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For my service project I volunteered for Merced City School District's (MCSD) summer feeding program.  For  five weeks during the summer the school district opens several sites that serve free breakfast and lunch to anyone under the age of 18.  The intent is to help eliminate hunger for children who might not receive enough food during school vacations.

I worked in the kitchen at one sight, which happens to be an elementary school that was also open for Summer Academy, which is a STEAM program that is open to all students of MCSD.  I learned the nutritional requirements for food service and how nutritional needs are met through food choices.  Most of the food, fresh fruit being the exception, was prepackaged and only required counting, heating and serving.  Despite that I was surprised and impressed with the quality of the food they served.

I did not expect to see hunger or even the families who took advantage of the summer program, but I left with a powerful impression of how hunger impacts the students our city serves.  The permanent food service employees left me with a profound impression.  They shared their stories of recognizing hunger in the students they serve throughout the year.  Students who wait by the 'share tray' (where other students can place unopened/unwanted food for others) because their food needs are not being met; students who cry  in the lunch line or load up on Friday and return with a ravenous appetite on Monday because they don't eat during the weekend.  And the limitations of the success of this and other programs resting on the parents who either don't bring them to a feeding site or do not apply for free or reduced lunches for their child during the school year leaving them hungry or with only an offer of a cold sandwich for lunch for free.
I am grateful for the experience and am definitely inspired to do more in my community.

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For my service project, I will be volunteering at Munchkin Manor that is a child care center in Bend, OR that service children ages of 3 months to about 10-year-old.  The center offered child care, preschool program, and before and after school care at a lower cost for low income family members especially, the workers of the county. I will be assisting in on care with the children and in the preschool area. By luck, I met the owner of the center and we were talking about children and how I was taking two online courses. I told her that I was looking into finding a location for my Service Learning Project and was turn down by two sites already. She proceeds to invited me to volunteer for her at her center. I hope by volunteering at this site, I will learn how to better work with younger children and learn how it might to run a daycare center, preschool working with the county and the families that the center service to.

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I am working with the OSU STEM Academy and department of Botany and Plant pathology to help teach a science summer camp to disadvantaged children. I will be helping with classroom management, instruction and peer mentoring. The camp is focused on bioinformatics so I will be using my knowledge of computers and gene annotation in order to interact with the kids in a fun yet informative way. I arranged this service at the last minute because my previous arrangement fell through. The principle investigator in the laboratory where I work during the school year is also a biology professor who is involved with this program. I used this connection to set up my opportunity. I expect this experience to be a lot of hard work. I just finished student teaching and it was exhausting
, so I'm guessing this will be a fairly similar experience just with new kids and different material. Since I taught in a low-income district, I think I have the skills to connect with this group of kids.

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The organization I will be doing my volunteer work for is my local Tribal Warm Springs Community Health program, under the WIC/Mothers and babies area. They provide families with the tools to shop smart and healthy, while also making the families take accountability and ownership of their families welfare by being required to take classes before they get all their vouchers every month. The mothers and baby area helps mothers with lactation consulting, lactation education, and a support system for the new mom. They help families who are low-income needing assistance, and provide rentals of baby pillows and other things some of the low-income families don't have access to like car seats. I have lived in this small community over half of my life and know the programs and their coordinators quite well, I had to do partnerships with them when I worked at Head Start. I inquired about how I would become a volunteer and they sent me in the right direction, I got in contact with them and I did an interview last Thursday and had a follow-up today, and I will be starting next Monday at 830am. August is Breastfeeding month, so one of my projects will be to work on organizing and putting together the board that will go in the waiting room for the whole month of August, it's so exciting that for my small amount of volunteer work I will have the chance to have such an impact on the community, especially because I am an advocate for breastfeeding, I breastfed for 18 months and my daughter is one of the healthiest of all her friends and cousins. I will also be sitting in on interviews that the WIC specialist conducts with the clients, so I can see the interview process from a specialists point of view instead of being the client. The main thing I am excited for is because they are sending me on a training with the specialist in August on Food Insecurity and how we can implement that into the WIC program. YAY!!!!!

