Whitehead Boys and Girls Club (Atlanta –Thursday)

Today we are off to another Boys and Girls Club to educate young minds. We have decided to ramp up our curriculum and teach about healthy eating as well as hunger awareness. In true BGC fashion, we are left with 30 very rowdy and misbehaving 8 to 12 year old boys. Surprisingly though, they are good students for us. I have to remind them not to talk several times but they are engaged and practically jumping out of their seats to answer questions.


Me working with the boys.

Next come the 8 to 12 year old girls and wow were they bad. Boys and Girls Clubs will tell you that they are not daycares (although parents sometimes treat them as such). Kids are free to come and go as they please and it is not their job to discipline. I, however, feel that a little discipline is in order. Several kids got sent to time-out under my watch for essentially beating one another and being down right mean. It really makes me wonder what kind of parents they have. Of course, this is only a generalization of the worst kids. Some of them were fantastic and very bright.


MacAdam let the girls turn him into an artwork.

My favorite thing about children is their innocence when it comes to worldview. I have lived in situations where I have been a visual minority (yeah Spain). And let me tell you, you notice it, everyday, all day. This is a very odd feeling after coming from an environment where I am a visual majority. People do judge you on how you talk and the color of your skin; it is a fact. It is what you do with those judgments that define you as a person though. Children are a little different. They have not quite had enough time to form biases yet which lead to some really funny situations.


Alex working with the boys.

At the Whitehead BGC we were the only white kids and Willen was the only Asian for miles around. The little kids take no notice of this however. When I ask the girls about their cornrows and beautiful hair, they are shocked that I have never had my hair braided like that. “Nope.” I tell them, “Never.” Now they are really interested and explain the whole process to me. To sum it up, it sounds painful but the end result is really cool especially with the beads.


The kids liked to show off their work.

Open Hand (Atlanta – Thursday)

Open Hand is truly a remarkable organization. It was founded in the 1980s by a couple of guys who started cooking 14 meals a day out of their apartment to feed their friends suffering from HIV and AIDS. Fast forward now to 2010 where the process is mainstream and streamline.

Opens Hand has non-profit and for-profit business branches that essentially serve the same product. They make healthy, nutritionally balanced, pre-proportioned meals. The non-profit focuses on serving meals to individuals with special nutrition needs like those with diabetes, AIDS and HIV. The for-profit serves the same meals to people looking for a diet program with meals that are delivered. Cool model, huh? The for-profit actually helps keep the non-profit up and running which is just smart business.

Cooks make large vats of food (usually a protein dish and two veggie side dishes) and volunteers package them into TV tray style containers. Our job was to package tuna casserole, lima beans, and asparagus into the dishes (I was on lima bean duty) and then put the trays onto a conveyor belt where they were wrapped. Afterward, we did the same process but with noodles, chicken and sauce, peas and mixed greens. After just 3hrs we packaged 695 meals. Go us!


Take a break from the seriousness of life.

There is good news too for all of those interested or already eating Open Hand meals. Open Hand had the most intense sanitation policies ever! All hair had to be cover (ponytails and hair nets. Men even had to wear nets that covered their beards.), hands washed, gloves, aprons, closed toed shoes and here was the biggie for us, no jewelry, period. This proved a little difficult for me and Willen. I have a bunch of hippie jewelry that is just tied on and never comes off and ol’ Willen has some ancient Chinese protective symbol around his neck that is not suppose to come off either. We made it work in the end though.

For more information, visit their website at: http://www.projectopenhand.org

Stewing in Jackson (Jackson – Tuesday)

I was a little skeptical of our stop in Jackson Mississippi. After all, it has one of the highest crime rates in the entire nation. Like any other city we went to though; I found the locals warm and friendly. The Stewpot is a soup kitchen that has been around since the mid-eighties. The kitchen is housed in an old brick building and serves lunch time meals.


Welcome to the Stewpot.

Clients are invited to attend a church service beforehand but it is not required. Announcements are given (many revolving around the other services that are offered), we were all introduced (people from Oregon are always a novelty past like Texas), grace is said and people eat.

What is unique about this soup kitchen is that all the lunches are pre-served on trays.


Volunteers getting the meals ready.

When it is time to eat, clients come in and sit down at big round tables. Volunteers then served each person (men, women and children) with a tray and a drink. Normally I would worry about food going to waste with the pre-served trays because somebody might not like something but almost every plate was scraped clean. People were extremely appreciative and polite illustrating to me that not all dignity is lost despite the situation.


