Saturday, March 26, 2011

Layers

Service—leading to lasting change—has a multitude of layers and approaches to success. I could go into a Shrek reference, but I will use the concept as a starting point. There's a lot more to service than one might think. It's one of those entities that leads to exponential exploration: the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. As one might expect, the past year of (indirect) service has helped me barely scrape the surface of what it means to serve, and evaluating ways to do so.

Participating in mission trips leads to great experiences, fantastic growth opportunities, and apparently in regards to my past trip to Jamaica, they could lead to meeting your future spouse (not in my case though, but congrats to Hilary and Stu!) These forays into the lives and cultures of a others for a snippet of time to learn, serve, and then head home are just the beginning. My time of indirect service, building capacity and sustainability for nonprofits, is a step further. I've done direct service in this job and in parts of many other opportunities. Next, I would love to springboard off everything I've learned as an observer and a participant and finally move onto policy. Grassroot movements to actual change. Bandaids to cures. I'm excited to see where life will take me after June 17th, and crossing my fingers that I'll peel back a couple more layers of ways to serve my neighbors.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Blogs Galore

I distinctly remember my days of early high school when I first heard the term "blog" I refused to have anything to do with this new silly feature I saw on Myspace because, and I quote, a blog sounded like a "gargantuan booger."  I had an active imagination.

My first official blog was created under the guise of a media class, called "Results of Discoveries."  It was supposed to be a general compilation of all the wonderful things I was discovering as a fresh faced 20 year old.  But an un-focused blog leads to an unfocused author, than that one eventually faded into the blogosphere.

My second I again created for a Women's Studies/English/Interactive Media Studies Class.  My fellow students were intense feminists (I qualify them as intense because I believe if you believe in the equality of women, everyone is a feminist.  These were the extreme outliers), black-booted and moody English students, a couple techie nerds, and a fascinating quintessential college professor.  We read things like Wurthering Heights and the Vindication of the Rights of Women and blogged our thoughts.  It was actually a fantastic class, but I can only stand exploring the character of Heathrow for so long. Dead blog #2.

Finally, in light of my work with kids in the mobile home park in Oxford and leading fundraisers like the 30 Hour Famine, I started a blog with a focus that I actually was passionate about.  Do you ever think you know a lot about a subject, only to look back later and declare with disgrace that you really knew nothing at all?  The blog I started was about the Cycle of Poverty.  It still has a lot of good information on it, but after spending almost nine months in AmeriCops I look back and see I was barely scratching the surface.

Since this current service blog has kept most of my attention, I actually completely forgot about the Cycle of Poverty blog (on WordPress, no less!) until I stumbled upon it once again from a GoogleAlert.  So with a request to withhold your judgment of a slightly un-educated attempt at a resourceful blog that hasn't been updated in almost a year, feel free to check it out:

Sunday, March 6, 2011

She Has A Name

My service is not limited to my job.  As many of you know, I volunteer my media and communications abilities for a technology/advocacy organization focused on youth here in the States and in various African countries.  It has been such a joy  to use the skills I don’t get to cultivate often at my day job for another great organization on my free time.

Now, my church is launching an organization that is doing crazy things to combat human trafficking right in my backyard. I am hoping to get involved in a deeper level with these efforts, so I'm sure there will be more to come of this organization on this blog.


This is my church.  We meet in an old building close to Weinland Park.

Here is the information copied straight from the website, as I couldn’t do it justice on my own:

"She Has A Name" is derived from a real-life story from the streets during a street outreach event. There was a "john" (male paying for sex), a pimp, and a prostitute. The "john" said to the pimp, "What's her name?" The pimp said, "She doesn't have a name. She is whatever you want her to be."

We try to remember the girls' names when doing street outreach. If we see them again the following week, we'll say their name out loud to them. Their reactions say everything. It's as if they've ached their whole lives to hear their own name. It's as if they forgot their own name. This is why we do street outreach. Even if just for a moment, they believe what we do: that their life matters.

http://veritascolumbus.com/serve/shehasaname/
We decided that we wanted to help fight human trafficking worldwide and came up with an idea to start selling a t-shirt that would aid in awareness, as well as generate a profit that could be used in the fight. 100% of the profits from shirt sales go toward the fight against human trafficking. Since this is brand new, we are still exploring the best ways to use this money, but we will continually update the site with all of the activities. After an upcoming board meeting in early February, we hope to be able to share a clearer vision of how the funds will be used. Keep checking back, and always feel free to contact us. Thanks for joining us in the fight!

She Has A Name is thankful that Veritas Community Church has joined them in the efforts of fighting human trafficking by helping with funding and certain management aspects. Without the help of Veritas, things wouldn't be moving as quickly as they are. Thanks!
Contact info
E-mail: shehasaname@ymail.com
Phone: 614.423.9718

If you want to order a t-shirt (I did! They're pretty sweet), donate, or simply check out the website, visit She Has a Name on Veritas.

Encouragement

My trainees are always wonderful at the end of a long day of learning about the program, and many of them say something like "I have been to a lot of trainings in my career, and I actually enjoyed this one!"  I'm guessing I am more enjoyable because I am not an expert and I KNOW I am not an expert, rather I see myself as a helper of sorts.  I know a little bit more about a tool than most people, and I have resources and practice in presenting it.

Training and public speaking are both skills that play a huge role in my position, and I've discovered that I actually enjoy the challenge and differentiation that trainings bring.  It's always an exhausting day because I have to play so many different roles: educator, speaker, technical help (my last training I spent the better part of running around switching out short-term batteries and troubleshooting internet connections), but I would rather do this than have a cookie cutter position any day.  Most trainings are at different locations across Central Ohio, and there is always a different mix of people.  I get the most joy when the trainees are engaged, excited, and ready to actually use the tool to help their community.  Below is an email I received from a trainee in Clark County, it made my day. 

Encourage the people around you.  Even if you have to sit through a potentially boring training (not mine, of course. Mine are never boring.)  A little bit of positive feedback goes a long way.
Thank you for the lesson at (training location) and I am looking forward to helping others get help thru myself cause of this certification that I will receive after today. I hope that we can keep in touch in the future for I am growing with (two awesome organizations in Central Ohio he is working with). I would like to be able to have and acquire the knowledge and have information to help those less fortunate than I. I have learned a lot of things so far working with these groups on a lot of things. I wish I would have known when I needed help. Now, I am able to direct others in the direction for them to receive assistance. Again Sarah, Thank You Very Much for your time and knowledge that I have acquired today.  God Bless you in all you do and achive in you journeys.