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The name of the organization that I’m working with is Stone Creek Christian Church (SCCC) as they have a food pantry open to the public every Wednesday. They give away food that stores can’t sell but mostly get the food from Gleaners (a non-profit distribution food center). I’m contributing so far by helping them stock the food they bring to the church on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, I’ve been helping in the produce center making sure that the perishables are gone by the end of the day but also making sure each person gets what they want. This sometimes involves putting limits on certain items that usually go fast or there is a limited quantity of.

I went about arranging my service there by first calling the volunteer coordinator. I got his number through the church office. He said I could swing by anytime and so I did the first Wednesday (at the end of the food pantry public hours) so I could to talk with him about my responsibilities, see the space, and their system. My expectations of being a volunteer there were that I would be willing to do whatever needed to be done in addition to being friendly while doing the task. So far, those expectations have been met completely, as those qualities are what I rely on the most to make myself helpful to SCCC.

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I am volunteering at the South Corvallis Food Bank for this project. They provide food (and some house and bathroom items) to low income families and individuals. People can come once a month and get about a five days supply of food for their family. This service, along with food stamps, really helps people make ends meet. I have a family friend who has been volunteering there for years, so I reached out to her and she gave me the contact information of the volunteer coordinator. I then gave her a call and scheduled a training time. It was a super easy process. I went on Monday and had a quick 30 minute training session and then started right away. All of the volunteers were extremely nice and very happy I was volunteering there. I also met another student from the class volunteering there as well! Overall I had a great time and the “shift” flew by. Since there is a lot of one on one time with the customer I was worried I’d have a hard time making conversation with so many new people but it’s actually surprisingly easy. Most people are very friendly and love to talk. There were a few instances where some individuals were not as talkative and just wanted to get in and get out, but overall I’ve been having a very positive experience.

They are short on volunteers this summer so if any of you still need somewhere to volunteer, I’m sure they’d love it!

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I am going to be meeting with a supervisor in the Albany Parks department. They do a lot of community projects and events for the people to get involved with. It has been very difficult contacting different organizations. The reason this first meeting has taken so long is that I originally thought I was going to work in the Boys and Girls Club. I went through the application process and looked into going to a meeting when I was told that there was no opening until September. So, I then called the Parks department who said they would find me work and that they would get back to me. I did not get any calls back so after a few days I called regularly every day for weekdays for a week. Now I have the appointment and will soon know what I will be doing. As far as expectations, I was told that there are some jobs working with kids which I am excited about. I will be student teaching this fall at an elementary school so I am excited to get more experience working with and helping kids.

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I am volunteering with CARDV or The Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence here in Corvallis, Oregon. I was able to find out that they provide many different services to those who have experienced domestic violence of any form. Including: showing up to hospitals or police stations when a report is called in, providing a short term safe house that involves shelter and necessities, help with discussing further steps to take legally, etc. I was told that they are essentially an amazing "go between" from any step of the way on someone's journey. I was able to learn about CARDV through my sorority, as they are the philanthropy we support. I chose to get involved on my own and had actually just met with their volunteer coordinator before this course began. So, it was perfect timing! I am ecstatic to begin my process of being trained to do in office volunteering, and then a training course to do in house volunteering within the safe house. I am so excited to know I will directly be making a difference in the lives of women and children right here in our community. I know this will far exceed any expectations I may have! I never would have thought I would one day be able to work directly with survivors but I am started on that process and I cannot wait.

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I am going to be volunteering at Impact Northwest in Portland, Oregon. From youth and family services, housing and safety net services, services for seniors and adults with disabilities and early childhood services, Impact Northwest is a comprehensive agency that seeks to address poverty at its roots. Over 36,000 people were served by Impact Northwest last year! My main job will be working in the Quality Assurance department and my supervisor is hoping to give me a few hours in direct service.   When I go to the center, I will be working with program development and doing hands on projects such as data entry, organizing, and revitalizing the organization's files.  While I initially wanted to work directly with clients, the agency told me their greatest need was in the Quality Assurance department. I am going to use this opportunity to see how the agency is ran, how it is structurally  organized, and see how records are kept. I am expecting to learn a lot!

