Hammers and Nails

Today we took a walking tour of the Lower East Side. We got to visit the Tenemant Museum and see an apartment of one of the Irish Settlers from the 1800's. Very small apartments back then, 3 rooms (a bedroom, living room and small kitchen that only fit a stove). To potty one had to hike outside and use the outhouse. Our visit was eye opening and frustrating at the same time; frustrating to think that while we have advance a lot as a society, we still have poverty all these years later, it just looks different.

Personally I've been studying the topic of poverty for quite some time now. It's actually the social issue that propelled me in to the field of service-learning when I too was a college student. But my lens of how we address the topic, the people who experience it and our ideas for solutions have drastically shifted over the years. Examining the role that choice plays is critical, but also eye opening; as our class is starting to see there is a bigger social fabric that we are all a part of and many factors contributing to a person's ability to make the right or "better" choice.

As we question society's choices on which laws get passed, what programs we create and how we need to both collectively and individually address the issues of affordable housing, access to food, fair wage, etc we also need to culturally shift our lens to find solutions that have yet to be created. As Haley said yesterday, "When your holding a hammer everything looks like nails". I think we've been holding hammers for too long and we need to put down our hammers so that we can see that we are looking at more than just nails. Fighting poverty with the criminal justice system and charity alone are not working. Passing laws that punish people for being sleeping in certain parts of the city only perpetuate the problem. Take the no horizontal law in San Francisco as an example which makes it illegal to be in a horizontal position if you are in a public space like a park or bust stop. The law is very specifically targeted towards the homeless who often resort to subway stations or park benches too get a little shut eye. By making it illegal means they can be cited and fined, if they don't pay their fines they are cited again, so many citations in your record turns in to a felony, a felony prevents you from ever getting permanent housing because so many landlords won't take the chance on someone who has a record. So where does that person go? What options do they have? Is access to housing a basic human right and if so, who's responsibility is it to provide it? Who pays for it? What alternatives have we not considered as a society? How do we think about shared land cooperatives, community housing initatives and altering zoning regulations. Should making affordable housing be mandatory? In New York City alone there are nearly 59,000 homeless people, 22,000 of them are children whose families have no other option but to sleep in a shelter at night. But get this, a recent count of the vacant building spaces found that there are enough spaces to house 199,000+ people. In other words there is 3xs as much vacant space in NYC as there are homeless people! (Source:Uneven Growth, MoMa exhibit) 

So is it the people or the system? It's certainly not an issue of availability, it's an issue of access and affordability and we have to move away from market rate housing as our only way of thinking about housing if we are going to make housing affordable.

Posted by Renee Sedlacek

Service day 1

Today was the day we have all been super pumped for, the reason we flew to NYC. We started doing service through volunteering and we were split into two groups. 

My group went to More Grace Redemptive Center. It is a church that provides food pantry services. We packed potatoes and onions together, a box of cereal, one bottle of juice, a source of protein ( canned tuna or chicken), one canned vegetable or tomato sauce, and mac and cheese or mashed potatoes together. We were informed that a bag of each of what we packed is usually  handed to people in need every Tuesday from 11 am- 1pm. We were supervised by 2 volunteers who were pretty strict and precise about how they wanted us to go about the packing of the food. Also, we were told that the pantry receives donations from stores when the goods are close to expiration dates.

After today's experience, I got an insight into how the less privileged are thought of as having options when they really don't have any. For example, the pantry provides a limited variety on the types of food they give out. They have no accomodations for people with special dietary needs such as diabetes and allergies.  The content of the food that is given out contains so much sugar and if one is diabetic, they are probably better off without it. The question that I have not been able to get answer to is whether a diabetic person who is hungry eat the high sugar content food and get sick Or not eat the food and stay hungry? Neither case works best for them. If they eat the food and get sick,they probably wont be able to afford the medical bill. If they don't eat, they will eventually fall sick and not be able to take their medication. I just couldn't mute the voices in my head of how many times when I saw hungry people on the road and said  " Why don't they go to pantries?  They have options but yet are being picky."
Today's food packing experience was very eye opening to different perspectives after seeing the nutritional composition of the foods.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the week has to offer and the lessons that will come with every service experience.

