(Re) Chic

Unfortunately, Hunger Action Month was a little bit of a bust last week.  I was sick for most of the end of last week and not only did I miss a day and a half of work, I was also out of town for a job interview with another VISTA position.   But, that does bring a point up about what its like to be hungry.  What do you do when you're sick?  If you're starving and you NEED to go to work...you're not staying home no matter how sick you are because you need that paycheck to eat.  I'm lucky enough to be salaried so that if I miss days I still get the same paycheck because of our sick day policy.  But hourly workers don't have that luxury.  What do you do?   So...is the workforce fair?  Does it discriminate against people who can't afford to miss days?  What do you think?

Once again my Hunger Action Month posts are written the week after they happen but its the Action not the post that counts right? My AmeriCorps*VISTA position has me working very closely with a food pantry/soup kitchen called Sugartree Ministries.   Sugartree Ministries serves over 1200 hot meals a week and touches approximately 500 people during its weekly grocery distribution.  As part of my position I am responsible for getting student volunteers over to Sugartree on a regular basis.   Saturday we celebrated the 9/11 Memorial Day of Service by hosting a clean-up project at Sugartree Ministries.  Usually when I plan projects like this I get about 6 girls and we do basic things like wipe down the tables and chairs and sweep in the kitchen before its time to go.   This Saturday I had 30 student volunteers!     Not only was it completely overwhelming to supervise 30 enthusiastic students who were more than happy to do the dirty work; ...

Awhile back I wrote a post about mow-less yards and then today I read an article in the Chicago Tribune Editorials about a great gardener who has turned his front yard into a garden and his neighbors complained!   I personally think turning your lawn into your own personal vegetable garden is a great idea.  Not only will you probably grow enough produce to feed you and your family and your neighbors you might even grow enough to share your bounty with a local food pantry!  And that of course, is the most important thing.   The garden beds I planted and tend (thanks to Verizon Telecommunications) as part of my VISTA position.   Tomorrow, September 1st marks the beginning of Hunger Action Month .  And as a VISTA focusing on poverty and food access this is an issue I deal with everyday.  So here is my pledge to you...ever loyal blog readers.   I, JessicaCRB , pledge to (through my work as a Grow Food, Grow Hope AmeriCorps VISTA) take ...

I was recently talking to one of my co-VISTAs about what it is like to supervise our Summer Associate volunteers.  Our Summer Associates are 10-week volunteers who signed up for our program and get a small stipend and education award when they complete 375 hours of service.  We supervise them and put them to work with the various projects that are involved in our program.   As we were talking about this she mentioned that she found it very difficult to delegate work to a Summer Associate because she was a perfectionist and therefore felt as if she would just re-do their work once they brought it back to her.  I found this point very interesting because I too, have difficulties delegating work not only because I want everything to be perfect but because I never want to make a Summer Associate feel that I am MAKING them do something that I would not do myself.   For example, I often bring the Summer Associates to Sugartree Ministries to do random work that...

I know that since my blog has moved to a new location a lot of my readers are new and haven't heard a whole lot about the huge new move in my life. I have started this week at Grow Food Grow Hope in Wilmington, OH. Grow Food Grow Hope is a Community Garden Initiative with 9 VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteers working to raise awareness of the benefits of backyard gardening and all the great things that happen when you have fresh produce at your disposal. For those of you who haven't heard we just won a HUGE grant from Tom's Of Maine where we get to spend $20,000 to work with this initiative. I believe all the great press happened because Sugartree , the food pantry and soup kitchen I will be working closely with, was featured on Rachael Ray where they completely redid the entire inside and basically made it look like a food network set. For Rachael Ray's trailer click here and of course check your local listings because it should be airing t...