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I am having lots of trouble finding a place to volunteer at here in corvallis! I have called numerous programs but each (taking a while to get back to me) were looking for someone with more hours to volunteer. I am currently in process of contacting multiple other options but the one i was really hoping to work at was Mari's place here in Corvallis, Oregon. They are a nature based childcare system. According to their website: "class curriculum is designed to meet the unique needs of homeless or highly transient families and to assist families in their journey toward stability and the creation of a healthy family system." This program serves children ages 6 weeks through 5 years and serves low income families. They are out of the office until the 21 so i am going to try to stop back in and see if they are looking for hours if i am not able to get in contact with someone else in the meantime. I expect this volunteer service (regardless of where i end up) to be very beneficial in my career as a future educator to have hands on experience with children in low income situations to have some better background to be prepared to make adjustments without lowering expectations to better be able to prepare them for education in the classroom.

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For my service project I will be helping with a 2 week summer school program at West Albany High School. The program is designed to help select incoming freshmen better transition into high school from middle school. Quite a few of the students come from low SES families. I will get to engage and relate with these students as they get work on curriculum and get to know high school classes. During the two weeks we will be doing a field trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where we will learn about local wildlife. It is amazing how many students have not really been to the Oregon Coast before. A lot of these students come from families who can't afford to do many activities, and therefore they have not been to many common places you might expect they would have.

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I will be volunteering at The Loft/Cascade Youth and Family Center in Bend, OR. The Loft is a transitional housing for Central Oregon teens (16-20) who are homeless or in an unstable environment. It provides housing, food, life coaching, counseling, career help and recreational activities as well.
The teenagers must be attending school or working and must follow the rules of the home.
I participated in giving the teens gift bags on Christmas this past year and wanted to get involved so this opened a perfect opportunity. It took me a couple weeks to get into contact with the ladies who run the center because they were out of town; however, a friend of mine knows one of the ladies outside of the center and called her and they more than went out of their way to make sure I was met with and someone that could sign my agreement. We finalized my schedule today and I am excited to volunteer at The Loft.
They want me to be there when I will have the most interaction with the teens and be as involved as possible with their daily lives.
I am looking forward to this service agreement very much.

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The organization that I am volunteering with this term is Stone Soup.  They provide meals three days a week to anyone who needs them.  All meals are prepared from scratch, and consist of healthy nutritious options.  During my time at Stone Soup I have helped prepare food, served food to patrons, cleaned dishes and put them away.  When I first began to consider volunteer opportunities I emailed the director of Stone Soup.  He responded with a range of dates for me to begin volunteering, starting the very next week.  The process was quick and easy.  The director responded professionally, and the whole volunteering process, from application to today, has been painless.  Before I began volunteering, I had certain expectations for what I would experience each week.  I knew that I would be serving food and probably cleaning up afterward.  I understood that I would have to follow some ground rules in order to efficiently contribute and maintain a safe environment for everyone.  These expectations have been met.  The kitchen is a very organized environment with rules, for which I am extremely happy.  The rules allow us to serve healthy, safe meals to everyone who comes in.  Volunteers aren’t the only ones who have to follow the rules either.  Anyone who comes in for food must be respectful and courteous.  Any conflicts are met with suspension from the program.  The rules at Stone Soup keep everything running smoothly and I’m glad that my expectation for a safe work environment is being met.

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I am working with the Human Services and Resources Center (HSRC) on the Oregon State University. They provide lots of services for students on campus. Some of these services include providing emergency food for students in need, lending textbooks out to students, helping students apply for food stamps and other similar things. I will be contributing to the HSRC buy helping them with their food pantry. The HSRC has their food pantry organized similarly to a supermarket. In the past, the HSRC had noticed that the students who came to the food pantry would be ashamed of having to be there. They did not want future students to feel that way because it would really limit the number of students that they could be helping, so they changed the design of the pantry for that reason. I then help the HSCR by stocking the shelves, facing the food, and throwing out expired food. I will also be volunteering with the HRSC when they have a food pantry night for students to come and get food.

The first step I took on my journey to find this learning service project was to contact my friend Malik Ensley. They connected me with the HSRC because they had also worked with them this last school year. From There I called the HSRC about opportunities to volunteer with them and then I had to wait because the manager was out for that week. So I emailed them and waited for the next week to get conformation on if I could volunteer with them and what I could do. I believe the timing of my asking them was not the best but overall it was an easy thing to do.