Education and poverty over the lifetime

Homeless Iowa teenager Ryan wrote “school-work was never the hard part of school. The hard part was motivation” (Heggen). Growing up in a low-income family meant that Ryan had more pressing matters on his mind than his education. This is a reality for the estimated 16 million children living in poverty (Child Poverty).

Students who grow up while living under the national poverty line, $23,550 a year for a family of four, most often start school behind their classmates and continue to be behind throughout their school career (11 Facts). Nearly 40 percent of children living in poverty are unprepared for primary school (11 Facts). By the end of fourth grade low income students are two years behind. By twelfth grade they are four years behind (11 Facts).

Low-income students are seven times as likely to not graduate (11 Facts). Not having a high school diploma severely limits job opportunities throughout a lifetime. If a low-income student does graduate from high school their educational opportunities continue to be limited. In 2014 the average community college cost $3,260 a year (2014 Facts). That is nearly 14 percent of a family living in poverty’s yearly income. The average public four-year institution cost $8,890 in 2010 or nearly 38 percent of a family’s yearly income (2014 Facts).

            Generational poverty also plays a role outside of financial restrictions. Members of low-income families often do not value higher education. Children have earning potential that would allow them to contribute to the family immediately. Higher education can seem like an unobtainable goal so students dismiss it early in their educational career.

            These facts beg several classes. How do we improve low-income schools? Is higher education a right? What affect would Barrack Obama’s new free community college proposal have?

Evelyn and Sarah 

Sources: 

"11 Facts About Education and Poverty in America." 11 Facts About Education and Poverty in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

"2014 Facts." Fast Facts From Our Fact Sheet. American Association of Colleges, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

"Child Poverty." NCCP. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Heggen, Danny. From a Growing Community: Iowa's Homeless Youth. Des Moines, IA: Shrieking Tree, 2009. Print.

"News." The Effects of Poverty on Education in the United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Poverty and Health

The “Iron Triangle” of health care (access, quality, and cost) is a prevailing topic of discussion in America. We chose to focus our research on some components of this triangle as well as some public health issues and how they affect those in poverty. Through our research, we have found that access to care and the ability to pay for care can be daunting among those in poverty. With hospitals and primary care centers moving out of urban areas, “health care deserts” are starting to appear, placing negative consequences on the health care system. The costs of health care can be unmanageable to low-income families placing deep financial burdens on them. Children are especially affected by these circumstances, as they rely on their parents. In addition, Immunization rates are much lower for those in poverty, raising a public health concern. Furthermore, they experience higher risks of obesity and a higher likelihood to require more hospitalizations, among other things.  

Nate and Haley

Poverty and Immigration - Brandi & Bridget

In 2013 there were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United Sates (Giovagnoli). Many immigrants coming to the United States initially end up in poverty due to a lack of education or work skills. However as they become more accustomed to the US, they may move out of poverty (Iceland, 86). We will discuss possible relationships between immigration, discrimination and poverty. We will also examine the new NYC ID cards and what they are doing to help both immigrants and people who are homeless.

Giovagnoli, Mary. "Overhauling Immigration Law: A Brief History and Basic Principles of Reform." Overhauling Immigration Law: A Brief History and Basic Principles of Reform. Immigration Policy Center, 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/perspectives/overhauling-immigration-law-brief-history-and-basic-principles-reform>.

Iceland, John. Poverty in America: A Handbook. Berkeley, CA: U of California, 2006. 86. Print.

Social Media and Shelters

The Digital Age has transformed the way many companies and businesses are hiring people. Employers are using online applications, social media, and social recruiting to make choosing candidates easier and more efficient. In a social recruiting survey conducted by Jobvite in 2014, 93% of the recruiters surveyed indicated that they review candidates’ social media profile before making a decision to hire. 55% of the recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on their profiles with 61% of the reconsiderations being negative. (JobVite)

 Homeless shelters like Central Iowa Shelter Services have a computer lab for the homeless, but are computers a priority? Should the money be spent on immediate needs like food, shelter, and clothing instead? Poverty is a lack of resources and in today’s modern society technology is a resource. Obama stressed during his State of the Union speech that fast internet is integral and needs to be improved, this shows how our society has evolved. In fact, in 2011, the United Nations declared internet to be a basic need. (Jackson, Nicholas)

Access to a computer is a resource that has many other benefits than just obtaining a job. CISS has implemented training programs to help people create and strengthen their resumes and learn how to use a computer. Computers also help build social capital, the network of relationships someone has that are available to help them in times of need. Some see this in a different light as Facebook and other social networks sometimes do the opposite, isolate us. (Online Social Network Dangers and Benefits). At Central Iowa Shelter Services (CISS) we heard stories of families being reunited in the rooms we stood in. We heard stories of people finding jobs in that very room.

