Serving Our Neighborhood as a Community

      By neighborhood, I really mean the city of Atlanta. Yesterday, my housemates came to the Metro-Atlanta Furniture Bank to volunteer for a few hours. This is something we planned about a month ago. I wanted my housemates come visit my job and give them a taste of what I do at the Furniture Bank. They agreed to come this Saturday. The day turned out great besides a few mishaps. As a group we moved furniture, sorted mattresses, and built tables. It was hard manual labor. Something I believe we were missing in our community. We have spiritual direction, bible study, logistics, but what about service? This year is suppose to be about serving our neighborhood either that be our street or the entire city of Atlanta. I think working together in a more dynamic and engaging environment allows to form stronger bonds as community. We are living and serving together.
        As dwellers I think we to expand beyond our placements for serving others. We can always learn new things from volunteering at a different organization. We gain a new perspective on other ways of helping others. For example, some members of group work directly with the Homeless at the Outreach Center at First Presbyterian. They help people getting birth certificates, IDs, or food stamps. Our work day on Saturday gave them the opportunity to try to something different.

Greg, Sean, Ed, and Leslie building tables for clients.

Emily sweeping the floor in the warehouse.

This chair is part of a the fundraising auction the Furniture Bank is holding in March called Charish.

     

Working With Children

Even though I had experience working with kids before this year, I forgot how challenging it can be. As a club leader/tutor you have to establish boundaries early and be consistent. My first experience leading a club this year ending on a sour note. I didn't set rules early on and my kids took advantage of it. Throughout the club they constantly push my buttons. I should use more discipline. It's hard to discipline a child because you want to be the cool guy, the friend. In reality in order for my students to have good time, they needed rules. They needed a teacher not a friend. In my new club I'm trying to practice being a teacher,.  I decided to let them create the rules (with guidance from me) and have them sign it. Also, I'm a lot more firm in keeping the peace during club time. So far this club has gone a lot better than the previous one. I feel personally, they are getting more out of it.

Rest

These past few weeks, my life has gotten exceedingly busier. I've been working longer days and even some Saturdays. Outside work, I had spiritual direction, a community logistic meeting, and dinner with DOOR staff. In the last two weeks, it felt like I had no time for myself. Eventually it started to take a toll on my mind. I started to have anxiety. I became more frustrated with housemates and work. I started doubt the benefits of living in community. If these negative emotions were left unchecked, they could start to affect my relationship with others and my performance at work.

I needed a break. I was stuck in a rut and there hasn't been time to reflect. This weekend, I decided to take it easy. On Saturday I slept in until 11am. Afterwards, I went for a long walk in the city. Sunday, I went to the cemetery to draw. By the end of  today, I felt renewed. I'm not nearly as frustrated or anxious as I was earlier this week. I was surprised how good I felt. In two days my negatives emotions  that have been building up inside me melted away. I think this is probably one of the most important lessons I learned this year. You cannot be at your best if you don't take the time to relax.

This week,  I remembered to get a picture of  Kindezi. The building was originally Turner Middle School, but closed. The building is now home to Kindezi and KIPP Atlanta. KIPP is another school that works with middle and high school students.  I believe this is Kindezi's last year using the Turner building. Next year they are relocating, I am not sure where though. 

Volunteers And The Difference They Make

At the Furniture Bank, they asked me to coordinate volunteers on Monday nights and weekends. So far it has been an incredible experience and breaks up the monotony. However, recently I been thinking about the volunteers role in maintaining the Furniture Bank. More importantly, Do volunteers think their making a difference? This question came up when one of my housemates politely turned down my offer for the DOOR house to cleanup the Furniture Bank warehouse in February. In his eyes, he didn't think it was beneficial to the families that came to through the Furniture Bank. His response caught me off guard. I know the volunteers work is essential, but volunteers  it must be hard not to witness the fruits of their labor. They don't get to see how much easier for our clients to locate furniture they need after the warehouse is reorganized. Or the smiles in their faces when they come through the door and see a clean space. Also, the Furniture Bank is a small organization with about 8 people full time. We could not operate efficiently without volunteers. I try to say this the groups that come to the warehouse. Hopefully, they understand they have an essential role in our organization.

This is the inside of the warehouse. At the bottom left are the tables volunteers. Most of the tables will be gone by next week.

This is the mattress section of the warehouse. We currently have a steady stream of mattresses  being donated by original mattress factory. 

This is our workshop. Volunteers come in here and make the tables you see in the picture above.  

Let's Try This Again!

Alright the first time, I tried blogging it didn't work out so well. So this time I'm going to try to blog at least once a week. Instead writing a lot, my post it be pictures I took throughout the week. I believe pictures will tell you guys more about my time in Atlanta than me writing about it. Plus, I like photography!

Here are some pictures of my adventures so far!

Home Sweet Home in Grant Park!!! Grant Park is a transitional/gentrified neighborhood.  Living at Grant Park makes  DOOR Atlanta unique compared to other DOOR sites because our positions are not connected to the local neighborhood. Most of us work  all over Atlanta take a look at me for example, my positions are in Northwest Atlanta. 

First grade took a field trip to the Open Door Community. The Open Door is comprised of devoted  and compassionate individuals who give up their regular jobs to serve the homeless in Atlanta. 

A first grade class conducting a science experiment outside. 

Another class watching a documentary about Arctic wildlife. 

This is Dean Leeper, the principle of Kindezi Charter School. 

We're about a block away from Grant Park. It is really nice to have a big park close by , but if I need get away I go Oakland Cementery. Despite being a big park you feel your out of the city. It's really hard to find peace like at my former residence  

This Oakland Cemetery. Even though some people my find Oakland creepy, it
 has been sorta of a sanctuary for me. When I like to get away I come here and reflect.

This is a picture was taken from Oakland Cemetery. In the distance you can see the tall skyscrapers that makeup Atlanta's midtown. One the things that shock me the most moving to Atlanta is how big it is. I never thought there were large cities in the South. 

This is our local Pizza Place.

This month I'm leading a nature club at Kindezi. Most of the stuff will be doing  will take place here in Anderson Park.

In my next post, I will try to give you guys more of a glimpse of the Furniture Bank and Kindezi.  So Stay Tuned!!!!

During the summer I worked at Campbell Stone, a independent living for older folks. Even though it was a few months, my experience there was incredible. Here are a few pictures of my placement!

Residents helping out with a scavenger hunt!

A youth group moving a rug for a resident.

Line Dancing!

Summer in Atlanta

Before I started my service, I worked the DOOR discern program. Here are some pictures from the summer!

The Capital View house was where the discern staff stayed at during the weekends. 

   

The Summer Staff!!!!!