I came in with the exception that this type of volunteering would be like the job I had as a box boy for a local store. Some of the similarities was that the actual work of stocking the shelves and facing them was the same but the difference was that as I would stock the shelves I would also talk to the staff there and I learned that most of the students who came to them worked jobs on campus and they just didn't have enough to pay for school and bills and food. It seemed to make the stocking of the shelves a lot more worth it. I look forward to volunteering during the food pantry because I will get to interact with the people they are try to help.

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I am going to be volunteering at a preschool called Smaller Scholars. I will be working with preschool students ages 3-5 whose parents receive childcare benefits from DHS. The experience I gain at the preschool will allow me to gain the skills I need to work with students in poverty in the future.
In the past, I have had the opportunity to volunteer at this preschool for another class. It was fun to be able to go back and ask to volunteer again. Since I have not volunteered at the school in awhile, I did not know many of the kids that were attending this school. I was not sure what kind of tasks I would be helping with this time. I figured I would be working with them in their classroom. So far, I have been there around recess time and lunch time. It has been a fun and new experience getting to see the kids outside of the classroom.

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Silverton Area Community Aid (SACA) is a non-profit organization in my hometown Silverton, Oregon. Their main goal is to deliver food to vulnerable populations within the community, such as children and families living in poverty and seniors and/or disabled individuals living on a fixed income. Beyond nutritional assistance, SACA offers emergency financial assistance, gas vouchers, and prescription assistance. In order to maintain SACA, they must rely on donations to keep the organization running. I will be contributing by volunteering at one of the largest events they have all year: Summer Gala. This is an event in which community members must buy tickets in order to attend. They are served a dinner, get to enjoy live music, and partake in an auction and are encouraged to donate or buy raffle tickets. All proceeds from this event go to the organization and the families they serve. I will be setting up the event by setting up tables, preparing food, serving food, and following the directions asked of me. I was able to arrange my service learning project here by simply contacting them through their website and setting up a meeting with my supervisor Laura Wanker. I haven’t completed my service learning project, as the event isn’t until the 29th of this month. However, I expect that this event will be a lot of fun, especially considering I will know a lot of the people volunteering with me and those who will be there for the event. I know that this a big money maker for the organization and will help those in need within my community, so I hope that I will feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that I was a part of this event.

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The Organization that I will be volunteering for is called With Love. It is a non profit organization that reaches out to foster care families and helps them out. We give safe, clean and quality clothing and supplies to children ages 0 -6. All foster parents and children deserve items that protect and care for their new family and thats what the organization strives to do.
This service learning oppurtunity was arranged through a friend. She was approached by a woman who told her about the organization looking for volunteers and then she proceeded to tell me about it and was the perfect opportunity for me to help out. I met with the lady who she spoke to and she was very helpful and got me started with paperwork and a walk thru and some simple training!
My expectations have been exceeded by working for this company! I am learning a lot from great people and love what I am doing and the opportunity to help others has been great.
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I will be volunteering with the South Corvallis Food Bank. The Food Bank provides donated food items to low-income families and individuals. All low-income clients are guaranteed monthly access to the Food Bank’s inventory.

This service learning opportunity was arrange by sending an email to the organization, and stating that I would be interested in volunteering. I received a reply outlining the dates that I could stop by their facilities to receive training. After completing an hour-long training session, I began my service hours with this organization on the spot.

I expected the Food Bank to be extremely busy during their hours of operation; so I thought I’d serve at least 5-8 client on my first shift. However, I only served 3 clients that day.

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My organization is called the Paisley Inner Court Family Center which is located behind my house. They handle the food share in my hometown on Paisley, Oregon and they provide assistance to families in need.  I know the woman who runs the family center personally so I texted her and came over to her house after work one day awhile back to arrange the details. I have not been able to volunteer yet because I work seven days a week from 7am to 6pm (haying season) and whenever I am available in the evenings she is not at the center anymore. I have arranged to borrow the keys from her and work in the center on an occasional Sunday that I have off. She said that I will most likely be helping with the food share (packing boxes, organizing, etc.) I hope to volunteer for the first time this Sunday after work!

