It would seem that health care is the theme of the day.
As I write this post, President Obama is addressing Congress and the nation on health care reform. Because I am an AmeriCorps*VISTA member, this isn't the place for political endorsements or campaigning. Yet, like millions of Americans, and politicians on both sides of the Congressional aisle, I can recognize that the system we have now isn't working. Putting the particular details of health care reform plans aside, we can all agree that a solution is in order. Health care is, in fact, a human right. Write and call your Congressional representatives to remind them of that.
But health care reform is empty without an improvement in health care quality. This morning, Meredith, Alex, and I attended an event called Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality, which addressed that very issue. And I'll be honest, a lot of what they discussed went over my non-medical head. A layman's translation would have been helpful! Still, the gist of the forum was clear: doctors, hospital administrators, insurance companies, and politicians all have an obligation to provide access to quality, affordable care to all Americans.
Taylor and I are lucky to have health coverage for the time being--Taylor's through his parents and mine through AmeriCorps. But we're getting married in March, and I won't be serving as a VISTA forever. One year from now, what will our health insurance coverage look like? Can we guarantee that we'll have employers who offer a quality health insurance package? Can we even guarantee we'll have full-time jobs with decent wages to cover our expenses?
The health care reform bill working its way through Congress is more than just a rhetorical debate. Real people's lives are at stake. Speaking for myself, I hope our president and policymakers will get it together to get this thing done.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
High-Mileage Maintenance
Today I learned an important lesson in routine maintenance.
With all of the miles I've traveled for VISTA activities, it was time for my car to get an oil change. I took the car in today after work, and as I waited for my car to be serviced, one of the mechanics asked me to select which oil change I wanted. I was surprised to find so many options for this seemingly simple task.
"High mileage oil?" I said. I didn't know what it was, but Taylor had prepped me for this question, and this was the answer we had rehearsed. I later discovered that it is a special oil treatment to help cars with over 75,000 miles run more efficiently. The treatment cost a little more than the regular oil change, but because my car has over 120,000 miles, I was willing to pay the extra amount for a little more preventative care.
So what did I learn from this experience?
It's important for all of us to invest in some regular maintenance of our own. We VISTAs have some pretty "high-mileage" positions ourselves. I don't know about you, but I've been on-the-go for quite a few weeks now, which has affected my regular daily routine. For instance, waking up at 6:30 a.m. has been a major shock to my system, but not as big of an adjustment as getting to bed before 11 p.m. every night. Then with little energy left at the end of a long day, it is easy to crash in front of the TV or computer and snack, which has resulted in a little weight gain since beginning my year of service a few months ago. I wasn't running marathons before beginning my stint as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, but I certainly wasn't this sluggish either. I've let the demands of this position get the better of me, so it's time for a tune-up!
This week, Taylor and I started a new health regimen. We're getting active in the evenings by taking walks together and improving our flexibility and muscle tone through Pilates and weight training. We're also encouraging each other to monitor our snacking. Even with a fridge stocked with healthy food, we've still got to watch our portion size and calorie intake!
I'm recognizing the importance of self-care now before it's too late. It makes total sense to invest a little extra effort to maintain our vehicles, why not ourselves?
So to all the VISTAs, social services professionals, and anyone else out there reading this post tonight--please take care of yourselves! Stay active, eat right, and get enough rest because you deserve the best.
Ugh, no one deserves cheesy rhymes, though. My apologies.
With all of the miles I've traveled for VISTA activities, it was time for my car to get an oil change. I took the car in today after work, and as I waited for my car to be serviced, one of the mechanics asked me to select which oil change I wanted. I was surprised to find so many options for this seemingly simple task.
"High mileage oil?" I said. I didn't know what it was, but Taylor had prepped me for this question, and this was the answer we had rehearsed. I later discovered that it is a special oil treatment to help cars with over 75,000 miles run more efficiently. The treatment cost a little more than the regular oil change, but because my car has over 120,000 miles, I was willing to pay the extra amount for a little more preventative care.
So what did I learn from this experience?
It's important for all of us to invest in some regular maintenance of our own. We VISTAs have some pretty "high-mileage" positions ourselves. I don't know about you, but I've been on-the-go for quite a few weeks now, which has affected my regular daily routine. For instance, waking up at 6:30 a.m. has been a major shock to my system, but not as big of an adjustment as getting to bed before 11 p.m. every night. Then with little energy left at the end of a long day, it is easy to crash in front of the TV or computer and snack, which has resulted in a little weight gain since beginning my year of service a few months ago. I wasn't running marathons before beginning my stint as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, but I certainly wasn't this sluggish either. I've let the demands of this position get the better of me, so it's time for a tune-up!