Today's lunch.


People enjoying their lunch.




Youth artwork at the Stewpot:

David Timothy aka The Soupman (Dallas – Monday)

David Timothy, aka the Soupman, is a saint in his community. He runs the Soup Mobil and has recently opened up several transitional housing programs in the South Dallas area. His soup kitchen is innovative for a few distinct t reasons. First, he goes to the people. The Soupman deals almost exclusively with homeless individuals and meets them in their community. His Soup Mobil has been stopping in the same spot since 2002 which has allowed him to build up quite a rapport with the people in that area. Second, homeless people serve food to others alongside volunteers. It is not about the privileged coming in and giving handouts to the deprived but working side by side to help your neighbor. Finally, the Soupman will be the first to tell you that serving food is not his primary goal; it’s love. “These people need love,” he tells us. “When God said feed his flock, he did not mean just physically.”

This reminds me of Mrs. Niemczak from the Inn at Paradise who was disappointed that we are not a religious group. I recognize the value in love and interaction more and more with each site visit. Sure, people are appreciative when I hand them a bowl of soup or a glass of juice but there is still a divide between us. It is when we talk that I see their eyes light up, a slight smile or even their personalities start to shine. It is simple too; I can ask them how they are doing today or compliment them on their shirt. Mrs. Niemczak and Mr. Timothy are right; while physical needs seem like the most important, it is actually the emotional needs that must come first. It is human contact, attention and even the basic the fact that someone else knows that you exist that makes the biggest difference in someone’s life at the end of the day.


Us, the Soupman and little Matthew who helped us out for the day.

The Soupman has a posse of employees and volunteers that help stream line his process. Everyday vats of soup are cooked in a small kitchen with whatever ingredients that the chef sees fit to use. Everybody then caravans to the meeting point at noonish with Eye of the Tiger blasting from the Soup Mobil to announce our arrival. Volunteers stand by the side as the local crew (the homeless individuals) set up the food line. As Mr. Timothy explained, they know the drill and can do it way faster than us newbies. After that we take our positions and grace is said. Today the line consists of the typical daily vitamin, bags of chips, donuts, a delicious homemade soup, peanut butter sandwiches, ice cream cups (in honor of the 4th of July) and juice. All of the food is donated so the selection really various day to day.


The chaos of set up.

As people move through the line, they are allowed to have one of each thing. The catch is that they are allowed to go through the line as many times as they want until the hour is up or the food runs out. Each day, 600 meals are provided. On this Monday, I think that we served about 150 people. If someone got there early and continued to go through the line for the whole hour, they could easily make it through 5 times. This is a very interesting model and the first of its kind that I have seen so far.

When it is time to go, it is time to go. The Soupman starts warning people ten minutes out that the line will be closing. Then BAM! Before I know it things are disappearing underneath me. Clean-up is a quick and everything quickly gets shoved back into the van. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is to avoid food riots but the message is read loud and clear. People disperse knowing that he will return again tomorrow. Faith is a common bond that holds everyone together in this little community whether it is faith in a higher power or the Soupman.


One happy customer!


For more information please visit the Soupman website at: http://www.soupmobile.org

The 4th of July (Dallas – Sunday)

It is official; I no longer want to be an indie hippie bum after college. I have seen how the “other half” live and I am not going back. The Fourth of July in Dallas Texas was AWESOME. We spent the day at Lake Cedar with MacAdam’s Uncle Towry learning to wakeboard and boat surf. I spent a good part of the afternoon having my face drug through the water but it was still really fun.

At night, we went to Uncle Towry’s friends, the Kelly’s, lake house to watch fireworks. Around 10:00pm we jetted around the lake (I could still wear a tank top, yeah!) to watch everyone light off mortars. The southern hospitality was unbelievable and everyone was so nice to us. I defiantly will be making my way back to Dallas in the future.


Uncle Towry showed us a good time on the lake!


Willen chillaxing on the boat. The boys thought that the pink life jacket was lucky.


Jenny and I enjoying the sun. With any luck, we will get a little color and not look so pale.


MacAdam was the best by far.


Alex surfing behind the boat.

And this is why we dress like traffic cones…. (Amarillo – Friday)

It is 12:00am and we need a snack…. Denny’s! This may be a hunger awareness tour across the country but it is quickly becoming a Denny’s tour. This is our third Denny’s so far and it is getting to the point where we are memorizing the menu.