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The organization that I will be volunteering for is Stone's Throw. It is a branch of the Bread Line, Inc. here in Fairbanks. Bread Line, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that helps feed the hungry throughout our community; Stone Soup specifically provides job skills training and certification for those in need. They teach culinary job skills over the span of 12 weeks and aim to assist in career development. Stone's Throw is undergoing a large expansion, and classes are on hold until this September; however, I am taking part in the "foundation" of this change- rather, I am assisting the organization in digitizing previous and upcoming files, assisting in any needed revisions of current applications, and helping wherever is needed. This a big step in making applications understandable for diverse populations.
Although I had heard of Bread Line, Inc. prior to this assignment, I was not knowledgable on their services. I was given the idea by a friend who had assisted the organization for a volunteer project of her own, and I could not be happier. They are doing great things for our community.
Furthermore, I completed my first few hours of service learning this afternoon. It was more than I anticipated. I did not expect to find myself "emotional". As I was inputting applications and learning more of the practices within the organization, I could not help but do so with a heavy heart. Many of the situations are devastating to read- homelessness, substance abuse, no family. This just encourages me to help as much as I possibly can.

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Cecilia Hans                                                                                                                                      The agency that I am working with is “Meals on Wheels” they provide approximately 360-400 meals per week for people who are no longer able to leave their homes, or cannot afford nursing care facilities.  Besides the meals that Class Participation Week 4                                                                                                                                             Service learningThe agency that I am working with is “Meals on Wheels” they provide approximately 360-400 meals per week for people who are no longer able to leave their homes, or cannot afford nursing care facilities.  Besides the meals that are delivered we serve hot lunch three days a week. The meals are not cooked in the facility, but brought in already prepared.  My duties have been to get meals ready for delivery which includes a daily hot meal plus one that is frozen for the next day and enough fruit and milk for each meal.  This is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Fridays including two frozen meals for the weekend.  After we have all the meals ready to be delivered we then serve the people who have come in to eat.  This ranges anywhere from 30 – 50, the program not only serves seniors but also those who just want a meal. After all the serving is done, of course comes the clean-up which takes about an hour.  I have been working three hours a day, three days a week and am excited for Friday to go along on the deliveries of meals.This was not the first program that I tried to get involved with.  My first choice was a mission in the next town.  They were not very accommodating.  I went there in person three times and was given the run around and was told they would call and let me know, but my phone calls were never returned.  The Meals on Wheels were very accommodating.  One day I just stopped in one day and spoke to the director of the program and she put me to work the following Monday.I had heard of Meals on Wheels and knew that they delivered meals for those who needed help, but until you are helping with the process of getting those meals to people you don’t really stop to think of everything that need to be done to accomplish that. It is challenging at times to get all that needs to done in a timely manner.  It is very rewarding and I am enjoying volunteering with them.are delivered we serve hot lunch three days a week. The meals are not cooked in the facility, but brought in already prepared.  My duties have been to get meals ready for delivery which includes a daily hot meal plus one that is frozen for the next day and enough fruit and milk for each meal.  This is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Fridays including two frozen meals for the weekend.  After we have all the meals ready to be delivered we then serve the people who have come in to eat.  This ranges anywhere from 30 – 50, the program not only serves seniors but also those who just want a meal. After all the serving is done, of course comes the clean-up which takes about an hour.  I have been working three hours a day, three days a week and am excited for Friday to go along on the deliveries of meals.This was not the first program that I tried to get involved with.  My first choice was a mission in the next town.  They were not very accommodating.  I went there in person three times and was given the run around and was told they would call and let me know, but my phone calls were never returned.  The Meals on Wheels were very accommodating.  One day I just stopped in one day and spoke to the director of the program and she put me to work the following Monday.I had heard of Meals on Wheels and knew that they delivered meals for those who needed help, but until you are helping with the process of getting those meals to people you don’t really stop to think of everything that need to be done to accomplish that. It is challenging at times to get all that needs to done in a timely manner.  It is very rewarding and I am enjoying volunteering with them.

