After Sixth Visit

After Sixth Visit:

After my sixth time with the Taft kids it had gotten a lot easier to work with them. I have been able to really get to individually know each of the kids and their strengths and weaknesses. Having the ability to really have a connection with each of the kids makes the experience overall much more enjoyable. They are more accommodating with us because they know that if they misbehave we won't be happy and get angry and if they are good they know they will get to play games and have fun with us. They now are much less timid around us and get excited when they come to Menlo because they are more comfortable.

I have really loved getting to see them grow. For example there is one girl named Jennifer that was very timid at first. She kept to herself and it was very hard to get her to talk to me. Over the past few weeks I have been able to get her to open up to me. I joke around with her and try to talk to her about things she likes to make her more comfortable with me. It feels great to know how far she has come from the beginning when she would slowly walk into class without any enthusiasm, trying to not look at me to where we are now where she runs up and gives me a hug whenever she sees me. I can now really get her to open up about what she doesn't understand in class and with her homework to help her get better. I’m excited to keep working with them and see how much more they will grow.

After Third Visit

For my PACT project I am helping at the Taft Tutoring Program at Menlo. Fourth and fifth grade kids from Taft school come to Menlo once a week. It is a little bit intimidating at first when they show up because the kids are all either running around uncontrollably or look very unhappy to be there. Ever since the beginning of the program, it has gotten easier to control or related to the kids. The reason the kids are mostly in this program is because they are falling behind in their math classes. This is either because they are timid and quiet about not understanding and really don't have much confidence in the subject or because they don't pay attention in class and are not able to understand the material for the homework. When they come to Menlo I get to interact with them and see where they are. Some of the kids actually are great at all the math and just need a little push of confidence, but some kids really struggle. This is a challenge because a lot of the time the kids that are confused convince themselves that they are terrible at math and completely unable to do it, and the fact that the kids that were able to finish their homework are running around and getting to have fun doesn't help very much.

There was one boy named Aiden that especially was having trouble. We could barely get him to sit still and even try one problem. All he wanted to do was play games and hangout with his friends. He was very unmotivated to even try to do his math and kept saying that this was because there was no point and he was terrible at it. I tried many times to get him to work on his homework, but he just wouldn't cooperate. Finally I found a way to get him focused and engaged by making a math tic tac toe game. Since he liked playing games so much he really enjoyed this. Playing interesting math games that I made up for him really made him become so much more confident in himself.

It can be hard to balance the spectrum of the ability of all the kids, but the more we see them and the more I get to make one on one relationships with them, the easier it gets to understand what they are going through and how I can help them improve. I love getting to know them and see their understanding, and enthusiasm grow each visit.

InnVisionShelter Network

Group Discussion (Post-Service)

The Sincoff advocacy went to InnVision Shelter Network in San  Mateo.  We did various activities, including making sandwiches and brownies for the clients, as well as tidying outdoor and common areas. Our favorite parts were organizing the kids’ toys and playing with some of the kids, because it made us feel like we really had a personal impact. Our biggest takeaway was learning how life is like outside of the “Menlo bubble”, and examining the differences in our lives versus theirs. One woman was living in the shelter, with five children, and as a single mother, and her story of survival was a fascinating departure from what happens in our own local cultures. We did feel that we had an impact on the shelter, because the people living in the shelter appreciate even the smallest services we can give them, knowing what it’s like to have nothing. What surprised us was the fact that we saw mostly women with children, and not many men or fathers. We were also surprised at how clean and safe the shelter felt, and how it really did feel like a community. We don’t feel that we found anything new about ourselves, because it is hard to discover new things about yourself in four hours while simply doing monotonous labor, and not interacting with the people themselves. Because we didn’t have much interaction with the people themselves, we didn’t find ourselves emotionally connecting to the shelter or having prominent emotional reactions. Some possible actions Menlo kids could do to help alleviate homelessness and hunger would be:

1. Donating uneaten bagged lunches from field trips and during Knight School.
2. A Knight School course based on hands-on community service.
3. Regular, non-mandatory school-organized service days on Saturday mornings.

Díaz-Ross Advo - "HOPTEL Experience"

Joss & Díaz-Ross Advocacy at Hoptel - Let they day begin with some planting

Our Day at Hoptel...

We got a chance to improve the quality of life of several veterans who were down on their luck, and help make their experience with the Hoptel just a little bit more pleasant.

Our favorite part was talking to a couple of the veterans staying in the Hoptel while cleaning. They seemed to have nothing but positive attitudes about the rest of their life and were very appreciative of all the help they were receiving.

Our biggest takeaway was that a small act can make a big difference. Our main jobs were to plant in the garden, cook, and clean around Hoptel. Although these seem like minor tasks, we saw how happy it made the veterans and all the Hoptel staff just to see something nice, like green plants and a clean room. Small and seemingly insignificant acts are so important because they can change a person’s attitude and outlook on life, helping to raise their spirits.

In the future we will continue to work with veterans and those in need and try to improve their standards of living by performing small and large acts.

