Week 4

unfortunately, we are coming into week one of the blog during week four of the afternoon program and time is short, so you will just have to take my word for it that we have had a fantastic time.

i feared that a routine would never come, that each day would continue to be crazier than the last until it spun way beyond my ability to control it, but as we near the one month anniversary of the afternoon program i can feel us creating a rhythm as we get to know one another. the participants are a little calmer, the staff is a little saner, and we are still having as much fun as we did on day one.

monday, october 6- an experimentation with dance

first of all, we celebrated a 20th birthday with our very own Katie, the third birthday we've had since the afternoon program began. happy birthday, katie bell!

i have heard nothing but wonderful things from parents about a woman named trish, an ex-special education teacher who now teaches dance and music to people with disabilities. we have been in contact for the past two weeks and on monday we were finally able to have our first lesson with her. i was unsure of how everyone would like it after many claims of "i don't like to dance," even though i swear i've seen each of our friends dance like a crazy person at young life capernaum. it was a hit! jon galloped around the room and i believe i even saw s'latina, who swears to hate dancing, lift her arms during the ballet lesson. trish bravely agreed to come back next week so we'll see where that takes us!

tuesday, october 7- a change of plans and dealing with the weather

on the schedule for tuesday was a gardening project i was planning while we still had nice weather, even if it is a little late in the season to plant. two things changed this: one, we all woke up tuesday morning to torrential downpours and two, i got a call from alecia in the young life office saying that the recycling center we installed there was full and ready to be picked up! instead of gardening we had a lesson in recycling- how do we do it, why do we do it, and what actually happens when something gets recycled? we then went to the young life office donned with non-latex gloves and trash bags and proceeded to sort through the cardboard, paper, plastic, and aluminum. natalie broke down boxes while s'latina and michael learned the difference between corrugated cardboard and paper board. as a recycling nut, i've never been so proud!
the weather cooperated for a while and we took our newly sorted recycling over to the hillsboro recycling center to complete the process and took a great photo (shown above)!

wednesday, october 8- feed the children

we went back for our weekly visit to feed the children this wednesday, after a week off while they did inventory. as usual, everyone's focus waxed and waned, but we were able to tape and stack a few hundred boxes in the first hour and a half or so. after our break/snacktime, we went back and were able to pack hygiene products in the boxes we had just constructed. everyone is always excited about packing boxes because it gives us all a concrete picture of what we are actually doing for people. each box goes to a different family in need and we focus our attention on keeping track of how many boxes we've filled. this day we packed about 40 in 30 minutes- we were able to help 40 families! hardworking awards definitely went to stephanie and kristy.

thursday, october 9- life skills lesson: laundry

thursdays so far have been reserved for in the classroom instruction on different life skills areas. a few weeks ago we had a lesson on how to set the table and talked about good table manners, this week we learned how to sort, wash, dry and fold laundry! we started with an activity about sorting colors, using starbursts and m & m's which we ate afterwards (and during). we then moved on to actual clothes, sorted them, washed, dried, and folded them, and voila! my roommate claire has a full basket of newly cleaned clothes. as we practice these skills more and more we hope to translate them into community service, such as doing laundry for the homeless or for room at the inn which is hosted by hillsboro pres!

thanks everyone for a great week,

meaghan