Hi guys!
For those of you who are spending some time with your charities during the holiday break, please feel free to comment/post on this blog! I'd love to hear about it before you even start writing your research paper-- also, I am sure your classmates would LOVE to read what you have been spending your time doing at your charity locations!
Hope to hear from you all soon!
I spent eight hours today volunteering at the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in Paramus. My mother works there as a secretary, so I'm very familiar with the place, and I've volunteered there many times before during holidays. Today, as part of the holiday season and the upcoming new year, I helped workers assist the veterans with their meals, activities, and I also sat down with some of the old war heroes. I interviewed one man in particular who had been a police officer for 30 years. He gave me valuable information about the finances of the organization, the overhead rate, the transparency of their website, and much more. After that, I sat down and listened to his stories of being stationed during peace time while in the US Navy. It was a day well spent.
ReplyDeleteMike Samlall
Wow Mike! I am so glad to hear how hard you worked to help out there. I am glad you were able to talk to some of the people too.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Can't wait to hear everyone's stories as time goes on! Kudos to you!
On Christmas, my friend and I spent 6 hours volunteering at a soup kitchen called Homeless Solutions. Homeless Solutions is where people make food for people who need food. Before my friend and I left, we baked 100 cupcakes to give to the needy. After handing out the cupcakes, my friend and I helped clean up the kitchen and then we went to read to the children. We read "The Night Before Christmas" and "A Christmas Carol." We both had a great time!
ReplyDeleteWow Heli! That sounds so rewarding! So glad you were able to brighten up the day of some people who may have needed it. Can't wait to read your paper!
ReplyDeleteLast Saturday I went to volunteer at my charity, Claws. It is an organization that helps find homes for animals. Their main office in Bergenfield is extremely small and there were a lot of volunteers there. There was not much to do but play with the cats and hope a few of them would be adopted. Although I did not do much I had a chance to get to the know the people there and hear their stories about the animals they have fostered and how they found out about the charity. I had a great time meeting these people and learning a lot about how this charity works.
ReplyDeleteThis past Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), I picked up and left my house by 6:20am to volunteer for my charity, Table to Table. I drove to the Paramus Park Mall where I met one of the longest working drivers (11 year participant) for Table to Table, Edgar Brieva. The two of us went from town to town, super market to super market, to pick up tons of produce, meats, dairy, packaged food, and dry goods. In a single 6 hour day, we managed to deliver 4,300 lbs of food for two separate foundations in need (Mount Moriah and Williams Chapel located in Paterson, NJ) who are only blocks apart. I had a great time helping Edgar and learned a tremendous amount of information aside from what Table to Table has to offer.
ReplyDeleteLast Saturday I spent time at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside. I made the 45 minute drive on the turnpike and got there around 8:30am. I was the only newcomer volunteer. Everyone else had helped out before. I got to meet several of the people in charge, all of whom where really nice and humorous. As the volunteer groups were separated, I was given my job assignment. I was assigned to the food sorting section. I had to take out food items from their containers that were damaged in shipping and pack them into new boxes. Cereal and snacks had to be packaged separately. The new boxes then had to stacked on creates. I was confused at first, but after a while things made more sense to me. After the shift was over, the person in charge of the volunteers talked to everyone. He told everyone how pleased he was and how he was impressed to see everyone working together. He told us that it is great to see how regular people can take time out of their day and help those who are less fortunate. He also said that at any time, he could loose his job and become one of the people who needs donations from the food bank. This really made me think and realize how important volunteering actually is. I am glad that I made the trip and gave up some of my time to people that needed help.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how proud I am of you guys. Here I am so sick, and you guys are out there plugging away. Reading your posts has cheered me immensely. I hope to be in on Monday. Keep the blog posts coming!!
ReplyDeleteThis past Saturday I volunteered for my charity, Jersey Battered Women's Service. This organization helps women, children, and men affected by domestic violence. Since February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention month, I assisted by creating many stickers with hearts on them. Every heart had a different design on them and they are meant to be worn on people's sleeves. As we were drawing and decorating the stickers, I had a chance to speak to Kim, the person in charge of the volunteer program. She became involved with JBWS because a family member passed away due to domestic violence. Kim was very fun to work with because although something bad happened to her family member, she is very motivated to make the lives of other people better. Saturday was fun!
ReplyDeleteProud of you! Glad you had a rewarding time!
ReplyDeleteThis past Sunday I volunteered for my charity, The Salvation Army. This organization helps the homeless, seniors citizens, and anyone who needs help. Since most of the donations made are private there is no restrictions that stops this organization from helping someone in need. I volunteered at the Soup Kitchen from 12:30 to 1 because that's the time it's open. It was one of the most rewarding and memorable experiences of my life. I am looking forward to going back there maybe next time with friends.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Niz! That's what it's all about!
ReplyDeleteThis past Thursday, Feb. 3rd, I volunteered at Gilda's Club of Northern New Jersey. Gilda's Club is a support group for people suffering from or affected by cancer. I helped out with "Noogieland", which is a group for young kids affected by cancer. I really enjoyed talking and interacting with the kids. Overall it was a great and memorable experience. - Dylan Martello
ReplyDeleteWow, Dylan. Very happy to hear what you did. Looking forward to hearing and learning even more. Kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteI volunteered for the Rotary Foundation this past Monday and Tuesday. The first day we went to Gibbs Elementary school and the second day we went to Berkley school. We handed out Webster Dictionaries to each student of the 3rd grade in both school. It was fun to see their reactions when they were looking through the dictionaries and how excited they were.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been great! See you soon and we'll talk more about it!
