A few weeks

I hear around campus a lot that there is just not enough time for this or that or the other thing. I was thinking as I drove 9 hours back to Iowa that this is perfect. There are three weeks to choose a place to volunteer and give some of your time back to the community. I was thinking of ringing a bell at Salvation Army or volunteering at a local organization in Ames that gives Emergency Assistance. I know that we volunteer for classes and such and it may not be a hot thing to do over Christmas break, but like over the next few days baskets are going to be filled to give out to people from places like Salvation army or local churches. This type of commitment is like one day or two if you want.
So off my soap box: I came back to Ames and was here on Friday, so I went to help out at Good Neighbor Emergency Assistance. It's amazing the stories you hear from people that have good hearts but get stepped on. One lady came in to get help with a utility bill. She said that stuff had been hard recently because her husband and herself had gone to help out in Cedar Rapids after the floods and her husband was off on his own and got mugged three times and then the cops arrested him and he was in jail for awhile. It was a really messy situation that happened because this couple wanted to help out. They are getting back on their feet again slowly.
I think it'd be tight if we all got out there and then continued our learning over the Christmas season like maybe your house is like mine= STRESSFUL!!!! Well, GNEA was a place for me to get away help some people out and relax or your family may be amazing... well grab a couple hands and take them with you. :)


Thoughts on this blog: I want to write relevant things.. maybe post some articles to read, get to know the other social work majors, so on... build relationships to effect the community of Marion that we are in! I'm starting it early over break in hopes that there can be some brainstorming on here to find any new direction or passions people have that haven't been gone after in the past. As people have told me in the past, I need others to keep my feet on the floor. I love to dream. So as a start to this blog, here is my idea of getting involved in the community (it'll need a lot of help from others with the actually foundation work and how to make it happen, but here it is) I want to use the example of Acts that is used overseas and stuff for missions, but use it in our community. I think it will take a solid 5 years to like get it going completely, but I would like to use mentoring/discipleship to teach people skills they need to know to get by, get a job, raise kids, so on. The goal would be to eventually leave the whole organization in the hands of community people that have learned different things and taken a keen interest in it. I would like to have areas of emphasis be things like budgeting, interviewing skills, job skills, parenting skills, and anything anyone else comes up with. I think I could explain it better in person, but yeah that is the ground work of it. If it's in God will, He can make it happen.