Munch Munch Munch!

Okay so on May 8th I left school early so I could make it to the volunteer service on time. Why? Because it's all the way in San Jose! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I don't think i could volunteer at a garden again and there are way too many volunteer jobs that require sign-ups and orientations. So that day I went to volunteer for Loaves and Fishes. They are a food shelter and they go to different locations depending on the day of the week and along with the help of volunteers they help serve poor working, families, homeless, and seniors who just can't get by as normally as the rest.

This was the building where I worked at

which was on the opposite side of

I came there a bit early so I helped set up the tables...literally. From unfolding tables and chairs then placing silverware in their respective spots, (with the help of the other volunteers). So then we finished setting up a little early so we lounged around until our next given instructions. Eventually, one of the workers assigned us each a job when the guests come to eat at 4:30. I was to go around pouring coffee for our guests. When the guests came I must admit I was surprised. Some of them actually look like middle class citizens! Oh well, then again you can never guess someone's wealth by their clothes really. So I watched them get their food at the stands and when they settled down I went up to the adults at the corner of the room asking if anyone wanted coffee. A few of them asked and I poured diligently and asked if they wanted any sugar. A few of them asked for them. One of the other volunteers, Linda, was doing the same job and we were joking about how hardly anyone asked for coffee and they asked for juice instead. I suppose you can't blame them as it was a pretty warm day. What was also funny was that one of the little kids thought I was holding juice. I told the little munchkin that it was actually coffee. "No you can't have any because you're a kid. Kids can't drink this. You're not going to grow up all big and strong if you drink it." I said. He was rather persistent too because he STILL asked for it. I chuckled it off walked away.

Soon I had to go help clean up as everyone was almost finished eating. I was picking up the left over napkins and this little boy kept picking up the napkins and giving it to me and Linda. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" we said repeatedly. So I learned, that was what was great about these people was how polite they are.
So at about 5:30 I was officially done and decide to play a little bit of the old grand piano in the corner while I wait for my ride. One of the guys jokingly said that I should have played while the guests were eating so it would be like a true fine dining experience.

So I went home and thought to myself, "That was pretty fun! I'm like a little waiter serving coffee!"

Who's Hungry?

The last time that I went to visit the special education kids, I decided that I would enjoy it, but not only that I found that it also made a huge difference although I did not do anything than make students smile and laugh. This time I also got to know a more clear schedule of what they did and I got to know them a little better.

On the few days that I went, I did not do anything than draw with the kids and make them smile along with a couple of friends. Even though, drawing may not seem like the most fun thing, it makes a difference among the students and they actually get used to you. This Thursday that I went to visit, they cooked which was awesome. it was the first day that I actually saw them cooking for kids. As you can see, in the pictures, a lot of the kids are very eager to eat. Mrs. Deleon and a couple of other para educators helped cook cheese bread, spaghetti, and make caesar salad. I was happy about the fact that they brought a lot of smiles to the students and it makes me happy to see that teachers were making a huge difference to the kids even though it may seem to not be a lot to do. These students are very good with listening and they are very intelligent, but they just need a little guidance. Before they eat, they must have six chairs at each table and they are told to set the table and they do exactly as they are told. They also have different activities that they can do, like basketball with shubhendu and Alex, some days, but I have not tried that yet, it seems fun though.  

The one thing that I really loved was that we do not leave anyone out of the events at school as well. That is because, although we have a senior ball here at school, these students have a ball as well, for their own class which is really sweet. Ethan had told us along with a couple of other students that they were going to a senior ball tomorrow and I realized what he was talking about when I looked at the calendar. I am very impressed at the work that they do for these students to make them the same way others are.  Its very true amongst this class that the teachers are making a huge effort to reach equality using equity and they do that by not leaving them out of anything, basically, doing what society thinks "normal" kids should do in school. 

I really do enjoy the company of these kids because they are really sweet and very nice. I shall continue to visit these students because they are awesome and intelligent and I think a lot of kids should come here to learn how to be nice. :)

Para educator cooking for students. 

            

Maria and Jessie helping Cosmo color and Alxea helping Allyson
color. 

Cosmo has just set the table.

Me and sheena taking a picture while waiting for food to cook. 

Sheena, Alex, Shubhendu waiting for food to cook. 

Amanda and Sheena pose while I take a picture. 

Mrs. D and other para educators cooking food and
designing the plates. 

Meghan, Ethan, Shubhendu, Jessie, and Alex taking a picture
while waiting for food.

Jessie and Shubhendu pose and Shubhendu not so enthusiastic
about taking a  same picture twice.

Jessie laughing because shubhendu took the picture at the wrong time,
while Me, Sheena and Meghan pose.

May 11th is their Special Ed Ball!  Exciting for them!

Amanda patiently sitting at table.

Some Hope

For the second part of the equity project Taylor and I decided to go to a Hope services in mountain view to help them with their work and their donations. An hour after school ended her and I drove down to check it out.Ofcourse before we got to the Hope station we had to see who's car was faster, so we did a little drag racing down the freeway. Unfortunately.....she won. But it's fine i still have my dignity. The hope services do many great things such as raise money for needed children and provide clothes for them, help people get jobs, and senior services. So i felt that this choice was a better act of helping out then my last one. Even if it was still fun and i had a good time.

