To begin our adventures for the morning, the 13 of us piled into our ramshackle vans to manage the "Stork Nest Store" as part of a sorority organization designed to help pregnant women prepare for the birth of their soon to be newborns by providing monthly classes on infant care and a store for which baby apparel can be earned through points of attendance... (orrrr so we thought). Turns out, when we arrived, we were directed to sit in on the class being taught and were only asked to help make lunch boxes for the women enrolled. All of us were caught off guard when the amount of volunteer work we actually did while we were there totaled to about 16.8 seconds, but all of us agreed in reflection later in the evening that this still served as a great opportunity for us to see the kinds of people that take advantage of the programs Columbia offers to help the lower class women, as well as be able to discuss how effective or not effective their methods of teaching were.
After a quick make-shift picnic in the back of the vans of the sorority's parking lot, our group split up so that half of us went to a local middle school to help tutor kids in a program designed to assist "at risk" students for dropping out of school and the other half helped the March of Dimes organization sort through their crammed and disorganized office space.
I (Kathryn) was part of the group who went to the middle school just a few miles down the road from the Stork's Nest Store. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Shelly, a woman who was in charge of a significantly sized case study for a group of about 30 students that met the qualifications for being drop-out risks. She explained that these students met at least one of the "at risk" criteria, which consisted of being lower class, coming from single parent households, having already failed previous classes, or being pregnant, etc. Shelly informed us that she recently had a pregnancy scare with one of her students that was only in seventh grade (as you can imagine, we all silently gasped at this reality). The six of us split up by twos into different classrooms that held the after school tutoring program, and helped students with their homework or relieved their curiosity of what college life consists of. Afterwards, many of us relayed to each other what the different classroom experiences were like, and in reflection we discovered patterns of behavior both from the students and the attitudes of the administrators. We all agreed the children were respectful of us because we took the time to acknowledge their individual needs and personalities--well, as much as we picked up on in the two hours we spent with them, anyway. We also agreed that the teachers working with the students seemed worn out, frustrated, and overwhelmed with the not so perfectly behaved adolescents, and therefore failed to give them the patience these children desperately yet so simply needed. When it was time for them to go home, several of the children asked if we could come back again, and it was difficult to explain that we may not be able to. When reflecting on the experience, we concluded as a group that long term service is crucial in situations that deal with children and the benefits that come with building interpersonal relationships with them. In answering the question, "Well, what can we do?", looking for schools around Prince George County with similar programs as the one we experienced today will allow us to continue serving public health programs and promoting social change in underprivileged schools which both directly and indirectly intertwines with health care status.
WHEWW! ...break.
I (Rachel) went to the March of Dimes office. Our group had the unique experience of getting to see the behind the scenes work of a major non-profit organization. After working with smaller organizations funded by March of Dimes for the past several days, it felt good to work with the organization that has helped all of these local programs. We got a brief introduction to what type of work March of Dimes did as well as the different type of fundraisers they held. We learned that the name March of Dimes was originated from the organization's fight to find a cure for the biggest health problem at the time, polio. They were the only non-profit organization that was able to achieve their original goal. After tackling polio, March of Dimes moved on to fighting the second biggest health problem, premature babies. They are still currently working to educate and inform women and their families of ways to reduce the risk of giving birth prematurely. At the office we were divided up to help organize their disheveled and cluttered office. Through cleaning out offices and closets, organizing shelves, and entering data into computers we all got to see exactly how much help March of Dimes provides to local programs, as well as how hard they work to fundraise. We learned that their annual March for Babies alone raised $129 million dollars last year! After leaving the March of Dimes office feeling accomplished we headed back home. On the way we discovered a little Chihuahua roaming aimlessly through the neighborhood. We presumed his name to be taco since it was the only name he responded to. We chased him around calling his name and attempting to lure him towards us with food. After be growled at and and driving around the neighborhood in circles like crazy people, one of our group members decided to jump out and ask neighborhood kids if they knew who the little dog belonged to. After scaring the kids by driving around in our creepy white van, they told us they would take care of it and we headed home. In reflection we discussed that although we weren't doing direct service, it still was nice to help out an organization that is helping so many other people. It was obvious to all of us that any work we could do for them was well deserved. It was nice to get a glimpse into all the hard work this organization puts in, in order to provide grants to a multitude of other local programs.
All in all, it was another successful and eventful day that challenged our flexibility, creativity, and work ethic. Together we are taking small steps to create the social change that will undoubtedly create a ripple effect amongst South Carolina and hopefully spread throughout the nation.
Thank you patient readers for listening to our novel!
Kathryn & Rachel = )
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