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Cecilia Hans                                                                                                                                      The agency that I am working with is “Meals on Wheels” they provide approximately 360-400 meals per week for people who are no longer able to leave their homes, or cannot afford nursing care facilities.  Besides the meals that Class Participation Week 4                                                                                                                                             Service learningThe agency that I am working with is “Meals on Wheels” they provide approximately 360-400 meals per week for people who are no longer able to leave their homes, or cannot afford nursing care facilities.  Besides the meals that are delivered we serve hot lunch three days a week. The meals are not cooked in the facility, but brought in already prepared.  My duties have been to get meals ready for delivery which includes a daily hot meal plus one that is frozen for the next day and enough fruit and milk for each meal.  This is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Fridays including two frozen meals for the weekend.  After we have all the meals ready to be delivered we then serve the people who have come in to eat.  This ranges anywhere from 30 – 50, the program not only serves seniors but also those who just want a meal. After all the serving is done, of course comes the clean-up which takes about an hour.  I have been working three hours a day, three days a week and am excited for Friday to go along on the deliveries of meals.This was not the first program that I tried to get involved with.  My first choice was a mission in the next town.  They were not very accommodating.  I went there in person three times and was given the run around and was told they would call and let me know, but my phone calls were never returned.  The Meals on Wheels were very accommodating.  One day I just stopped in one day and spoke to the director of the program and she put me to work the following Monday.I had heard of Meals on Wheels and knew that they delivered meals for those who needed help, but until you are helping with the process of getting those meals to people you don’t really stop to think of everything that need to be done to accomplish that. It is challenging at times to get all that needs to done in a timely manner.  It is very rewarding and I am enjoying volunteering with them.are delivered we serve hot lunch three days a week. The meals are not cooked in the facility, but brought in already prepared.  My duties have been to get meals ready for delivery which includes a daily hot meal plus one that is frozen for the next day and enough fruit and milk for each meal.  This is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Fridays including two frozen meals for the weekend.  After we have all the meals ready to be delivered we then serve the people who have come in to eat.  This ranges anywhere from 30 – 50, the program not only serves seniors but also those who just want a meal. After all the serving is done, of course comes the clean-up which takes about an hour.  I have been working three hours a day, three days a week and am excited for Friday to go along on the deliveries of meals.This was not the first program that I tried to get involved with.  My first choice was a mission in the next town.  They were not very accommodating.  I went there in person three times and was given the run around and was told they would call and let me know, but my phone calls were never returned.  The Meals on Wheels were very accommodating.  One day I just stopped in one day and spoke to the director of the program and she put me to work the following Monday.I had heard of Meals on Wheels and knew that they delivered meals for those who needed help, but until you are helping with the process of getting those meals to people you don’t really stop to think of everything that need to be done to accomplish that. It is challenging at times to get all that needs to done in a timely manner.  It is very rewarding and I am enjoying volunteering with them.

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My service learning project is being completed at the Marysville Community Food Bank. The food bank originated from St. Mary's Catholic Church in 1974, but had to turn into a non profit organization from the high demand of food needed in the community. It is currently in cooperation with 12 churches and receives donations from grocery stores and from people in the neighborhood.
I arranged to do my service by stopping into the food bank, speaking with a staff member, and filling out a volunteer form and the times that I would be available and hours needed.  I returned the next day and began my volunteer hours. and spoke to the director, whom laid out the expectations and volunteer hours.
I was mostly used for sorting food, but was used wherever needed. I would prep and clean the area for the donations that we would receive. After that was completed, we would donations from the major grocery outlets. We would sort through the items and certain food groups, perishable, frozen food, and miscellaneous   items.
I really enjoyed all the people that I work with. I worked unloading and sorting through the donation boxes most of the time. I found that many people that I worked with were retired, but wanted to stay active and give back to their community.  They had me lift a lot of the heavy items and do a lot of the grunt work, which I was more than happy to do.  A lot of the conversations that I had with staff had a recurring theme; they were wanting to give back to their community and many of them have had to use the food bank at some point in their life.
I went in not knowing what to expect, but was very glad to be greeted by such friendly staff. The staff were more like a family and treated everyone they interacted with as such. They were able to show empathy and care for everyone that came for assistance. It was amazing to see that poverty has no face, it can effect all of us. I tend to keep volunteering at the food bank and probably begin to volunteer at the Everett Gospel Mission too.