This week, Taylor and I started a new health regimen. We're getting active in the evenings by taking walks together and improving our flexibility and muscle tone through Pilates and weight training. We're also encouraging each other to monitor our snacking. Even with a fridge stocked with healthy food, we've still got to watch our portion size and calorie intake!
I'm recognizing the importance of self-care now before it's too late. It makes total sense to invest a little extra effort to maintain our vehicles, why not ourselves?
So to all the VISTAs, social services professionals, and anyone else out there reading this post tonight--please take care of yourselves! Stay active, eat right, and get enough rest because you deserve the best.
Ugh, no one deserves cheesy rhymes, though. My apologies.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Gus the Bus R Us
Note: the following story is rather silly. I should also note that this story, in all its ridiculous glory, is entirely true. Enjoy.
Earlier this week, Holli (the Special Projects Manager at Shared Harvest) approached me about a country club in Warren County who is holding a food drive and in need of a barrel pick-up. Their food drive ends on Monday, September 7th, but they had already filled one barrel and wanted it collected a little early. I nervously orchestrated the pick-up with Holli and marked my calendar for Thursday, Sept. 3rd at 10:00 a.m.
After a few minutes we were back on the road and it was Alex's turn to drive. It seemed like we had to merge about a thousand times, but we made it back safe and sound. Once back at Shared Harvest, we weighed the load and discovered that the country club had collected 130 lbs of food. Not bad! We could handle this!
Oh and one more thing. In case you're wondering about the title, Alex and I named the "van." Yeah--his name is now Gus the Bus. We figure that if everyone else misnames the truck as "van," we should get to call it whatever we want too, hence: Gus the Bus.
Earlier this week, Holli (the Special Projects Manager at Shared Harvest) approached me about a country club in Warren County who is holding a food drive and in need of a barrel pick-up. Their food drive ends on Monday, September 7th, but they had already filled one barrel and wanted it collected a little early. I nervously orchestrated the pick-up with Holli and marked my calendar for Thursday, Sept. 3rd at 10:00 a.m.
On Tuesday afternoon, Meredith confirmed that Alex would also be working on the Holiday Food Drive this year. We will be working together to recruit more organizations to hold food drives AND to pick up and drop off barrels for food collection. Whew! What a relief to know that I would always have a partner and friend along with me on these excursions.
Later in the day, Holli taught me the basics of using the Shared Harvest "van" for food drive deliveries. For some reason, everyone around here calls this vehicle a van. Does this look like a van to you?
I've driven a few vans in my time, and this is no van. This is a truck. It doesn't require a CDL to drive, but that small detail didn't comfort Alex or me much. We envisioned ourselves causing mile-long back-ups as we steered the big box down the highway. We envisioned Tina saying, "We're not mad, we just want to know why the van is in pieces." When Meredith told us stories from her days driving the van as a VISTA, our nervousness increased further. Suddenly the thought of completing simple tasks like "backing up" and "parking" made my stomach rumble, no matter how much anyone reassured us that we would be "fine." Ha.
On Thursday morning, I brought Alex up to speed on the details of the spreadsheets, databases, and policies with the food drive. As hard as we tried to focus on other work, we spent our first hour and a half biting our nails and watching the clock. Finally, at 9:00 a.m. we couldn't avoid it any longer--it was time to hit the road. By this point, the entire office knew about our upcoming adventure and wished us luck as we marched into the warehouse, van keys in hand. Darrell helped us load a two-wheel dolly, 7 empty banana boxes, and a forklift palette into the back of the "van." Take a look at the picture of our loading process.
You'll notice the cart, the stack of banana boxes which we were to load the food into, and the shiny thing in Alex's hand. What is it? The handle for the van's back door. I know what you're thinking, and no, we didn't break it! It was already broken. Seriously. So to open the door we have to jimmy the handle into a hole where the handle used to be, twist, and lift the door. When we're finished, we close the door, pull out the handle, and store it up front with us in the cabin. Hey, it works for us! Besides, no one ever said working for a non-profit was glamorous.
We agreed that I would drive there and Alex would drive home, just so we could both get familiar with the "van." I carefully backed up inch by inch, but I quickly realized that I could not rely so heavily on the rear view mirror for these trips. First of all, there was no rear view mirror, and even if there was one, it would do no good to reflect the big box behind us. This was going to be interesting.