Some of those in poverty do not have the financial capital or time to continue to learn new technology. (Dvorak, Phred). Iceland mentions in his book that “some have argued that technological advancements in the 1908s led to ‘skill-biased technological change,’ where workers were increasingly called upon to be familiar with computers...” (Iceland 85). This change from the industrial age has led to less educated Americans at a disadvantage as technology grows and this is one of the gaps these shelters are helping close: technology illiteracy. This started in 2009 when New York began to add computer to it's shelters.(Dvorak, Phred). I believe the idea of what a basic needis, is changing,but the larger issue of poverty is not. Shelters like CISS which provide  free time allow those in poverty to have new experiences (Central Iowa Shelter and Services).

- Jake and Christina

Jobvite 2014 Job Seeker Nation: Mobility In The Workforce Study, and Page 1. "Job Seeker

             Nation: Mobility In The Workforce Study." Jobvite 2014 (n.d.): n. pag. JobVite. Web. 21

             Jan. 2015.

"Central Iowa Shelter & Services." Central Iowa Shelter & Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Dvorak, Phred. "On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired." WSJ. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Jackson, Nicholas. "United Nations Declares Internet Access a Basic Human Right." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 03 June 2011. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Smith, Gerry. "Without Internet, Urban Poor Fear Being Left Behind In Digital Age." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

"University of the PACIFIC." Online Social Networking Dangers and Benefits. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.

Wright, Nigel To. "Social Media Recruitment." THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON RECRUITMENT. (2011): n. pag. Nigel Wright. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Emily and Allison Contemporary Issues

Every single day, 16 million children in America struggle with hunger. That is 1 out of 5 children, a heartbreaking number (Hunger Facts Carousel). Many of these children are going to school hungry each day, which is hindering them from reaching their full potential. Even those who eat before they come to school often do not have a nutritious breakfast. In fact, 72% of households with children report buying the cheapest food available, even though they know it is not the healthiest option (Hunger in America). We believe that universal breakfast in schools is the solution to this problem. With this change, every child would have access to a healthy breakfast each morning without the stigma of partaking in free and reduced breakfast. By providing breakfast to all students, children would be healthier, more focused, better behaved, and have improved cognitive development and test scores.

"Hunger Facts Carousel." Www.nokidhungry.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
"Hunger in America - Vermont Foodbank." Hunger in America - Vermont Foodbank. N.p., n.d. Web.
22 Jan. 2015.

Thanks for The Memories

Last night, after another delay, our plane set down in Des Moines as we were welcomed by various people waiting in the deserted airport. With my first five hours of flying behind me, first trip to New York city completed, and my suitcase unpacked I can now say it has been a life changing experience. This upcoming week we will be volunteering at Bidwell Riverside, before we look forward, lets look back.

In mine and some others entries, which have been written, the issue of rationing has been disscussed. You have heard my story of what happened when I had to tell someone no. Realizing that rationing is important, because I believe that it is better to provide everyone with a moderate amount than a couple with a supreme amount. When I think of this I think of a sports team which is full of decent players compared to one which has one or two stars on it. This is because if you do not ration those who need food may not get it, if you do it unproportionately. There are some people who need clothes for interviews, some who need food for survival, and some who need both. There is simply not enough manpower to distribute these goods let alone enough manpower to distribute it. Let's change the tone for a second.

This blog is filled with facts and experience, many of which are depressing or discuss the issue. Poverty is an an incredibly large issue as exemplified by this trip. I challenge you to see what we are doing right as there is a lot happening. This past week I have been able to see first hand the dedicated, overworked, and low paid workers which are helping to battle this crisis. There are churches congregating and a mountainous number of organizations dedicated to solving this problem. The range is from helping those survive to changing legislation within the government.

Poverty is something which affects us all in our everyday life regardless of whether you live in a city or suburbs. The poverty rate in suburbs is skyrocketing as I have seen it myself. These "homeless" are still people and a lot of times they will not have any social capital to fall back on. That is why the programs which we have volunteered at and discussed are incredibly important.

The day before our group left NYC we volunteered at a once a week soup kitchen. The staff and people who came; sung and danced while serving food, overall just enjoying themselves. It was an amazing site to see as many of the people who came, come every week and sit at the same tables. It is the same concept as once a week bingo. It provides a commonality and something to look forward to; seeing your best friends. Social Capital can help give them a push to understand a conversation or nail a job interview. These places provide more than just food: they provide an atmosphere in which they can thrive. It is a relief to a weeks worth of survival and an outlet of stress as it is a consistent place where anyone can get food, clothing, and a social atmosphere. They provide people with a balanced bag to take home, or do their best to do so, which allows their guests to learn about what a balanced meal is.

I think of this past year, how rough it has been, and how I may not be where I am because of my friends, family. I think of how my life would have been changed without my family or friends, but I just can not imagine. These people in my life are my driving force and I love them all.

After a week, I have realized I must do something. Not just me though, us the millennial, must do something to curb this. Awareness and activism was preached, especially as a report came out claiming Iowa wants to close two out of it's four mental health institutions. As a nation, we love to do soup kitchens, but hate politics. We want to solve poverty, but struggle with what to do. I plan to rally this upcoming semester, raise awareness, and influence the legislative process. I will consistently continue to volunteer with those organizations and persons which are affected by poverty.

Going into New York and before the class I believed it was the persons fault. The vicious cycle of the financial cliff and the drug addiction can affect a persons life. No matter how driven they are, both of these are vicious cycles which can derail a persons attempt at getting out of poverty. It is the system that is hurting the people, not the person. There are exceptions, but when a person is on the street I challenge you not to judge them. I challenge you to make personal contact with them and treat them as they were you. I challenge you to part way with a dollar as that can provide a meal for them. I challenge you to destroy your preconceptions about those in poverty just as I have. Throughout our readings one thing has been made clear, we need to question the way the government works. We need to be an active citizen and fully live up to what Drake expects of us. We will be able to help this cause with volunteering once a week. I plan to do just that.

All you have to give up is just one hour a week, to continue the fight against poverty. Consistency is key. The way I have viewed those in poverty has changed, the way I look at homeless on the street has changed, and the way I see myself conducting myself around them has changed. My definition of poverty has changed.

I would just like to say: this trip was the trip of my life. It was the first time I flew. It was the first time I was in New York. I can say it will not be the last. YSOP was an amazing organization to work with and very worthwhile experiences were had. On every trip or self reflection I do, I try to take something out of it and apply it to myself. I was touched by how little these people had and how they were just surviving. There were so many times, this past year, I took food and didn't eat it. I have taken what I have for-granted in my life and it is so nice to have that humbling experience once in a while. I struggled with my uncomfortably due to my privilege, being in college and all, which I will continue to work on and give back to the community. That is my pledge. I challenge you to do the same. Find an organization or contact me for help, because poverty is not going away any time soon. You may have more questions than answers. Everyone can make a difference in the fight against poverty in their own unique way.

Til' my next blog, toodles.

PS I have created a youtube video about the trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btwyf0Lp-5o

Service day 2

My group went to St. James Church in Madison Avenue today. I was being very observant of the Church neighborhood while we were heading there. I noticed that there were no fast food restaurants that I had seen when we were at More Grace Redemption Center in Brooklyn. Also, there were high end designer stores and I saw more fancier cars than I did when we were in Brooklyn. I had already come to a conclusion that this was a high class neighborhood and was excited to see what kind of service project they had for us because I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a food pantry. I hadn't seen even one person who wasn't properly dressed and looked clean while we were heading there. In my eyes, there was no sign of homelessness in that area.

When we got to the Church, we met the volunteers that we were going to work with and they were all very friendly. To my surprise, it was actually a soup kitchen in that area and we immediately got to work.I was slicing and buttering bread. The bread looked expensive and they had a variety for people to  choose from. In my head, I still couldn't believe that there were homeless people in that area so I asked one of the volunteers what they defined as homeless to meet the criteria for the service they were offering. They were open to the public and got around 90 people every Tuesday that they served lunch. I couldn't wait for lunch so as to see who their crowd of 'homeless' were.

Before lunch time, my group was taken to a hall where lunch would be served and given instructions on how we would be serving restaurant style. I was blown away. This is something I will probably talk about forever and try put it to practice as I continue my service volunteering in the future. I was very impressed by their reasoning behind their serving style.They do that in order to provide a different eating experience for their guests which are the homeless population of the area. The homeless get food from different soup kitchens and pantries. They stand in long lines for hours in most cases to get food. St.James tries to provide more than just food but also make their guests feel special by having food taken to them. Their menu was similar to what one would get in a decent restaurant and included dessert as well. This was also a surprise to me. I had never seen or heard or imagined the homeless being served dessert. I was very happy after serving at St. James and hoped that we would do a similar thing for the last two service projects remaining.

After serving at St. James, I realized that we think and treat the homeless as if they aren't the regular people that we are. Whenever we are tired or feel like we want to be served, we go to restaurants or salons or spas.When we are there, we expected to be served. We feel like we deserve it because we are tired or stressed or just in the mood for that particular service. Also, because we pay for such services and can afford to pay for them. I have an on campus meal plan and the food gets repetitive. I  go out to eat sometimes for a change because I get sick and tired of the campus food. I had never thought that it was a privilege to randomly go eat in a restaurant when I don't feel like eating campus food. It has always felt like I deserve it and I have the right to not be trapped with campus food.

Whenever we help the homeless, we try to do the bare minimum and expect them to be happy about it because we voluntarily extend help to them, it is not an obligation. We live in better conditions and have better lives and generally see more good than bad unlike them. We are taken aback whenever something bad happens and they are taken aback whenever something good happens because they get used to bad things happening to them. Thoroughly thinking about it, the homeless are the ones who need to be served and made to feel special because of all the psychological destructions that they experience.

I thought of St.James as the restaurants that I go to when I get tired of campus food and thought of campus food as the different soup kitchens that the homeless go to for meals that are pretty similar and involve them lining up for hours. I have learnt that nobody is 'other' like how I thought of the homeless before. Everybody needs what I need regardless of their financial position or what they are going through in life. Just because they can't afford to go a restaurant doesn't mean they don't need to or that getaway isn't required for their mental well being.

Evelyn

Thanks for Lessons NYC

When I woke up this morning in my cozy little cot, I was sad because I remembered today was my last day in the city and we were done working with YSOP. Yesterday my group went to St. George's soup kitchen to help prepare and serve lunch. This soup kitchen was different from St James in that it was set up in a more traditional way where the guests come up to a table to pick up their food.

I was inspired by the amount of love that these volunteers have been pouring into the community for years. The volunteers at this soup kitchen were able to provide a large, hearty meal to around 80 people. They also provided another service that may not be as obvious. They gave these people a place to congregate and converse. They open their doors well before they start serving the meal so people can come in, warm up with some coffee, and talk to one another. This is social capital.

In class we discussed how important social capital is to each and every individual. Having a social network of can provide information on things like shelters, jobs opportunities and where to get a warm meal. People in a social network also provide support and understanding. In similar way the volunteers also add to the social capital of the people they serve. Whether it be a job listing or some sort of food, shelter or clothing assistance, volunteers may hear about these opportunities through other social circles and can share them with the group. One unique thing about St Georges is that they also had a table set up to educate their guests on the government's daily recommended servings of fruit, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy. This is also a very beneficial service that could be implemented at all soup kitchens and food pantries. A lot of cheap food is lacking in nutrition, so it is important to educate individuals who may not be eating healthy foods. It is difficult for many people in poverty to have a balanced diet because pantries often are lacking in fresh produce and protein sources. People then rely on a limited income or government assistance like SNAP to purchase foods to supplement. However, when someone has such a limited budget, it is often appealing to go for quantity over quality. If you only had $6.18 to spend on meal each day, how would you stretch it out? Perhaps when food banks are assembling packages to be distributed, they can pack them in a way that the canned food can be combined with fresh produce. If organizations have monetary donations, they could purchase gift cards to grocery stores. These could be given out near the end of the month when many people are starting to run out of government funds.

