Washington Parks and People

I am coming up on my second month volunteering and for the most part all of my experiences have been positive. I have felt a connection to the mission of each organization that I have helped and usually leave with a new perspective on life. I signed up to volunteer with Washington Parks and People to help clean up and refurbish  Marvin Gaye Community Park in DC. First of all let me say that I am familiar with the area where the assignment was but I still manged to get lost trying to find the freaking place! I lived less than 10 minutes away from that park for a good portion of my life but I still found a way to get lost! 
Most of the places I have volunteered at thus far  have had clear markers and signs so that you could not miss where the event was happening. Even though an address was provided for where exactly the event would be, the park was abnormally empty, which I thought was a bad sign.

The park itself is really big and is segmented along Foote street in Northeast, DC. I think I spent a good 20 minutes riding around the area trying to find out where I was supposed to be.  After circling the area like a fool a couple of times someone flagged me down and asked me if I was there to volunteer. After I parked my car and signed the volunteer form, I waited and waited and waited for the volunteer representative to show up to guide me to the site where the other volunteers where. When he did show up he seemed pre-occupied because he was speaking on his cell phone. When he finally did get off of his cell phone he informed me that only two volunteers had showed up and they were organizing a tool shed somewhere in the park. Apparently not enough volunteers showed up to complete the other events that they had scheduled, so he basically let me know there was nothing else for me to do.

Of course I was disappointed : ( .  According to group the sign up sheet for DC Cares, a total of 7 volunteers were scheduled to help clean up to the park in the first place. Only 3 volunteers showed up, which did not look so great. On the other hand I am not too sure the event organizer (cell phone man, lol) had everything ready for the event in the first place. I mean who turns away a volunteer who is willing to help out your cause. It only takes one man to make a change! After my experience at this event I feel less inclined to volunteer again with WPAP.

* On a final note I intend on volunteering somewhere else this month or early next month to make up for this event mishap. I am scheduled to volunteer to feed the homeless at Loaves and Fishes in DC this Sunday and I hope everything goes well. I have also found a willing participant to go with me, aka my niece Tyti of community service to. She needs to complete a certain number of hours to graduate from high school next year, so she will be tagging along with me during some of my adventures. 

Casey Trees

I began the search for my next chapter in my new mission shortly after I decided to volunteer at the CAFB. I ran across the assignment for Casey Trees and thought it sounded awesome. I am not really an "outdoors" kind of girl and I never planted a tree before, so I signed up and made my merry way to the city. The morning of April 30 rolled around and I actually contemplated not going. I was partially suffering from a of lingering bout with food poison from an particular franchise sub shop that shall remain nameless!  None the less, I arrived 40 minutes late to the site of the planting.  When I arrived everyone was already in action digging soil and planting trees.  I stopped by the registration table and spoke to a representative from the organization and apologized for being late. He was just happy that I showed up to help out at all. His thought was better late than never. There were other volunteers who showed up an hour later than I did which made me feel allot better, lol. The instructor gave me a short instructional information session about the tree planting process, the organization and it's impact on the DC metropolitan area.

Through my discussion with the Casey Tree's instructor, I found out that the organization is committed to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the nation's capital.  To fulfill it's mission, Casey Trees plants trees, engages thousands of volunteers of all ages in tree planting and care, provides year-round continuing education courses, monitors the city's tree canopy, develops interactive online tree tools and works with elected officials, developers and community groups to protect and care for existing trees and to encourage them to add new ones. As of late I have noticed the amount of trees that are cut down and replaced with mini-malls, office buildings, condos or houses across the DC Area.  It great to know that someone cares about replacing at least some of the trees that we loose in the process of all the urban sprawl.

While at Congress Heights Community Park, I learned about the safe keeping of various planting tools, trees the organization plants and how to plant a tree . We rolled out the tree we intended on planting and dug a whole 2-3 times the width, depth and height of the root bulb (i.e-the round sack of roots at the bottom of the tree).  We placed all the soil we dug up on a tarp and once the hole was complete we put the tree inside. I got to use this really awesome tool to cut the wires and burlap that surrounded  the root bulb but I was more excited about getting to use a pick-axe to break the ground for the next tree we were planting! After we placed the tree in the hole we covered it with the soil we originally dug up and tied each side for the tree together to make sure it remains stable. The process sounds quite simple but it can be labor intensive at least to me, lol...

I think I was most impressed with the fact that the organization returns to each of it's planting sites to maintain the trees that it has planted. During the summer they hire a bunch of college and high school students to assist with caring, maintaining, and watering each tree site.

*Check out the pictures of the tree planting below
Pictures of Congress Heights Tree Planting

Why Should I Help Out?

Just the other day, I was asked a couple of questions about volunteering by some friends and family members that I thought were important to respond to.  I was specifically asked “Why should I volunteer and how does volunteering impact the community?”

Too much complaining not enough action:

Way too often, I hear people complaining about the state of things in America and the community they live in. We all hear the grumblings about the terrible state of the economy and the number of people without jobs.  Americans that were in the position to donate cash, food, and supplies to homeless shelters and soup kitchens are now those in need.  There have been a record number of home foreclosures and an increase in the number of individuals who are either homeless or rely on some kind of assistance to provide food, clothes and shelter for their family. There are “too many drug addicts roaming the neighborhood, drug dealers on the corner, misguided kids in gangs or in jail etc… The problem is that everyone expects the police, teachers, churches and the government to solve the America’s problems, which is a starting point but it is often not enough. It only takes one man to effect change so start with yourself.

