Frisbee Fling

So this week I really do not have anything to report in regard to my service learning at Bridgepointe.  Like I've said previously I most likely won't be going back to do any work there until Thanksgiving break so there isn't really much to say along the lines of that.

The editorial assignment turned out to be much easier than I thought it was going to be.  I was a little worried about it but once I sat down to actually write it the paper pretty much went together fairly easily.  That is as long as I did it correctly!  I'm more worried about the upcoming assignment: the digital poster.  I know we don't have to be extremely creative to get a good grade but I still feel as though I'm my poster is going to be TERRIBLE because I have no clue how to use the website we were given as a tool.  I'll do my best though and I'm sure it will all come together in the end.

On another note, I have some other actual service work news that I can share.  Since my sorority provides so much philanthropy opportunities I will be receiving some hours through that.  This week I've attended Delta Upsilon and Theta Chi's haunted houses which both benefit their philanthropies.  As for my own Greek organization, this week I've spent an hour total selling purple ribbons in Stewart Center in support for victims of domestic violence.  In addition to that, this Sunday is my sorority, Alpha Chi Omega's, philanthropy event, Frisbee Fling.  It's basically just a competition between fraternities that the girls in the sorority "coach."  All of the donations go to the YWCA to domestic violence victims so it's for a really great cause and it should be a lot of fun!

Meanwhile in Vincennes...

I could not be more happy to blog right now after the week I have just experienced.  Crazy exams in my three toughest classes and I could not be more glad that they are all over.  I am still working on exactly what I want to do with this editorial.  I've never actually written one before so it will be interesting for me in my attempts.  Anyhow, I received an email this week from my Bridgepointe, my place of service work.  It was really great to hear from them.  They were basically just thanking me for coming back this semester and for all of the time and service I've provided for them.  This was a really encouraging email and it made me think about our research paper and how it was about the main problem at Bridgepointe being a lack of consistency in volunteers.  Simple things like that email made me feel good about volunteering and would persuade me to keep coming back and helping even if it weren't required for a class.  This is really good because the facility is doing something for itself to help the problem that they have been experiencing with volunteers.  I then decided to send them our research paper because I'm sure that some of the employees were curious to see what had been written about the place that they work.  I hope they enjoy what we wrote and that it's helpful for them because we worked really hard on it!  I feel like the solutions we presented could be really beneficial to Bridgepointe.  If they took into account some of the tips we included in the paper about improving things for volunteers they could be keeping their volunteers for a really long time!  But other than that news I don't really have anything to report as far as recent volunteering, I won't be doing any more hours until Thanksgiving break.

Finally

Over my super exciting fall break I finally got to get some service work done.  So I now have completed my first six hours of service work!  And now I'll feel as though my blog is actually following the criteria.  Going to Bridgepointe wasn't very different from how it was last year.  Everyone was very welcoming and was glad to have me back.  The first thing I did was my very favorite thing: bowling on the Wii.  The residents absolutely love it and I will say they've gotten better since I have last been there.  They actually beat me a few times!  And I'm fairly sure that they will never let me forget it... Anyhow after playing on the Wii for a little over an hour I walked around with one of the nurses on duty and helped her pass out trays for lunch.  This is always an interesting process.  It is interesting because you always get one of the residents who will absolutely refuse to eat whatever is served because they "hate it" or they are 100% sure that whatever is being served is poisoned.  These bouts usually pass after a while and it is extremely hard not to laugh at.  The rest of my work was pretty boring.  I had to correctly stick labels on packaged equipment that is used in the facility.  This took HOURS and most of the time that I spent completing my work.  I would take periodic breaks to go out into the hallway and have conversations with some of the residents.  It was really nice to know that most of the residents recognized me and some of them even said they had missed me being around!  That certainly made me happy and I'm excited to go back.  More of my work probably won't be done until Thanksgiving but I look forward to going back!

Blog Schmog.

    Once again I haven't completed any service work yet for this class.  But I do have some bloggy thoughts to jot down here about other service opportunities I'm going to have throughout the semester besides Bridgepointe.  I'm part of  the Alpha Chi Omega sorority here at Purdue and we do a plethora of service work.  Eight hours of it is actually required as part of our membership.  We have a crazy amount of opportunities to do service work.  Our main goal at Alpha Chi Omega in regard to philanthropy is helping victims of domestic violence.  The event coming up pretty soon that I'll be participating in is called the Frisbee Fling.  It's basically an Ultimate Frisbee competition between the fraternities and all of the money is donated to the YWCA.  This and many other opportunities having to do with other greek houses will be presented to me throughout the semester and I'm really excited to get involved.  I'm going home this weekend for fall break so I'll most definitely be getting some hours out of that.  Then I will certainly have a lot more to report here and I won't look so incredibly lazy.

    What I'm really looking forward to about the service work I'll be doing over fall break is seeing some of the residents that I'm pretty familiar with.  One residents specifically comes to mind at the moment.  He is incredibly absent-minded but absolutely hilarious.  Ever day he wheels his way up to the main desk and asks me if he has any phone calls.  When I tell him no, he proceeds to ask me if he has any letters.  When I answer no yet again he asks, "How about telegrams? I haven't gotten one of those in a while!"  Needless to say, he is precious.  I really don't think I could ever forget him even though it's been so long since I've been to Bridgepointe.  I really do appreciate how each of the residents has their own unique personality and although I didn't have the BEST time volunteering in high school, I feel as though I'll have a pretty good time with it this time around.