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1. I will be volunteering at the Boys and Girls club is Salem. For the past 46 years in Marion and Polk Counties the B&G Club has serviced youth grades 1-12. Their goal is to provide a platform for success for children by equipping them with the necessary life, academic and career-related skills. They also have health and dental services, workforce programs for teens, and athletic leagues. I actually ending up choosing B&G Club because I have coached football through them in the past.
2. So far my experience trying to find a place to volunteer has been a frustrating, the first week and a half of class I was in Texas so I was trying to find a place to volunteer by phone. I tried 3 food banks here in Salem and couldn't get a call back. I wanted to volunteer at a food bank for a new experience because I have a lot of experience volunteering with children. I then arranged B&G Club by going in and talking to the director, which is much easier then by working over the phone. I applied and was approved to work at the West Salem branch but I have been waiting now for 10 days for my background check to go through so i haven't been able to put in any services hours yet. I leave for Hawaii tomorrow because I am getting married on Sunday and I'm a little worried now about getting my services hours in on time.
3. I haven't been able to put any services hours yet but my expectations are that I will be very busy. When I went into the office to apply there was about 6 or 7 other volunteers there and they each had about 15-20 kids of all ages and they had them doing various activities. So I imagine that I will be done the same sort of thing at the West Salem branch. I look forward to it!

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1. I am at Northern CA Child Development and Education center for my experience. I am currently supervising parents that are visiting their children who are in foster care. I can suggest parenting strategies to work on and observe interactions.

2. I called several agencies to find one serving low income families. I already work at a counseling agency and wanted a new experience. Nccdi had a training the next day for supervisors so the director invited me.

3. Expectations I had have been met. Being a part of this experience is helping me critically think about poverty and life long effects it has.

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I am working with Another Choice Charter School which is a Title one school. I have been working on their McKinney Vento program to improve the quality of education for our homeless students. I currently work at the school in their SpEd department but I asked if I could help with this program for my service learning project. I have some high hopes for this project but I am also managing my expectations because I know I can only do so much. In the end I want to create an improved method for tracking the kids that are homeless  in a discreet manner. I am putting together packets that will be sent home with local services and getting information to see what the school can provide to these students as needed such as food, clothes, internet and transportation. Many of our students that would qualify are teenagers that have left their home for various reasons and need help getting services for the first time.
I feel like I am getting pulled in several directions so this week I am working with the administrator to narrow down my focus to what will be the most helpful to the students.

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Name of your agency/organization, services they provide, and how you are contributing

1.       The agency I’m spending my time with is my church. I am contributing by helping with their food and clothing drive. Once a month the church has a food drive. We pass flyers out within the community with the date and time the drive will take place. People show up and donate clothes and food for the cause, sometimes even money. I volunteer and make sure everything is put in order. Once that is done we usually have a food pantry give away, we also donate free clothing on the same day.

How you went about arranging to do your service there and what that was like

2.         My church has designated me to be the arranger for the donated clothes and the food pantry. As people bring more clothes and food each week I make sure everything is safe and secured. It’s truly a blessing to be able to help others in their time of need.  I think what excites me the most is seeing the joy in the families eyes. I’m so happy I’m a part of it all.

Expectations you had for what it would be like to volunteer there and whether those expectations were/are being met

3.       The expectations I now have helping others will never leave me. I will always volunteer my time to help others. My expectations are for sure being met.

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My service learning project is being completed at the food pantry on Oregon States Campus. It is the HSRC Food Pantry (Human Services Resource Center). On my first day it was their first "fresh food Friday" where they provided fresh produce for the community. On normal nights when it is just the food pantry, they ration food by how many members people have in their house hold, but for this day they let people take as much as they wanted. On their regular food pantry nights they provide food like canned goods, pastas, nonperishables, and some other things for people and the members in their household. Arranging my service was fairly simple. I went on the online page and emailed the a girl who works there she said that would love me to volunteer and I did some basic training and watched some videos my first day and then I began helping out. I wasn't really sure what to expect, to be completely honest I was a bit nervous people weren't going to be too nice that we were helping but they were incredibly nice and super happy to be there. I also
didn't think this would have any impact on me or my life but once I was done it did make me feel good inside, as lame as that sounds. I completed about half of my hours and will be back soon to volunteer some more!

