Now that the project is mostly over, I feel satisfied with my work at PSP. It was a great week to finish up my volunteer work. I think I will volunteer here and there for the rest of the semester. What I really need to do is focus on contributing the curriculum. I feel that it would be something that would be so useful. So I think overall I have accomplished my objectives. I have learned a lot of things that have helped to shape my mind towards thinking about others before myself.
I guess in thinking about teaching volunteers how to tutor it makes me think about how I do service in general. Why do we do service? Do we need to be trained? What type of attitude and perspective should I have when I am tutoring a stubborn 2nd grader? People who respond to the needs of others are doing great service as opposed to those who are apathetic or unaware of the issue. We get comfortable thinking about ourselves. But to take it a step further, volunteers must be knowledgeable and must relate to those who are in need in a proper and effective manner.
Writing all that stuff made me realize that this stuff is really important. I am learning a lot by having to think about what this project is all about. It is important to me. Even though I stressed over it the whole week, I am glad that I am doing what I'm doing. I just have to keep working at it. I have learned that if I focus and work hard, this could do a lot of good. If I don't follow through with what I'm recommending, then I think that would be selfish. What I'm suggesting would be a great service to the tutoring program. I have the capability to do it, just gotta get it done. I used to think that this was all a pain in the butt, but it doesn't have to. It is a matter of perspective. I mean, I really am helping kids out, and if I put together this curriculum I would be helping out so much. But it wouldn't be me; it would be God's handiwork.
I haven't focused too much on the chapters and more so on thinking of the purpose and volunteering. I'm building some relationships with the other volunteers who mostly are U of M students. So I am slowly accomplishing my goals, even though I am procrastinating a little bit. My personal objectives are being accomplished because I really think that I am making a positive difference in the educational lives of the kids.
I learned that there are some very average kids that are really cool. The system that Chantel has going on works very well. The other volunteers are very good at good at assisting kids with work. I'm still concerned that I can't recommend anything to improve their setup. I've learned about the issue by realizing that these kids may not be able to achieve their full potential. However, the education program is important in changing that. It seems that PSP is a haven for getting some assistance.
By reading the articles, I acquired a very shallow understanding of the extreme complexities of homelessness. It is easy to think of a homeless person as lacking a house. But the homeless also lack a stable family, caring parents, a well rounded education, good and long-lasting friends, and other things. They face drug abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol abuse, depression, confusion, judgment, hatred, violence, misunderstanding, and fear. It is a sad complexity. These things are what the children and adult guests at PSP face. Now I ask myself, what do I do?
I guess I did alright. I would give myself a B-. Still need to work on it outside of class. But I've decided that the right attitude for this service project is not an attitude of self-righteousness. It's easy to go out and volunteer and then say, "Look at how I am helping people. Look at how much good I am accomplishing. I don't really want much recognition for what I do. The people I interact with do more for me than I do for them. My objectives are still kind of hazy. But personally it is impacting me. Sometimes I think that this project is not really accomplishing much. If I were to do have an internship position, I feel like I would give so much more to PSP. But that isn't necessary. The effort that I put into the project is what matters. I'm worried about doing a literature thing because I haven't even started to look at that stuff. It'll work out though. I feel junky for not doing well on Chapter 1. I guess it is reflective of my motivation and effort that I've put into this project. I don't even know. I'm having a hard time balancing out all of my roles and responsibilities right now and I am not doing that with huge success or effectiveness. Whatever.
I learned that it is important for me to just put as much of myself into those kids. What am I doing this for? I'm doing this not for myself but for children that are struggling. So I might as well give them as much help and joy as possible. By working with Shaun for two hours straight it really hit me that he might not receive help if I'm not there.
So starting off the project has gone overall well. I have to commute via metro transit to the site during rush hour. It takes me about 45 minutes to get there and 30 minutes to get back. The first night I was given a short overview of the tutoring program. There are about 6 tutors each night and about 10 kids that come in. The main responsibility is to aid in homework and to use the provided resources to build their academic skills. I have tutored a total of 3 kids and one of them (his name is Walter) I have tutored twice.
It was sort of overwhelming at the start. The kids are for the most part well-mannered and behaved. But its hard to get them to do homework and other skill-building activities when they were at school all day long and they just want to play games. I have mostly just played games with the kids. After the tutoring session we are to fill out a profile form for the tutoring session. This helps tutors that have returning kids by providing useful information about the child prior to the session. This last Wednesday I ate supper in the cafeteria at the site.
I feel like I'm not accomplishing much by tutoring these kids. I haven't been doing a good job of keeping them on task and I look at other tutors, and they seem to be doing well. Part of it is my inexperience with children. But I think I'm doing some good because I try to treat the kids with respect and I give them attention. One girl named Destiny came in and she didn't jive with homework. In everything, she was competing for my attention. She would get upset when I was helping Walt and not her. She would get upset when she did things the wrong way. But we sat down and made some crafts. I made here a paper card for her to take with her. Maybe she didn't think about it or realize it, but hopefully she felt loved by that card. Maybe she'll look at it in 10 years when she is having a bad day and it'll simply cheer her up.
Description of Project
People Serving People is an organization that helps people have the most basic needs of food and shelter. It exists to provide education, social, and life skill programs to people in need of them. They own and operate a ten story building in the downtown Minneapolis area. The facility which was constructed in 2002, provides a fully staffed dining facility, two libraries, classrooms and study areas, indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, a medical clinic, child care facilities, a laundry room, a computer lab, 99 separate shelter rooms and 10 two bedroom transitional apartments. The organization started to provide temporary shelter in 1982 for homeless men with chemical dependencies. It has now grown to serve thousands of families with shelter, food, and so much more.