Disproportionate needs in the minority community:

Around the second time I volunteered I began to notice a couple of things. Most of the individuals who were volunteering to feed the homeless, tutor inner city kids or plant trees in Southeast, Washington, DC did not look like me at all. This confused me because most of the impact areas we were reaching out to were in urban areas. These areas are filled with minorities but we were often not the ones giving back.  I love that people of all races are giving back to the community all around them but my hope is that more African American's will began to reach out and make a positive impact on those their own community.

Giving Back Impacts Your World:

Being a part of a couple of service projects in the DC area has really opened up my eyes. I realized how much I have taken for granted and begin to think of different ways volunteering has impacted my community. The newly planted trees, playground and vegetable garden in my neighborhood park were more than likely the result of a dedicated group of volunteers.  The after school tutoring programs for inner city kids and poverty to work programs that prepare those in low income areas for the workplace are often staffed with volunteers.

The Captial Area Food Bank

The zeal I had for my new found passion was quite evident to all those around me. I really tried to reel some of my friends and family into my new quest but alas… nobody would join me.  I think the way things panned out was for the best anyway.  I look at this as an opportunity to grow, get out of my comfort zone and embrace new experiences in life. I can’t honestly think of the last time I said to myself “this is the first time I have done something”.  With all that being said, I am happy to report that I am one month closer to my goal. I actually completed my first day as a volunteer at the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB), which I later discovered was quite close The Catholic University of America. 

 On April 2, 2011, I rolled out of bed and reviewed the information about my first assignment. I also reviewed exactly what the CAFB was all about.  The CAFB is  the largest, nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington Metropolitan area.  Their mission is to help feed DC area residents who are facing or at risk of hunger. The CAFB also works to educate, empower and enlighten the community about the issues of hunger and nutrition. Once I had grasp of it's mission I set out to my destination.One a side note, I was initially the most nervous about getting lost and not making it to the CAFB on time. My closest friends and family know that I don’t have the best since of direction when it comes to driving around the city, lol….. To my surprise I actually arrived early, so I sat in my car and drank my coffee until my volunteer shift began.  I walked in feeling kind of lost and afraid but was quickly pointed in the right direction by a weekend volunteer leader at the warehouse.  They asked if I came with a group or individually and then when I mentioned DC Cares, they led me to my group leader and team.

While waiting for further instruction from the warehouse volunteers, I found out more about the CAFB Brown Bag Program. The CAFB uses their Brown Bag Program to educate the community about the importance of healthy diets and provides senior citizens in low-income housing with monthly bags of food and educational information on nutrition in 34 different locations in the DC area. They also provide temporary food assistance to other low income residents around DC. The warehouse volunteer leader informed us as a group that over the next three hours, we would be packing and sorting food that would be distributed to various low income residents in the area. During my time in the warehouse I broke down the palettes that contained food and organized and packed it the food into bags. Each bag contained food for three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and even a snack. The whole process was done as a group in one big assembly line which I thought was cool. I got a chance to chat up some very cool people and gain a new prospective  on the plight of the hungry in DC.

*On a final note about an hour into my session the whole warehouse was informed that the CAFB would be shooting a video of the volunteer process at their DC warehouse. The camera crew took pictures of us in action on the food assembly line as well as filmed the process as a whole. First of all, I thought this was hilarious because out of all the days I choose to help out, a camera crew shows up! Second of all I looked all kinds of crazy and beat down because I figured nobody would care or see me anyway, ha!

Finding The Taget

Ok, so I made the decision to volunteer and that sounds great but where do I begin? At one point I googled volunteer opportunites in the DC metro area which provided me with tons of results to say that least. Maybe there were too many options for me to choose from or maybe my ADD kicked in as I sifted through the tons of choices before me but I gave up on my search at that point.  While reading an article on the Washington Post's website about ways to meet new people in my area I heard about a non-profit called Greater DC Cares. DC Cares mobilizes volunteers and strengthens nonprofits to better impact communities and the key issues in the Greater DC Region. Greater DC Cares works with a network of more than 800 nonprofits, 32,000 volunteers and a host of corporate and foundation partners working together to positively impact the region. The website was just awsome and it helped me narrow my focus (this is in no way shape or form a subliminal "hook" or advertisement like they put out on Twitter). I think I appreciated how organized the website was because I am not the most organized or detailed person at times. It helped target my interests so that I can help feed the homeless or work with abused pets if that was my choice, instead of handing out "save the trees" flyers in the middle of DC in 90 degree heat, lol......

If You Want to Change the World Be That Change

Years after high school and two degree's later I finally get it. If you want to change the world you have to be that change. My initial interest in volunteering was sparked a couple of years ago while I was in graduate school. Two years after I completed my graduate degree I found myself wondering what was next. I had alot of time on my hands for the first time in years and nothing to do. As corny as it sounds I looked back on my young life and all that I had accomplished and felt the need to give back somehow. I was finally in a place where I saw the world for what it was. It was full of people and problems screaming for help. So I decided that I should stop waiting on the world to change and do something about it. At the beginning of this year I decided to start volunteering twice a month for six months in various places doing various things to reach out and help the community around me and plant that seed that was in my heart for years. Thus my journey has began :  )