ReplyDeleteOn January 24th, i went to the CJ Foundation for SIDS at the hackensack university medical center. It is a foundation dedicated in funding research for sudden infant deaths. I helped send out letters to families who lost their baby and learned a lot about the history and staff. I loved volunteering there and doing something to help
ReplyDeleteJanuary 22nd, 2011; the day I officially became a part of an organization called Habitat for Humanity.
ReplyDeleteOn a cold Saturday morning I grabbed a Caramel Frappe and made my way to Garfield, NJ; where the volunteering site was located. With all the enthusiastic spirit, I started my day by painting the hallway of a newly built house for a single parent with 5 children and one of the child was pregnant while she was just 15. By the time I finished painting a wall I realized that unlike most of the organization who helps these kind of people just by giving money wasn't practical. But Habitat for Humanities would actually build a legitimate house to live in with all the safety facilities which also made me pick this organization.
Chit-chatting with Chris, the site supervisor, we came across many valuable information regarding the financial transparency of the organization. Giving a finishing touch to every corner of the room we ended our conversation to have our lunch. As soon as we finished out lunch we got back to work where now I had to make the walls even by filling the wood holes using putty. I had a wonderful time experiencing and now I feel like I'm one of them. Hence, it was a day well spent.
Impressive Sam! Really proud of you...oh, and good job singing today!
ReplyDeleteToday I was finally able to volunteer for my charity, the American Cancer Society. The society itself is spread out all over the world, but, after many calls, I was able to find a local office to do some work. It's close by in Hackensack. My "supervisor" was Jessica Gaeta. She is in charge of all the events the American Cancer Society holds, such as Relay for Life. Our school is actually participating in Relay for Life this year. It's basically a huge overnight event that has teams, games, and activities in order to support cancer victims. I helped with putting together folders for the team captains of this event. I'm going back tomorrow after school for another 2 hours as well. Jessica told me she'd probably have me do some computer work in their office to further organize the Relay for Life.
ReplyDeleteGood job, Neri! I hope you felt like it was time well spent! I'm sure they really needed and appreciated your help. Tell Mrs. Mackey because she is the head of the Relay for Life at NMHS!
ReplyDeleteI spent my time last week at the Adler Aphasia Center, volunteering and gaining knowledge about the center's cause. I got a orientation/day guide by communication coach Ginette and began my day in the cafe, helping those in the cafe with aphasia with little tasks, but more importantly talking with them. As we sat down for coffee I got to chat with the members of the center: they were not as "disabled" as I thought. I realized that they were just normal people before, but had suffered an incident in their life that had changed them completely and handicapped them. Their intellect was normal, but their communication was just blocked. I followed a small schedule to one of the programs they suggested: the Wii room. Not only did I get to assist them in their play, but they invited me to play too! The support in the room for each other was heart-warming. I then followed my next schedule to the Cooking program at the center. I didn't help with the cooking as much since the members took over, so I just helped around the counter with things here and there (and drank a lot of tea too). I left a little after lunch break, but the experience was inspiring. I did have a great time talking to the people there and hopefully I'll visit the place in the near future again because it really was a happy experience that opened my eyes. -KaKr Shoda
ReplyDeleteOn February 4th I left school early to drive an hour away to Longranch, NJ Ronald McDonald House. When I arrived I put my sauce and meatballs on the stove, and stearted to boil the water. The stoves were electric, and took extremely long to heat up, giving me time to tour the house. It was so whimsical and beautiful, truly a home away from home. When dinner was finished, families swarmed in from hospitals, and 12 people fully ate the HUGE meal I had made. Everyone thanked me, and they truly appreciated what I had done. I left feeling so good about myself, that I decided to make dinner for the house at least twice a month. If it wasnt so far away, I would do it every night. I love the Ronald McDonald House!
ReplyDeleteLast week, I went into Zoe's Cupcake Cafe in Teaneck. This Cafe is the main fundraiser for the non-profit organization, Zoe's Place Inc. I went in and interviewed Mrs. Jane Fiedler, who was one of the founders of the organization and helps run it as well. The charity was founded in 2003 and helps teenage mothers. Their main purpose is to provide housing for teen moms in a house being built in Garfield. This house will hold 5 teenagers and their children to help get their lives together. The organization gives the mothers a chance to get an education. In addition to fundraising, the Cupcake Cafe also guarantees a job for any teenage mother to get the work experience. Zoe's Place isn't promoting teenage pregnancies, but trying to give aid to the helpless mothers who can't support themselves. After spending my time with Mrs. Fiedler, I thought everything the organization does to help these innocent teenagers is great! After leaving there, I went striaght home, and all I wanted to do was write my research paper. (the cupcakes were also AWESOME!) :)
ReplyDeleteShoda, Crysta and Patille: You have inspired ME!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read all about your charities!
Thanks for being so welcoming and willing to the assignment!