I know, I know...
Feb. 18th, 2007 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rdwaynewrightDear LJ, I promise I'll post something substantial to you tomorrow or something. Yup. Been bogged down and sick this past week. I'm sleepy, so pardon the spelling and grammatical mistakes.
I will say that today my Young Heroes were awesome. We covered the topic of homelessness and they really got it! I'm so proud of them. :-} Our service in the morning was to collect canned goods, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and monetary donations at several local Superfresh grocery stores.
I went out with my team and another Team Leader and her team. The kids had their YH shirts on and they handed out flyers outside and throughout the stores, so shoppers could buy a donation and then drop it off in the box after check-out. The toothbrushes and toothpaste when to kids at Help Philadelphia, which I believe is a shelter for homeless families. They really needed stuff for the children there. The food went to Philabundance, the largest food bank in Philadelphia. We weren't expecting shoppers to give money, but we weren't about to say no to it. At the end of our teams' service shifts, the money was counted up and the kids were each able to choose one canned good to buy for the donation box.
One of my kids even used some of her own money to buy a can of soup. Normally, we don't let them spend money on YH Saturdays, but I'm not going to yell at her for truly getting in the spirit of things! Another commendation should go to another one of my kids and a YH from my fellow Team Leader's team. These two young ladies borrowed our (the City Year corps members- myself and our point person) Red CY jackets for their outdoors flyering so that they would look more legitimate. They were talking up anyone and everyone on the corner and coming into the store. So determined!
One more thing, my favorite kid EVER was spectacular with flyering and managing the donation box. OMG, if anyone tells you that middle schoolers are rotten, they're lying. They haven't seen my Young Heroes because my kids are abfab!
Some shoppers were pretty rude to them (I hate people who are rude to children who don't deserve it- pisses me off to no end) and I made sure to make such instances into teachable moments. I asked my kids to imagine how a homeless person must feel when they ask for food or change and people ignore them, look at them as if they're a nuisance, or respond rudely? Ten times worse, no? They got it.
Now, I've never been rude or thought of the homeless as a nuisance, but I know that I've been guilty of just walking by and pretending I don't see them. I hate myself when I do that. Today also helped me to remember that the homeless are people, just like you and I. I like to think that I always view the homeless as such, but I know that very often there's a disconnect. It's me and "them." That's not right and I'm happy to be reminded to check my thinking.
It was awesome that some of the stereotypes that my Young Heroes held were totally broken down by the end of the day. Not all homeless people are crazy. Not all homeless people are homeless by choice- most of them aren't. A HUGE percentage of the homeless are children.
I could go on, but I really just wanted to say how proud I am of my Young Heroes!
I will say that today my Young Heroes were awesome. We covered the topic of homelessness and they really got it! I'm so proud of them. :-} Our service in the morning was to collect canned goods, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and monetary donations at several local Superfresh grocery stores.
I went out with my team and another Team Leader and her team. The kids had their YH shirts on and they handed out flyers outside and throughout the stores, so shoppers could buy a donation and then drop it off in the box after check-out. The toothbrushes and toothpaste when to kids at Help Philadelphia, which I believe is a shelter for homeless families. They really needed stuff for the children there. The food went to Philabundance, the largest food bank in Philadelphia. We weren't expecting shoppers to give money, but we weren't about to say no to it. At the end of our teams' service shifts, the money was counted up and the kids were each able to choose one canned good to buy for the donation box.
One of my kids even used some of her own money to buy a can of soup. Normally, we don't let them spend money on YH Saturdays, but I'm not going to yell at her for truly getting in the spirit of things! Another commendation should go to another one of my kids and a YH from my fellow Team Leader's team. These two young ladies borrowed our (the City Year corps members- myself and our point person) Red CY jackets for their outdoors flyering so that they would look more legitimate. They were talking up anyone and everyone on the corner and coming into the store. So determined!
One more thing, my favorite kid EVER was spectacular with flyering and managing the donation box. OMG, if anyone tells you that middle schoolers are rotten, they're lying. They haven't seen my Young Heroes because my kids are abfab!
Some shoppers were pretty rude to them (I hate people who are rude to children who don't deserve it- pisses me off to no end) and I made sure to make such instances into teachable moments. I asked my kids to imagine how a homeless person must feel when they ask for food or change and people ignore them, look at them as if they're a nuisance, or respond rudely? Ten times worse, no? They got it.
Now, I've never been rude or thought of the homeless as a nuisance, but I know that I've been guilty of just walking by and pretending I don't see them. I hate myself when I do that. Today also helped me to remember that the homeless are people, just like you and I. I like to think that I always view the homeless as such, but I know that very often there's a disconnect. It's me and "them." That's not right and I'm happy to be reminded to check my thinking.
It was awesome that some of the stereotypes that my Young Heroes held were totally broken down by the end of the day. Not all homeless people are crazy. Not all homeless people are homeless by choice- most of them aren't. A HUGE percentage of the homeless are children.
I could go on, but I really just wanted to say how proud I am of my Young Heroes!
