At the end of 2011, my wife Jen and I decided we would give of either our time or our money at least once per week in 2012. We decided to donate at least two hours of our time or at least $25 each week. As we began the new year, many of our friends were interested in our new commitment, and so I decided to write about the organizations we work with and the experiences we have. The stories told here are meant to shed some light on volunteering - the kind of work that is out there, and the clientele that is served, and to provide information about who is making a difference out there, and what you can do to help. Please come back often and share our experiences as we move through our giving year.

Also, we are always looking for new organizations to work with, groups that are doing good work and could use either our hands or our money. If you know of a volunteer opportunity or worthy cause, please leave it in a comment. Thanks for your help!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Week 29 - Lakeview Pantry

It has been 10 weeks since we last worked with our friends at Lakeview Pantry, and so it was great to get back with Carrie and some of the other volunteers we know.  Jen and I were both excited to be back, and ready to serve lots and lots of people.  It was a little disappointing, then, when the doors opened and a little less than half of a capacity crowd showed up.  Of course, we still enjoyed serving those people but it did lead to a little discussion about where everyone was.

It was a very hot day, and that seemed to be the main culprit.  It seems that when it is very hot, people think about the long trek home loaded down with groceries and then decide to stay home.  As a result, it sounds as though the pantry has had kind of a roller coaster ride when it comes to the volume of patrons they see.  Since we have had long stretches of very hot weather, people have stayed away, but then come in droves when the temperature dips back into the tolerable range.  The numbers of people coming to the pantry overall have declined as well, but so far there does not seem to be a clear reason for that.  Some neighboring pantries, such as Common Pantry are doing more business this year, which may suggest some amount of migration among the people who use the pantries, or it may be a coincidence.  It is difficult for the pantry staff to address these kinds of questions, because the people they would like to ask about them are the ones who are not showing up.

The slow night did allow for some catching up with Carrie about the pantry.  In between serving people, I was able to spend some time designing a cart that Carrie had asked me about weeks ago.  When the patrons come, they are given a great mass of food, especially if they are collecting for a large family.  In order to get all that food home, many of them bring collapsible grocery carts.  Because the pantry is not terribly large, those carts can cause quite a traffic jam when there is a large or even medium sized crowd for distribution.  Carrie had the idea to collect people's carts from them as they came in, store them on a caddy of sorts and then hand them back as they go to collect their food.  In theory, this should do a nice job of reducing the congestion during distribution.  The trick is to come up with a rolling cart that is not too big that can also hold a good number of grocery carts.  I believe I have come up with a good idea (sketched on the corner of a cardboard box).  Now I just need to find time to build it.

Carrie also reminded us about the volunteer appreciation party that the pantry is throwing this week at Lincoln Hall, a local music venue and showed us the latest pictures of her daughter, who is beyond cute.  In spite of the small crowd, we had a great night!

For more background on Lakeview Pantry, please see previous posts.

For more information on the pantry, go to Lakeview Pantry.

Week 28 - Common Pantry

If you have been reading with any regularity, you may notice that it has been about two weeks since I put up a new post.  This is not because Jen and I have not been volunteering.  We have, but we took a long weekend in door county last weekend, and quiet time in the woods took precedence over writing.  The upshot is that I will be publishing two entries this week, and should be able to stay up to date from then on.   So... on to week 28.

This week, we went back for a second visit to Common Pantry, the closest pantry to our house and the one that serves the area we live in.  For a run down of how they operate, see the post from Week 23.  It was a hectic day at the pantry when we were there because the pantry is open on Wednesdays.  That may not make a lot of sense immediately, but the previous Wednesday to the one we worked was the 4th of July.  As a result, the pantry was closed.  That meant that at least twice as many patrons as normal were trying to use the pantry on the night we were there.  Actually, the pantry was kind of mobbed all day long, as we found out.

I worked in the back again, loading canned goods into bags for the patrons while they shopped with their points.  Jen spent the night handing out bread and produce, which is a slightly more demanding job, mostly because there is some patron contact and they have a say in what they get more than with the canned goods.  During the evening shift, we served about 35 families (accounting for about 200 individuals), which was a heavy load for the night shift, but not unmanageable. In talking with Scott, the pantry director, I found out that he had opened the pantry a couple hours early for the afternoon distribution, essentially doubling the time the pantry was open.  The total for the day wound up being about 115 families, which is at the upward edge of what the pantry can handle, but everyone was able to get some food, and I don't believe anyone had to be turned away at any point in the day.  We did run short on some items late in the evening shift, but the shortfalls were not too bad.  I was very impressed with how well Scott and the other pantry workers planned for the very heavy day and it seems as thought most things went according to that plan.

In addition to the distribution, Jen and I also filled out some volunteer information forms which are an initiative on the part of the pantry to know more about the people who volunteer with them.  They want to know what jobs people are interested in doing at the pantry, and what the tolerance is for being asked to work on short notice if the pantry does not have enough help on a given day.  The push to know more also extends to the donor base.  Scott has been able to spend some time recently doing analysis of the the people who give to the pantry and the trends about how they give.  This kind of information is essential to non-profit groups and it is a sign of forward thinking that the pantry is interested in this level of analysis.  It is not really surprising since the pantry has been around for so long, but it is good to see that they are keeping the future in mind.

Overall, we had a great time, just like the last time, and we signed up to work again next month.

For more information about the pantry go to Common Pantry.


