December 2007 Archives

Weekly Project Journal

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

My project was really rather boring this week: essentially all I did was file. Every time someone is re-certified, or joins the program, they have to fill out a form. This form then has to be processed by the people working there, and then all these forms make a really big pile. A volunteer (this week me) comes in and organizes them according to program (MACS or NAPS) and then by last name into huge folders. So yeah, fairly boring, but it needs to be done.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

Apparently they have a volunteer who regularly files, but they had back surgery so they hadn't been there in awhile - so they were behind; hence it felt like an endless job and I was nowhere near completion.

I really didn't learn much about the project itself this week, but I did learn something about myself: I don't ever want to file for hours on end. Ever. I like volunteering how I normally volunteer (because that's interaction with people) and it's a really good start into things, but I'm definitely capable of more than that and I learned that about myself; I want to help, yes, but I want to do more than just small tasks that help (kinda what we were talking about in class with Callings: I don't want to put on one bolt on the whole machine - I want to be designing the machine).

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

I'd give myself a B this week. I was pretty wiped out after chapter 2, so I wasn't really that focused on-site (however, how much focus does it really take to file?). But I was kinda tired and probably didn't work as quickly or as cheerfully as I should have. This week, I really don't feel like I accomplished to much regarding the objectives of the project or my personal goals (nothing I could really do though, I just work where they tell me to work), but I did learn some important things about myself.

Weekly Project Journal

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

This week was fairly similar to last - my routine really doesn't change that much: enter data, load food, and bag/organize food in loading area. Sadly, this Friday we ran out of extras. Everybody always gets their box of food, but they also typically hand out bread, dairy, and some sort of fruit or vegetable. Sadly, by about 11:30am on Friday they had run out of all the extras, only the boxes were left. Although people were disappointed, none of them got angry, which was nice - most still smiled, and said "Okay, no worries, not your fault".

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

I made a couple of new observations this week that I would like to investigate more. You really can't tell a person who is in need by their appearance; sometimes people look like they are poor and are in need (dirty clothes, missing teeth, beat-up cars, etc), but others you wouldn't be able to tell (dressed well, drive decent cars, well kept, etc). Maybe some can afford it more than others, maybe some put up more of an appearance than others - I don't really know.
A couple of other things were of note about the clients. Quite a few people who came in were overweight, which is interesting because the common assumption is that people don't have enough to eat. Although this requires more research, I'm assuming people are overweight because they're not eating nutritiously, since nutrition is one of the big points of SHH (especially for children, I think). Secondly, it's interesting because the proxies (people who are okayed by clients to pick up food for them) sometimes look very well off. To me, that's a comfort because it means people are getting out of the cycle of poverty. And, finally, it's funny because a lot of the seniors take extra (like chocolate milk) for their grandkids.
Regarding the volunteers, their approach to the distribution of goods is interesting. Two volunteers that work together give away as much as they possibly can to one person. It's different than what I do, which is to try to even it out - some to this, some to that - then more people can get them. Don't know which philosophy is better - maybe it really doesn't make a difference - don't know.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

Probably a B. I did my on-site work and everything, but due to the massive amount of work that I have due for other classes because of Thanksgiving break and opening of Into the Woods, I really haven't put a whole ton of time into it for Chapter 2 or additional research.

Weekly Project Journal

Each week of the project, student must submit a project journal entry. The journal entry consists of three parts:

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

Almost all of this week project time was spent on chapter two. I found articles, read and took notes on articles, made an outline, and wrote a paper. In addition, I went on-site this week. For the first time ever I did something different! Not too exciting though, just filing away papers in completely overcrowded folders by alphabetical last names.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

I learned a ton from my issue this week because of research. Through study I learned about the causes of poverty, the faces of hunger, the desire to end hunger, programs available (child, food stamps, and WIC) and their effectiveness, about organizations (different types, what they do), and additional steps and solutions for people from federal government to individuals to take.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

I would give myself an A this week. I've put a ton of time into chapter 2, and pulled an all nighter because this week has been so intense. I believe I am continuing to accomplish the objectives of the project, as I just completed chapter 2 - this also accomplishes personal objectives because I want to learn as much about the issue as I can.