Takeaways from the Day

"People expect a homeless person to be dirty and unmotivated. Many people do not realize that even with a minimum wage job, it is extremely difficult to meet your daily needs. Many homeless people are actually hard working, but do not have the opportunity to make enough money to survive."

It was easier to see that homeless people aren’t stereotypical hobos and that anyone can be homeless, no matter what they look like.

People deserve, even if they are homeless, a nice place to stay and a recognition of their self worth.


All it takes is a few motivated people to change the quality of someone’s life


The environment that people live in really affect their willingness to rise above their problems and take initiative.

The veteran’s Hoptel looks different than you would expect because it is nicer and cleaner than many would think.

The Hoptel gives people hope and a place that they can feel welcome, even if they don’t have a real place to stay.

The people that staff the Hoptel are extremely generous and spend a lot of time caring for veterans.

Many people expect that once you become homeless, you will be trapped in the cycle. However, as we learned from the manager of the veteran’s Hoptel, it is possible to get back up and start a good life if you work hard and get a little help on the way.

Díaz-Ross Advo HOPTEL & Homelessness

Innvision Network - HOPTEL

Many veterans face depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, unemployment, poverty. Also many of them live in places where access to medical services is difficult to obtain. After military members get discharged, many of them face financial difficulties.

• The VA will have to accommodate more vets as the Pentagon shrinks the number of troops serving over the next several years.

• 6.9% of vets face challenges getting a job meaning that 246,000 vets are out of work.
• 13% of vets are homeless.
• More than 25% of the homeless people in San Francisco have served in the military.

Local problem veterans face:

• california has one of the highest numbers of veterans living in it (950,000-1,795,255)
• the majority of homeless veterans are single males who live in urban areas, often suffering from mental illness, alcohol and/or substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders
• about 1.4 million other veterans are living at risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard "
• 69,334 veterans living in Santa Clara County, 7,631 are homeless
• New York has 64,060 homeless people
• 74% of all veterans are homeless in Santa Clara County

Articles and videos

• http://online.wsj.com/articles/obama-signs-veterans-affairs-overhaul-bill-1407431281
• http://www.ivsn.org/benefit-breakfast-2014-photos-and-videos/
• http://www.49ers.com/news/article-2/49ers-Halloween-at-InnVision-Shelter-Network/9f24118b-dae6-441b-b7c4-2796922e8879
• http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/ptsd.php (What is PTSD)

Another organization that works to combat the problem

http://www.va.gov/homeless/nonvaresources.asp

http://nchv.org/index.php/about/

Linford/Minning Advocacy at Boys and Girls Club

Playing with the oobleck, we saw the kids exercise their critical thinking skills and creativity.”

 

“I enjoyed the smiles coming to their faces as we played with them” -PJ

“The best part was their reactions not the actual activities!” Freya

“The experience emphasized the importance of human connections” - Jamie

Kids can be educated from a young age, so kids morals and mindsets develop at a young age - it is essential to their future” -Freya

If you’re not engaged, they won’t be engaged” -Tom

“It depended on the relationship, so even if you make an effort, some kids are harder to connect with” -Claire

“I just tried to be nice to him, but he kept saying how much he hated me” -Timmy

My partner said she hits teachers” -Chloe

I learned that throughout the day, patience was a key in the classroom.” -Chloe

This wasn’t really an academic thing. It was more about giving these kids lifeskills and tool to use in their future” -Amanda

Many of the kids at risk are just normal kids” -Jason

It is likely that without us, these kids would be sitting at home watching TV. -Group

STUBBS ADVO

                  

We got a chance to work at St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room. The group got to do numerous jobs around the kitchen, such as preparing the food, serving it to the people, sorting donated food and silverware, and helping distribute groceries.

Our favorite part was serving the food to the people who really needed it. Seeing the gratitude and thanks on their faces really made the whole experience worthwhile and fun.

Our biggest takeaway was that a lot of effort goes into preparing meals for so many people. Things like organizing silverware, sorting through vegetables, and preparing the food in general all play an equally huge role in making the consumers satisfied and getting the job done.

Through all of the different tasks that everyone did, we were able to provide nice meals for over 300 people. At the time, it seemed like what we were doing was either random or ineffective, but later we did get to see how our work paid off. We got to immediately see the gratitude on the peoples faces, so we knew that what we were doing at the time was greatly appreciated by those people because we were helping them get a free meal.

I was surprised by how happy I got when I saw the smiles on people’s faces when I gave them food, and even when they just said thanks. The fact that I was making somebody’s hard life a little bit  easier made me feel accomplished and happy that I was helping so many people out.

Throughout the day, I felt increasingly uncomfortable about revealing where I lived or what my socioeconomic was. I felt that if this was revealed, people might look and interact with me differently and I didn’t want to be judged by how much money I had.

One thing we can continue to do is work at soup kitchens to continue feeding people who need it. An issue that we previously discussed was the distribution of food, and how there really is enough food to feed the entire world, so everyone gets fed. If we continue to work with these organizations who help feed the hungry, we will be able to help alleviate the issue of hunger in our local community.

THE STUBBS ADVO