Friday, July 6, 2012

Week 27 - Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph

Consider this...  It is 101 degrees outside, with the sun blazing down and no clouds in the sky.  You do not have a place to live, so your only choice is to be outside all day long.  All day, that is, until you head over to the House of Mary and Joseph for dinner and a place to sleep.  When you get there, there is no air conditioning and no windows, only large fans.  The people who run the shelter have gone to the store and bought freeze pops for you and the other patrons to try to help you cool down, but since the freezers at the House are a little iffy, the pops are not quite frozen.  After waiting in line under the hot sun, you are let in to have the same dinner of a sandwich, hot soup and water that is always served at the House.  This time, the water has ice in it, again thanks to the foresight of the staff, and there are some more freeze pops and cookies for dessert.  When you are done eating in the stuffy dining room, you head into the dormitory where the temperature is higher than outside.  You try to get a bed near a fan, but you know that with 110 people sleeping in a room with no windows, the heat is just going to get worse.

That was the situation for the patrons this week at the House of Mary and Joseph (mentioned a lot in previous posts - consult them for background).  When we left after our shift at 9:30 pm, the temperature was still 95 degrees outside, and it was decidedly cooler outside than in.  The staff was doing everything they could to make things a little better for the patrons, but the building is the building.  With no air, and very few windows, the fans could only do so much.  Even if some angel were to donate enough money to install air conditioning for the building, the cost to run it would be prohibitive.  The House recently acquired some new, very large fans, but even those were barely helping.  Jen and I worked in front of one all night, and still had to stop for water and sit occasionally.  I can't imagine how any of the patrons slept in the dorms, with the temp reaching up in the 110's.  But these people are survivors.  They just keep on keepin' on, and that is what we saw.

We expected everyone to be in a sour or even a belligerent mood, but almost every patron was smiling and grateful to be given what we had.  I thought the chance of scuffles in the dining room would be greater with the heat, but things were really calm.  Maybe no one had enough energy to argue, but it also seemed like any kind of relief was appreciated, and a place to sleep, even a sweltering one, was still a godsend.  We did see a marked increase in the number of impromptu sponge baths being taken in the dining room, but that is to be expected.

We all know that periods of extreme cold and extreme heat are hard on the homeless population, but this really brought it home.  When I think of how lucky I am to have access to a place to cool off, much less to have consistent cool in most of my life, I am forever grateful.  I don't know how these people make it through, and I suppose the sad truth is that some do not.  I know that for myself, I will try to do more to help during extreme weather.  I try to stay off a soap box in this forum, but I do encourage you to see the suffering of these people in this kind of weather, and, if you can, give them some water, or a cool treat, or anything that will help the get through.

For more information on the FHMJ, go to: Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Week 26 - C.A.R.E.

Well... this is week 26 - half way through the year!  So far, I have to consider this experiment a success.  We have kept our promise to ourselves and either worked or donated every week this year, and in some weeks have done many things.  It has been a good six months, and we have easily reaped as many benefits from our works as the ones we have given.  We are looking forward to the rest of the year, with new opportunities and (now) old friends.

Speaking of new opportunities, we gave to a new organization this week.  I got the lead on this group from my friend Michelle, who told me that she had heard about it though the advocacy of a Minneapolis-based hip hop artist named Dessa, who's music Michelle appreciates.  The group is called CARE, which is an acronym for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere.  They are a large group that works worldwide to end poverty and hunger using an approach which aims at attacking not just hunger, but the root causes of hunger as well.  They also focus on the special needs of women and children in the poorest areas of the world since women and children make up a disproportionate number of the disadvantaged in these areas.  The CARE website describes their work like this:

CARE tackles underlying causes of poverty so that people can become self-sufficient. Recognizing that women and children suffer disproportionately from poverty, CARE places special emphasis on working with women to create permanent social change. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve basic education, increase access to quality health care and expand economic opportunity for all. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives in the aftermath.

Basically, there are a number of initiatives that CARE works toward in the places that they are active.  These things include trying to improve the educational opportunities for local women and children, trying to improve the health of mothers and their families, trying to improve economic opportunities in the area, especially for women, trying to end gender-based violence and trying to improve water use and management in the area.  By attacking all of these areas in a holistic approach, the group is able to create lasting success stories that promote an upward spiral of quality of life.  As more people are educated and given better opportunities, they want to bring others up with them, and want their children to have still better opportunities.  Following this pattern, whole communities have been lifted out of poverty and set on the path of self-sufficiency.

When I completed my online donation, the receipt included a sample story showing an example of the work CARE does and the approach they take to doing it:

Hansaben and Pooja's story:
When Hansaben's family began migrating to harvest salt from the Gujarati desert, she had to quit school. "There were no schools in the desert," Hansaben said. "Our only skill was working with salt." CARE's solution: bring the schools to the children. CARE and local groups dug pits and covered them with burlap, creating makeshift classrooms where the earth is cool.
"I tell others to study hard and become something in their lives, just as we are doing," said Hansaben said. "We want to take advantage of this opportunity to help carry the family workload in other ways."
It's a rare opportunity for girls in some of India's poorest communities, as parents often yank daughters from school early to help at home or with labor such as the salt harvest. Half the women here are illiterate, twice the rate of men.
That's why CARE also supports schools at the edge of the desert, the next step for girls from the salt pans. There you'll find 16-year-olds such as Pooja, whose henna-covered hand holds a blowtorch. She's learning to weld and work with metal, the kind of skills that — though traditionally off limits to girls — can break the cycle of poverty for her family.
"We were thinking that if boys can do it," Pooja said, "why not us?" 

From a management stand point, CARE does pretty well, although not quite as well as Feed My Starving Children, who we often work with.  CARE uses 91% of donated funds for relief efforts with the remaining 9% going toward administration and fundraising.  As such, it is still a pretty responsible group.  Given their far-reaching methods and their success rate so far, this seems to be a great option for giving to alleviate hunger and raise the quality of life for women and children in the impoverished parts of the world.

For more information on CARE, go to: