Volunteer week - MEND

For my volunteer assignment I voulenteerd at MEND in the San Fernando Valley. I brought clothes from my closet that I did not wear anymore and that didn't fit me, some shoes, jackets, and a umbrella. I took my box of donations down and volunteered sorting clothes and electronics for most of my afternoon. MEND has impacted so many families in such a posititve way it even blessed my own grandparents.

My families history with MEND dates back to the Sylmar Earthquake back in 1971. My mother and my grandmother were making food early in the morning for their family. Being in the kitchen when the Earthquake hit they were exposed to the shattering of all their plates and glasses. My grandparents were poor imigrants who came from Mexico for better opporunity in America raising 5 children and sacrificed to send them to private catholic schools for a better education. Ultimately they could not afford to replace all their damaged plates due to their financial inability. 

My mother and her siblings ate off of paper plates and paper cups for a few months in the aftermath of the earthquake until MEND donated boxes full of mismatched plates and glass cups. 

Week 7- Community Service

So I complete misinterpreted this assignment I thought we had to find a location to volunteer at by this point not complete it.  I do still plan to complete my original idea which is to volunteer at the Santa Clarita Community Center to gain an avenue to in turn complete my final project which would involve the children of this community center.  However I didn't wasn't to come empty handed so I started thinking about what I could talk about. I came up with this, My girlfriend is a occupational therapist and treats children with special needs. Raising a child is hard enough and consumes all parents time already, raising a child with special needs makes that task even harder due to the child's complications. Every year her out patient clinic offers a "parent night out" which provides a free four hour open gym(not for treatment more like a special needs daycare) in which all parents that have children that are seen by the therapists at the clinic can come drop there kids off, all of them, those seen and other children they have, to allow them a break and a special night for themselves. All of which is of no charge which to put into perspective a half hour section with a therapist costs in the hundreds of dollars.  Because there are only so many therapists and there are SOOO many kids they ask for friends and family that are good with children to come out and lend a hand.  I have no clinical training in this other than what I received as an EMT when I was a firefighter so my sole occupation in this situation was a play toy. Which might I add was awesome. I feel that me volunteering was more of a learning platform for me than what I could provide for the kids. What I mean by this is that for me to be able to communicate with these kids I have to find a way to engage them on there level. It was like a practice of explain an idea for a design 50 different ways but coming to the same conclusion. It made me think outside the box in how to relate to someone with a different perspective. Also I love playing with these kids they are wacky. And when the parents come back they look so rejuvenated that it makes the whole thing worth while.

Week Seven - Community Service

While there are plenty of things someone can volunteer for just in the nearby community, sometimes finding those opportunities are the hardest part of volunteering your time. For me, ironically, it kinda just plopped into my life and I said yes. As I was recently the lighting programmer for The Hendrix Project that went up in the E407 space, a class of stage managers asked if they could come in and mess around with our rig to see what it is like to call a show or be a board-op. So, I diligently walked them through the basics of the rig and what everything does and how we are controlling it for this show in particular. Then we moved on to calling the show which involved 3 full runs of the show from top to bottom. All in all, it was kinda fun to spend a Friday with these new SM students and introducing them to different ways of running a show or calling it especially for this one since it was completely music.

Volunteer Service

Due to working on two shows since break I have not been able to volunteer my time outside of the school.  Although I have not been able to leave CalArts I have been trying to volunteer my time at school when I can.  I have spent numerous hours helping my peers with their productions and shows and I will be volunteering my time this weekend in the Lund to help a friend with their dance piece.  Since I cannot really talk about my service this month I thought I would reflect on past volunteering I have done.  Every summer I spend a month and a half working for a non-profit theater company called Young People’s Theater Project.  I volunteer my time to help teach kids about technical direction, lighting, and theater overall.  This program helps kids get exposed to the arts and to participate in something bigger then themselves.  Along with this non-profit, I participate in food drives around the holidays.  During these food drives I help canvas for food and deliver it to families in need.

volunteering

I did not get a chance to volunteer before the due date but I am helping a friend out in the Lund this weekend with their production.  I have done quite a few different volunteer work in the past though and figured I could just reflect on one of those.  During high school I volunteered with a program called Portland Junior Scientists (PJS) a couple times each week.  This was a program that was started by students at my high school in which after school we would go to less privileged areas and teach middle school kids some science experiments.  This was a way for us to get kids excited about science and other activities that they may not be exposed to or have the chance to do given their circumstances.  I would volunteer at two or three schools each week but would sometimes go to more schools if someone couldn't make it that week. It was really cool to connect with my community, some of these schools were right near my house, and to get young minds excited about science considering most of these schools didn't have the budget to offer decent science classes.  Overall it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun reaching out to my community.

Volunteering

I had a bit of trouble holding to some of my volunteering obligations over the last few weeks. I have already been involved in a few organizations for some time, and drop in to give my time when I can. I'm writing about them briefly incase anyone is interested in becoming involved. This includes donating platelets to the UCLA blood and platelet donation center. Donating platelets is actually about a 1.5-2 hour process due to interviewing and then the actual donation. This is a  bit different from giving blood, as platelets donations are used within 3 days of donation. You can donate every 7 days, as the amount you donate regenerates in your body roughly after 24 hours. Unfortunately, I was not well enough this month to donate. (There's something going around CalArts..) The other opportunity I try to take advantage of is at the Gentle Barn. This is a non profit animal rescue that takes in abused animals and gives them a second chance at life. These animals are used to help at risk children in the community, and is open to visitors every week. I had the privilege of visiting over the summer when my family, who are super hard core animal lovers/vegans. I absolutely fell in love with the animals and the cause, and filled an application to become a volunteer. Volunteers are needed Sundays when the sanctuary is open to visitors. Volunteers often rely the animal's stories and show people how to properly interact with the animals. This unfortunately didn't work with my schedule during our assignment block.

So instead of working with a cause I'm usually involved in, I found an opportunity on campus. I ran into a grad student at Tatum who was in a bit of distress trying to design his recital posters. He had a really amazing idea for his posters he wasn't sure how to execute. I went ahead and met with him, and decided to put in the time to gather the supplies he needed, design the poster, and construct them, and help put them around campus.  In the end, it was a small thing in the grander big picture, but it really meant a lot to him. It relieved him of a lot of stress as he was putting together the music, trying to find work for after graduation, and other issues. It was just nice to do something for someone in the community who really needed some support.

Volunteer Experience

For my volunteer work I was lucky enough to aid a friend with her passion as well as one of my own. I went with my roommate Madeline Quint to the Shelter Hope Pet Shop to volunteer for a day. The Shelter Hope Pet Shop is a 'non profit volunteer based pet shop that showcases animals available for in store adoption'. Madeline is training to be a professional dog trainer and last semester adopted a female German Shepard who was previously heated and abused whilst living on the streets. When I saw how Madeline was able to help the dog that is now our beloved roommate and give her a new life, I was inspired to help animals myself.

I sent in an application online. When I took a year out after high school I spent three months working at an anti-bullying charity in London called 'The Diana Award'. There I was able to further learn computer skills and data entry as well as recruitment for the charity. Thus I was put to work using my skills to fill in data about the new dogs in the shelter and their background. Later in the day I filed documentation about the dogs. Some of the stories were heartbreaking. When Madeline took me to meet the dogs it was wonderful to see that they were in such a loving environment away from the people who neglected and abused them.

It was a very fulfilling day and I felt incredibly inspired and motivated to carry on working with the planet, we all deserve compassion.