 What we got to do there was help with sorting their clothing donations that they do by organizing them in size,color and all that jazz. Surprisingly as it may seem that actually took u a lot of time. It wasn't the most fun thing to do
but it did help out. Its really amazing how much they actually do for the community.Just in case you haven't noticed their thrift store, the hope station, which is here in fremont, is where these clothes get put at. But ofcourse they are also given to those who are in need and in shelters. We also went by the the actual store and help unpackage clothing and help them around just to make it easier for them. They also filled us in on what goes on in the whole foundation and how willing they are to help others. Taylor even donated some clothes of hers to help out as well. I have no clue who would want hers, because she has no swag(i don't even fully know what swag is).

 To put it to a conclusion i had a great time doing this and helping out. Hope services is a great organization that really love to help people out. I think that i would enjoy going back and volunteering and donating some more. That reminds me if others are looking to donate or help them with their work, the website its: http://www.hopeservices.org/retailbusiness.php . Its a real great opportunity to give back.


Swag clothes to be donated

My mom sent me this pic. idk why she has it

Soccer with a great team!

After spending time with the special education kids I decided that I truly enjoyed working with them so I decided that I was going to continue to work with them.

I had the opportunity to converse with some of the teachers assisting Mrs. Deleon and they all said that the students were wonderful. I immediately agreed because not only did I hear it from several other people but I also saw it myself.  During the time that I spent with them I noticed that not only was there a bond of friendship between them but there was something stronger. They are like a big family that look after one another. They are kind and seem to not know what hate or what anything evil is. In my mind the whole time, I am thing this is how all humans should be caring and full of love and giving.

On the third day of Star Testing, I asked my teacher if I could spend the time that I did not have to test with the kids and she said yes.

That day we went into the basketball courts and some students played basketball while other played soccer. I played soccer with Cosmo, Ethan, and James. I enjoyed it greatly especially because at the beginning of my volunteering Miss Deleon had informed me that James was a little unsocial and he only talked to people he felt comfortable with. So after playing with him, I felt like I had concord something very special, his friendship.

I feel like I am making a difference every time I have a hello from one of them when I am walking by or when I see a smile in their face because they like my presence there and it is a very special feeling. I will continue to volunteer there!

BRAS FOR A CAUSE

     For the reaching for equity project i chose to work with Jesse, Latrell, and Chen. Jesses mother works at Safeway and told us about the Bras for a Cause foundation. It is a annual 6k walk that the team at Safeway participate in. Everyone that participates in the walk wears a bra that they design themselves, even the men. Our job was to sell as many cupcakes that we could to raise money for the foundation. I thought that this was going to be super easy just selling cupcakes but there was a catch we had to wear bras also just like the walkers.
    We showed up to Safway right after school and kind of just wandered around for a bit and waited for the cupcakes and to set up the table. My job was to greet all of the customers as they were passing by the table and let them know all of the information about the foundation. my first couple of attempts didn't go to well but as i kept on talking to people about it they started to buy the cupcakes. we got giggles and people making fun of us for wearing bras, but there were some people that wanted to thank us for being brave and being able to do this for the people with breast cancer.  Two women almost started crying because they had lost loved ones to not only breast cancer but also other cancer. I noticed that the people that donated the most were the people that had known or does know someone with the disease.
     I cannot wait until day two of our community service. In a little under two hours we made over $200.00. Latrell was complaining about wearing the bra at first but that is how we got alot of the money was because the women thought that we looked cute. I would wear a bra any day to make $200.00 for an organization.

One Of A Kind

The place I volunteered at was called F.U.S.D. Native American Studies Program. I picked this place because I wanted to try something different. I was going to go to my elementary school but while I was talking to my classmates some of them said they were going to do the same. So I decided to look at something else, and Jazmin found this place. The purpose of this place was to help Native Americans with their school because there is not many around the Fremont area. And one of the things that they wanted to do is bring all of them together to try to bring all of the different cultures together and show them all of the differences between them. Because even though they are all Native Americans they all have their unique stuff that they do in every tribe.

When I arrived there the first thing that I saw was all of their things hanging on the wall. They were very unique that I have only seen them in books and movies but not in person. And then we got greeted by the person in charge of the place. She was very nice and right away she took us to the museum they have in the classroom about all of the tribes that were around back then. She knew a lot of things of all of the tribes. And when she finished giving us the tour of the museum there was already many kids taking out there assignments on the table.

I think there were about 20 kids there in such a small place. Right away a kid called for my help, he was on a computer trying to fix his essay. The teacher asked him to write the essay in third person but he got confused and wrote it in first person. I was trying to explain to him what he needs to do but he kept on going off topic and saying jokes. He was such a funny little kid instead of me helping him out on his essay he wanted me to teach him some Spanish words. So, I made him a deal and told him if he finished his essay I would teach him. He was trying to do it so fast that he wasn’t even doing it right and because of that I made him do it all over. But before he was able to finish his essay the instructor called everybody to the center of the class and get into a thing they call a “tribe circle”.

In the tribe circle they have a talking stick called the eagle feather. And only the person holding the eagle feather can speak. At first she passed around the eagle feather so if anybody had anything interesting planned or already did she wanted us to share it out to everybody. After everybody shared out there story of the week, she gave us a topic that we had to talk about. And the topic she ended up giving us was, what are you good at and how did you become good at it? Many of the kids said that they were really good at video games because they play it a lot and I thought that was humorous because I was able to picture myself when I was little playing video games all day. But, when the eagle feather came to me I said that I was good at soccer because I have been playing since I was little and I haven’t stopped since. And I said even though I have been playing my whole life doesn’t mean I am the best, there is always room to improve in whatever you do. The tribe circle is the way they end there class.

Amazing Grace at the Amazing Grace Mental Carehome

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

These are a couple of the patients that I volunteered with at the Amazing Grace Mental Carehome.