Next we had to make it down the driveway. This seems simple enough, oh, except for the gigantic potholes and crumbling asphalt on the path standing between us and the street. The following is a sampling of the sounds you would have heard, had you been anywhere near the van as we descended the driveway:
Next we had to make it down the driveway. This seems simple enough, oh, except for the gigantic potholes and crumbling asphalt on the path standing between us and the street. The following is a sampling of the sounds you would have heard, had you been anywhere near the van as we descended the driveway:
"Ooo, ooo, whoa, AH!, okay okay, eeee....oof! *bang*pow* Uh-oh. Hahaha it's fine, it's fine
, we're alright *pop*crack* ahh!!"
, we're alright *pop*crack* ahh!!"The rest of the drive sounded a lot like that as we hit bumps in the road and merged in and out of traffic. This is the visual version of that:
(I'm sure my father, who works as a real truck driver, is very proud.)
We pulled into the country club about half an hour later. I didn't even attempt to maneuver into a parking space--but 3 spaces seemed to suffice. We walked into the reception area and brightly greeted the woman sitting behind the desk. She pointed us toward a barrel near the entrance, which we expected to contain dozens of tasty treasures brimming near the top. However, we found quite the opposite: one lonely jar of peanut butter and a bag of cookie mix sitting all the way at the bottom of the barrel. We looked at the receptionist quizzically, then at the food, then at each other, then back to the receptionist and asked: "Is this it?"
She smiled and said, "Yep!" I considered asking her why in the world we had just taken the joy ride of our lives to pick up these two measly food items. Instead we smiled, stifled our incredulous giggles, and patiently asked one more time if she was sure there were no other barrels marked for pick-up. "Nope, that's it!" Alex and I exchanged one more glance, then leaned into the barrel and carried our goods out to the "van." We opened the back door, placed the two items in one of our seven boxes, and prepared for the trip home.
Before we could make it to the interstate, though, we agreed that we should probably double check with our contact person at the golf course to make sure we weren't missing anything. We'd hate to return back to Shared Harvest with only two items--how would you explain that? Sure enough, there was an entire other barrel stashed in a nearby closet, so we turned around and went back to pick it up. We shared a laugh with the receptionist, who was clearly as clueless as we were, and started loading the food into our boxes.
After a few minutes we were back on the road and it was Alex's turn to drive. It seemed like we had to merge about a thousand times, but we made it back safe and sound. Once back at Shared Harvest, we weighed the load and discovered that the country club had collected 130 lbs of food. Not bad! We could handle this!Oh and one more thing. In case you're wondering about the title, Alex and I named the "van." Yeah--his name is now Gus the Bus. We figure that if everyone else misnames the truck as "van," we should get to call it whatever we want too, hence: Gus the Bus.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
OBB Conference
With just under 24 work hours logged in the past two days, this week has been a bit of a blur! On Tuesday at the end of the work day, Alex and I piled our stuff into my car and took off for the 2nd Annual Ohio Benefit Bank Conference in Columbus.
The conference was for anyone affiliated with the Ohio Benefit Bank: The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Soluntions for Progress (the program software designers), VISTA Leaders, AmeriCorps*VISTA members, AmeriCorps State members, HarvestCorps members, counselors from OBB sites around the state--everyone!
Wednesday was the first day of the conference, which began with a presentation by Joel Berg, the keynote speaker. Mr. Berg previously served in senior executive service positions in the USDA under the Clinton administration, and currently works as the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. Clearly, he knows his stuff! In his book, All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?, Mr. Berg discusses poverty and hunger and offers real solutions to these problems. In yesterday's presentation, he compared poverty to other national problems this country has faced and solved in the past. He talked about cholera, yellow fever, and malaria, and how all were solved by the actions of government. He linked poverty to these problems by claiming that if government were to take enough thoughtful, deliberate action, the war on poverty could finally be won in this country. His argument was compelling, and I look forward to reading his book, which all conference participants received free of charge.
The conference was for anyone affiliated with the Ohio Benefit Bank: The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Soluntions for Progress (the program software designers), VISTA Leaders, AmeriCorps*VISTA members, AmeriCorps State members, HarvestCorps members, counselors from OBB sites around the state--everyone!
Wednesday was the first day of the conference, which began with a presentation by Joel Berg, the keynote speaker. Mr. Berg previously served in senior executive service positions in the USDA under the Clinton administration, and currently works as the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. Clearly, he knows his stuff! In his book, All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?, Mr. Berg discusses poverty and hunger and offers real solutions to these problems. In yesterday's presentation, he compared poverty to other national problems this country has faced and solved in the past. He talked about cholera, yellow fever, and malaria, and how all were solved by the actions of government. He linked poverty to these problems by claiming that if government were to take enough thoughtful, deliberate action, the war on poverty could finally be won in this country. His argument was compelling, and I look forward to reading his book, which all conference participants received free of charge.
