people), and then REALLY local soup kitchens and food pantries. I'll write about what I'm doing next at the end of this week, when I know what I'm doing next with that.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to write about for now. You'll be hearing from me again at the end of the week!

B-love!