However, I think the most important thing this soup kitchen gave to their guests was so something everyone longs for. I think about my friend writing me a quick note saying she appreciates me, notes and pictures from my little cousins and a care package from my mom just because. That makes me feel loved. During our orientation at YSOP we were challenged to look at and talk to the people in poverty who address us while we are in the city. This was a difficult challenge for me. It is easier for me to walk past someone because then I won't feel anything emotions and I can just get on with my day. The more I thought about my old mentality the more sad I became at how I treated those people.

Now we are on our way back to Des Moines. Tonight I will sleep in my nice warm bed and tomorrow I could go back to living my life the way I did before. Or I could remember the joy in an elderly man's face when we looked each other in the eye and waved across the soup kitchen. I could remember the man I passed on the street who was wishing everyone a good Thursday. And the smile on his face when I responded "you too". I know it is unlikely everyone will respond in such a positive manner, but so what? There is nothing wrong with treating everyone you come into contact with as a human being with feelings and emotions. I believe that everyone desires to feel wanted and loved.

Moving on from this week and this class, I am going to continue to volunteer with organizations that support the poor, hungry and homeless. I am also going to be more conscious of the way I treat everyone I come into contact with. I'm going to stop walking by and pretending people aren't there because if I was in their shoes it would break my heart. I know it sounds cliché, but try to put yourself in their shoes. If it's too hard go to a local shelter and volunteer. Serve at a food pantry or soup kitchen. Over the past two weeks my eyes have been open and perceptions changed. The biggest thing that I have learned is that people are in poverty for so many different reasons. Not everyone who finds themselves, hungry, homeless, or in poverty has the same story. Nor do they all have the same attitudes. Just like any other social group, I have to understand that they all want different things and are all individual people. Maybe I had a bad experience with someone who panhandling in the subway. Does that mean that I should ignore everyone? Of course not. One or two or ten problems cannot stop me from serving a group of people who need my love and support. That is what I learned in New York and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to serve there. Now I'm ready to see what Des Moines is going to teach me. Stay Tuned!

Clothing for Jan Hus

This week we did service in New York, and every day was a new and exciting experience. Every organization that we worked with had a different model for handling poverty, hunger, and homelessness. I have seen many different programs in action, each with their own little twist. It is encouraging to see so many people actively working to help those living in poverty, but unfortunately it is still not enough. Thousands of people still go to sleep on the streets or with an empty stomach every single night, and this poverty abomination needs to be stopped. My experiences this week have led me to new discoveries about myself and how I view poverty.

One of my favorite service sites this week was Jan Hus, an organization on the Upper East Side that is affiliated with a Presbyterian church. They have clothing closets for men and women and a food pantry for those who are experiencing hunger. Each day, they open their doors and serve those who are in need.

When I was volunteering, I spent a majority of my time in the men's clothing closet. I absolutely loved helping these men, who were working hard to create positive change in their lives, find nice clothing to wear to interviews or just for casualwear. While I truly enjoyed helping these gentlemen find a nice dress shirt in their size, I also dealt with a lot of frustration while in the clothing closet. Some items, such as dress pants, ties, jeans, and shoes, were incredibly lacking. When I started my shift there were only two pairs of dress pants and one tie available, and both were gone within a half hour.

I felt so much pain having to tell these men that I had no pants left for them. Their need were so great and the provisions so small. Speaking of small, there was a decent amount of small sizes but few options for L-XXL, which was what a majority of the men needed. While I was in clothing closet, I was hit by a strong desire to do something to help these people. I want to go out and buy a bunch of men's clothes to donate to clothing closets, I want to encourage others to donate what they don't use anymore, etc. But most of all, I just want to be able offer these wonderful people, who deal with financial and emotional stress on a daily basis, quality clothing that they would be proud to wear. I want them to wake up in the morning and know that they have nice, stylish clothing that will send them into the interview room confidently.

I know that there is so much more to the poverty crisis than a lack of nice clothing, but why not give people clothing that they are comfortable in and proud of in the meantime? Just because the system hasn't changed yet, that doesn't mean that those who can't afford food and clothing need to starve and wear rags. I appreciate what organizations with clothing closets and food pantries are doing. Their services are so important to the day-to-day functioning of people's lives. Without places like food pantries, many people wouldn't be able to survive.