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For my service learning project, I am working at a Head Start program in my hometown. I am one of the assistant teachers. With that, I am helping create lesson plans, make meals, help with class management, and assist the kids/teachers with anything they need. For part of the day, I am in charge of four students for small group activities. I previsouly knew the head teacher of this program and had worked with her there before. When I learned that I could work there for my project, I contacted her about helping again. It was fairly easy because I had spent time working there before. I expected working there to be fun and exciting because I would be working with the children again. I hope to become a teacher so I enjoy working with them. That expectation is being met because each day I am able to help the students with math, writing, reading, and more. I also expected to be working with the families more. So far, I have not had as much as an opportunity to do so, but hopefully I will soon.

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For my service learning project, I am working with a HeadStart program called the First 5 Amador Summer Bridge to Kindergarten program. First 5 provides an array of services for families and young children in Amador County but this program specifically focuses on introducing the classroom environment to children who are heading to kindergarten in the fall. This program is especially for children who have no experience being in a preschool setting. I heard about this program from my family member who sent me the information of the Program Coordinator so I emailed her. I really was not sure what to expect initially regarding both my role and the children that would be in the program. I learned that this program focuses a lot on just providing a schedule and routine for the children. they learn about their name and skills such as using scissors. I am surprised at how the children often ask to sit in my lap and ask for hugs.

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Jenna Bochsler

For my service learning project I am  volunteering for the Woodburn School District's After School Club sponsored Summer Camp. They provide scholarships for low-income families and offer free camp to those that are homeless or live in "migrant worker camps" (I don't honestly know what the correct name is, but that's what my supervisor calls it). The camp is from 7am-6pm and provides breakfast, lunch and snack. I am a group leader for kindergarten and 1st graders; I lead them in activities such as literacy, math, STEM and fun physical activities. I've worked for the ASC for 5 years and I've volunteered my time there on multiple occasions. It was an easy process to arrange my service since I recently volunteered there for another class, so they had my paperwork from then. I didn't really have many expectations since I've worked there for so long and know the drill, so what I expected from this experience was definitely met. I love my job and the kids that I work with. Although, it was hard working from 7am-3:30pm and then having to volunteer after work to get my hours done. It was a long week and a half, but I finished last week!

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Deanna Barclay

I am doing my service learning at Family Tree Relief Nursery in Albany Oregon.  Family Tree Relief Nursery is a private, nonprofit organization.  It is a child abuse and neglect prevention program that helps children and their families stay together as a family. They provide therapeutic classes and nursery care for young children, parent education and support, home visits and outreach services, respite care and crisis intervention, referral for drug and alcohol treatment and services and referrals to other community resources.  While those are the services they provide they also have a supplement food bank, diaper room, and clothes closet for clients.  They also work with DHS and provide a safe, nurturing place for supervised visits. During my time with Family Tree Relief Nursery I have been able to work in both the food bank and diaper room.  I have been able to hand out snack packs to the children and will be assisting in picking up the food order on Thursday.  I have been fortunate to work both behind the scenes, and with families.

To organize my service learning I contacted the Development Manager who set up a meeting with me.  She first sat down with me and asked me about what area I was interested in volunteering.  She then asked me about the required paperwork.  After going over the paperwork she called in the Director of Operations.  After talking a while longer she gave me a tour or their administration office.  When finished we went over the question on the service learning paperwork and set up the time I would be in the next day.  The experience was frustrating, but by asking a lot of questions I was able to learn a lot.  The Development Manager and the Director of Operations where both asking about what I wanted and needed.  They were willing to have me help in the area that suited my needs.  However, situations came up and my help was sometimes needed in other areas than planned.

I had expected to work in an area with others.  I thought there would be a constant stream of families and activity.  I thought it would be really busy.  However, it was not how I expected.  Family Tree Relief Nursery is very organized.  Each family has a case worker who helps them every step of the way.  They set goals and plan what they need.  While I thought there would be a lot of families there were only two or three each day I was there in the morning.  So I would organize and work in an area and be there to help when a family came in.  However, while I was happy to help, many families kept their eyes down, did not talk, and were very quick in getting what they needed.  They did most things themselves and asked for things only if needed.  When working with the children they were talkative and busy with their airplanes.  One child was telling me about the trip to the fair he was going to take later that afternoon.  You could tell the difference between the children and adults on what they were comfortable with. However, while my expectations were not always met on my job for the day, they were exceeded by the feeling of being able to really help the organization with the things they needed help with and in turn helping the families.