Thanks to OASHF and my new friends at Solutions for Progress (hi Chris--thanks for reading!), a special "pro" module of the Benefit Bank is now available to help people fill out social security disability applications. To use this version of the software, counselors must receive special training and have extensive knowledge of the OBB, as well as an existing professional responsibility to help clients apply for social security programs. These counselors are known as "SSI Ohio Specialists," and in my region, they can be found at the FreeStore Foodbank in Cincinnati and the Samaritan Clinic in Dayton.
The module was launched in July, and I really can't say enough about just how positive this pilot program is for Ohio citizens. As you know, I have studied both the Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance programs, and what I found was no secret: the social security system is a bureaucratic mess. To further affirm this, Jason told us yesterday that only 28% of SSA disability applications are approved on initial submission, and with an extensive appeal process, it can take YEARS to get a final decision on one's benefits.
To make matters worse, the applications for these programs are long and involved, requiring a lot of paperwork for proof of income, assets, and disability. The application process can serve as a major barrier to anyone applying for benefits, but it can be especially burdensome for individuals with multiple disabilities, individuals who are homeless, and individuals who have a hard time keeping their papers organized. To put it simply, accessing SSI/SSDI applications via the Ohio Benefit Bank is a wonderful thing.
The rest of the conference consisted of: a brief visit with other VISTA members, lunch with OBB counselors from my region, two sessions on grant-writing, a regional briefing with Meredith, and a two-hour trip home. Overall, it was an exhausting, but positively educational experience and I am happy to have been a part of it!
P.S.--Stay tuned for our ridiculous adventure driving the Shared Harvest "van" to pick up food drive donations today. You don't want to miss this!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Holiday Food Drive
It's September 1st, so you know what that means...it's Holiday Food Drive time! Okay not quite, but it's increasingly on our minds now as we approach the fall/winter months. Officially, any food drives conducted between October 1st and December 31st are considered Holiday Aid.
One of my second quarter goals is to work with Shared Harvest Foodbank staff and volunteers to coordinate the Holiday Aid Food Drive. I met with Holli yesterday to talk about what that entails. In the coming months, we will start fielding more and more calls for groups requesting help in launching their food drives. I learned how to process these calls and how to enter information into the food drive database on the Shared Harvest server. Soon I'll be dropping off and picking up barrels full of food with each agency conducting a food drive. I'll be doing this in Shared Harvest's big box truck (which everyone calls a van, but let me tell you, this is no van! It's huge!) Holli and I are working on syncing up our Outlook calendars to better coordinate this effort.
Another task with the holiday food drive will be to recruit more agencies, groups, churches, schools, etc. to host food drives this year. There are already a ton of groups who have donated in the past, so finding new places should be fun but challenging. If you are in the Butler County area and are interested in hosting a food drive for the holiday season, let me know! And if you don't live in the Butler County area, I hope you'll still host a food drive at your church, school, place of employment, etc. for your local foodbank. In these economic times, foodbanks and pantries all around the country are serving more people than ever, and they could use your help!
Yesterday, Tina was brainstorming slogans for the posters and fliers that groups can use to advertise the food drive, and I forget what exactly she came up with, but it was something along these lines: "Do what you can, give what you can--donate today." That pretty much says it all.
One of my second quarter goals is to work with Shared Harvest Foodbank staff and volunteers to coordinate the Holiday Aid Food Drive. I met with Holli yesterday to talk about what that entails. In the coming months, we will start fielding more and more calls for groups requesting help in launching their food drives. I learned how to process these calls and how to enter information into the food drive database on the Shared Harvest server. Soon I'll be dropping off and picking up barrels full of food with each agency conducting a food drive. I'll be doing this in Shared Harvest's big box truck (which everyone calls a van, but let me tell you, this is no van! It's huge!) Holli and I are working on syncing up our Outlook calendars to better coordinate this effort.
Another task with the holiday food drive will be to recruit more agencies, groups, churches, schools, etc. to host food drives this year. There are already a ton of groups who have donated in the past, so finding new places should be fun but challenging. If you are in the Butler County area and are interested in hosting a food drive for the holiday season, let me know! And if you don't live in the Butler County area, I hope you'll still host a food drive at your church, school, place of employment, etc. for your local foodbank. In these economic times, foodbanks and pantries all around the country are serving more people than ever, and they could use your help!
Yesterday, Tina was brainstorming slogans for the posters and fliers that groups can use to advertise the food drive, and I forget what exactly she came up with, but it was something along these lines: "Do what you can, give what you can--donate today." That pretty much says it all.
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