Working at Jan Hus also helped me realize how much I truly have to be grateful for. I am lucky enough to walk into a store and pick the specific food and clothing that I prefer. The people we helped only got to choose from clothing donations and whatever was sent up for them from the pantry based on their food preferences. I am so blessed, and I don't want to take all of the opportunities and resources I have for granted. Most of all, I want to give back and serve others, putting them before myself regardless of their social or economic status.

Allison

A Day of Change

YSOP's goal today was to provide an experience and environment which would put us in the situation of having to say no. Today we woke up expecting to volunteer at one place which was canceled moments before we left. We ended up volunteering at a site unlike any other. A church named Jan Hus manned by three people: Tom, Lily, and Ramsey. Every Tuesday and Thursday a soup kitchen is held, but today we focused on clothing and food pantry distribution.

A food pantry is a place where food is distributed and not made. The specific goal today was to help contribute to SNAP and other benefit programs. They try to stay within the guidelines of the governments five main categories: protein, veggies, fruit, meat, and grain. I personality ran into a situation where I had to tell a person no, who had children to feed. Why is this important? Why is rationing so important?

This is something which we were encouraged to look at in a different way. We were encouraged to see it as helping everyone to their basic needs or letting a few people do better add all others were turned away. At the ems of the day after reflection even though it was hard I realized it was necessary. There are people who came through with amazing stories in life and people who have struggled their whole entire life through generational poverty.

So what can we do? So many people fall into a vicious cycle of generational, drugs, drinking, illiteracy, and more. A lot have solutions but they cost money: education and awareness, residential dug and alcohol treatment, AA and other various organizational meetings, and other ones. Besides that we can make our choices hard within the legislator and I challenge all of y'all to do so will are reading this. We can become a consistent volunteer with our community. Furthermore, we can educate ourselves about the issues surrounding us as they become more and not common. You do not have to be in a city with it to help. You can be anyone, in any place, doing anything. All it takes is a letter, a hello, or just fine minutes of googling to educate yourself a little more. I challenge you to do just that.

-Jake

Jan Hus may not be the most beautiful place visually,  but to me it has been a meaningful experience. I was helping in the women's clothing for the majority of the time and a woman handed Lily a bunch of paperwork. She spoke Spanish and Lily translated what she said in English to me. The paperwork was a court ordered document saying that she was to appear in court because her husband filed a report against her. Lily asked me for my advice and suddenly I became like a legal consultant because I could read and am a Law and Order addict. Imagine what it would be like if you were summoned into court to defend yourself without any English. I am blessed to have an education and be privileged to have access to the internet to research things. The woman reminded me of my mom who came here with little English. After I was born, a man and a little boy came in (probably a missionary) wanting to take me away because they were afraid my mom would be unable unable take care of me because she was a refugee. I was surprised to hear from YSOP that there are legal services for the homeless because they need to be represented too.

The most meaningful conversation I had was with a woman who came into the women's clothing. She took a piece of clothing and she put it back even though it was her style because she said that it did not fit her that well and that someone else could use it as it would just lay around in her suitcase wasted. It made me realize I have collected so many things that I got because I tell myself that "It's so cheap and pretty....I think I can make it fit" and it ends up not being used. Let's donate our clothes we do not wear, especially large sizes and mens' s clothing.  (The men's clothing supply was way smaller than the women's although the majority of the homeless there were men.)  The reason why I chose this class was to redeem my compassion and empathy for people again after working in retail for a year now. And today,  I achieved my goal. I have the strong desire to go out of my way to help people. I hope that this experience continues to show me that there are more good people in the world and keeps reminding me that I should not take anything for granted.

-Christina

Wants and Needs

An Englishman and an Iowan walk into a church, after a nun had thrown them out. Instead of the beginning of a joke, this was the beginning of our day. 

Our group had the opportunity to work with an organization located in Jan Hus Church, after another organization, apparently run by nuns, was forced to cancel on us. 

When we got to the church, we were split into groups in order to work in their food pantry, the men's clothes closet, and the women's clothes closet. I was lucky enough to be assigned to the pantry and the women's closet later on. 

In the pantry, we were kept running by Tom, one of the program directors and an overall excellent human being. We ran crates of food up and down the stairs for the people who needed it. The pantry was running short on a lot of stuff, so we unfortunately couldn't provide the people with everything that they asked for. This pantry provided things from all of the different food groups, but people would turn away items that they didn't like, and have to leave without anything from a certain food group. 

Sometimes people would request things that we didn't have. Other times, they would request more of what they received. Unfortunately, we would have to deny these requests, due to a lack of supplies. 

I found today to be an exercise of wants versus needs. People want fruit and sugary juices, but need vegetables. Because people just weren't educated about their health and nutrition, we actually had people turn away fresh produce. I wanted to help these people as much as I could, but I needed to do what was best for the organization I was with. The organization needed all of my hard work for as long as they had it, and my wants would just get in the way of what is really needed. 

What you want is not always what is good for you, as I was told hundreds of times when I was a child. Sometimes you need to hear the word "no". It hurts, but in the end it's the best for everyone involved. 

What we need to do, though, is set people up for success, instead of just telling them no. We need education for all people, in order for them to be able to take care of themselves. We need to fund and staff programs in order to help our people and improve our society as a whole. We have a lot of needs, but our wants are being looked after first, because it's comfortable and easy to take care of our wants. 

We must push ourselves to look past our wants if we want to solve the tangled problem that is poverty. We need to care for the needs of others first.

Haley 

Giving help where it is needed

On Wednesday, January 14th, I visited the organization, CAMBA, which was a MICA (Mentally Ill Chronically Addicted) women's shelter. This particular shelter housed about 100 women who were in the transitional phase of moving into affordable housing. Throughout the orientation, I learned an enormous amount of information on the process of getting off the streets and into affordable housing; such as, being compliant with the case worker, obtaining a social security number if needed, helping complete job application forms, and providing basic resources. I did not realize the amount of work and effort CAMBA puts into their goal of trying to jump-start the lives of many of women by finding them jobs and affordable housing.

This experience was different than the previous ones in the week in terms of our role of service to the organization. We completed more "behind the scenes" tasks such as taking down Christmas lights, moving books and paint, and cleaning out the basement. Even though we didn't have a direct effect on the women in the shelter, we were able to serve CAMBA by helping them organize and free up their time. It is important to understand your role in service for different organizations and realize that helping them in anyway is serving, even though it might have felt like free labor in today's situation. 

 CAMBA talked about how they work with the clients in order to get them back on the right track. This experience made me feel more positive and appreciative of the indirect service that people do. Service doesn't always need to be visible to the public, such as helping at a soup kitchen or rebuilding a house, but rather the things we complete that are not seen can often be some of the most important services. At first, it was hard to grasp that I wasn't directly helping the women in the shelter, but as time went on, I realized that what I was doing was benefiting the organization the most at that particular time. As you can see, I brought inaccurate assumptions to this site, and I quickly realized that I should shed that mindset very quickly. During this experience, I realized my strength of following direction and figuring out the most efficient way to complete the task. While taking down Christmas lights, I was given a tall ladder and was able to develop an efficient system for unraveling the lights from the tree and dropping them down to another volunteer to be put away. This system was a particular reason for why I had no trouble working with the other volunteers in our group because we each knew our role in the task. This collaborative effort allowed us to completely take down lights from 2 densely packed trees. My leadership skills were developed in this effort by taking an initiative to be on the ladder and control the pace of the task.

After my service experience at CAMBA, I learned many things about how to be an effective servant. First, I learned not to question the organization's role for you in service. We may not have been on the "front lines" directly helping those in need, but we were important in the fact of supporting CAMBA's mission and goals. Also, I learned that determining an efficient system will benefit and maximize your use in the service project. We created a miniature assembly line when storing books in the basement and cleaning up the paint room. In addition, I learned that bringing a positive attitude to any situation will not only benefit yourself, but it also will assist the organization. Listening to others and thinking about what I was doing is how I learned all of these important lessons. These lessons matter because they impact your life and the future service that you may do. If I can spread what I learned during this trip, I will have a great impact on those that surround me.

Overall, this was a great service experience to make you realize that not all service is going to be directly helping those in need. The "behind the scenes" services are just as important and critical to help the many organizations that are targeting the poor. Be appreciative of whatever you may be assigned to complete, and know that it is helping a greater cause.

-- Nate Zimmermann