Jenny and I arrive in our lovely traffic cone color Powered by Orange shirts and take a seat at the bar. Normally we do not create quite a scene but everybody wanted to know why we were wearing these bright orange shirts. Before long we had explained about our mission, where we were from (Shout-out to Oregonians!!) and what we are doing. We even passed out some Powered by Orange OSU swag to the Denny’s employees. Needless to say the traffic cone shirts have served their purpose. We are marketing magnets for OSU!


Jenny and me with our fabulous waiter Eddie from Denny's!

High Plains Food Bank Garden (Amarillo - Friday)

For the second half of Friday, we worked in the High Plains Food Bank Garden. The garden is an interesting project that is currently in its second year of operation. It is located in what use to be a vacant lot behind the Food Bank.



Last year, the garden produced 1,500 pounds of fresh food for the Kids Café Programs with only 1,000 square feet of land. With their new and spacious garden, they are hoping to eventually grow 20,000 pounds of fresh food.

The garden has one full time employee named Mark and two summer interns – Allison, a sophomore environmental engineer from Atlanta and the mysterious Kevin who never actually spoke to any of us.

We split up into two groups for the afternoon. MacAdam and Alex went with Mark to make more soil (compost, cow manure and sand) while Willen and I went with Allison to dig holes and plant herbs. (Kevin did other gardeny stuff around us and Jenny was off to do more logistics.)


The mysterious Kevin and Willen.

I quizzed Allison as I dug holes and learned quite a bit. The High Plains Food Bank Garden is all organic and the main goal is to provide children with fresh vegetables and encourage them to eat the veggies at an early age. Most of the plants are donated and the garden receives quite a bit of volunteers. For example, the herbs that we were planting were all donated by a local farm. We were placing them in between different vegetable plants because the plants have a naturally beneficial relationship when placed next to each other will help each other grow. Cool, I know. As I dig, I dig through a layer of bark chips, wet newspaper, dead grass and finally soil. Apparently this is layered gardening and it helps to prevent weeds.


Once a vacant lot, now a garden!

Gardening is hard work but it was nice to be working outside and with my hands in the dirt after being inside for a while. I like the concept of community gardens producing food to feed the hungry. I wonder if we will see more of them on our journey.

High Plains Food Bank (Amarillo - Friday)

We spent the morning at the High Plains Food Bank in Amarillo, Texas. This being only my second food bank experience, I prayed that I would not being repackaging chicken broth again. We lucked out though, not a box of chicken broth in sight.

Instead, they had us sorting toiletries (food banks are not just all about the food you know) and repackaging beans (so much better). Our first job was kind of strange. There are these boxes that are packed with the toiletries at random. The people at the food bank want the boxes to weigh 15 pounds before they are shipped out. Our job was to grab a box and place it on a scale. If it weighed less than 15 pounds (every box did), we had to cut it open and add more stuff until it did weigh that much. We then had to re-tape it and re-stack it. Basically it was about quantity, not quality.


My work station.

This is where classes like Business Process Management (which I hated with a passion last term) come into play. Clearly, it would have been a better use of time and resources to pack the boxes correctly the first time (ie at 15 pounds). It was quite a chore to try and jam and extra 5 pounds into practically every box as it was already full. I was really concerned at one point when I stuffed five lice kits into one box (they are heavy) that the boxes were going to individual families (who needs 5 lice kits). No worries though. The boxes are going out to different agencies in bulk and then being re-distributed to families.

It did not take us very long to complete the task. MacAdam, Alex, Jenny and I weighed, opened and added product to the boxes. Willen taped them back up and re-stacked them. At one point, something was hissing and Willen and I tore through a box to find aerosol hairspray going off. We laughed hysterically until we found out that everything was sticky and we had to rearrange it. EW.


Jenny and MacAdam rearranging the goods.

I imagine people needing the basics; shampoo, conditioner (maybe), soap, razor, and deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste. That is not really how it works though. All of the toiletries are donated. Most come from stores and a defective in some way. The label is crooked or the product is no longer in style. There is nothing wrong with any of the actual soap or anything but it can still not be sold to the public. Hence, there are some really weird things.

In an hour alone I packaged shampoo, razors, hairspray, conditioner, soap, hand soap, bubble bath, mouth wash, floss, electric toothbrushes, eyeliner, wart remover, barrettes, hair ties, blush, eye shadow, bug spray, shaving gel, Q-tips, cotton balls, perfume, toothbrushes, post-its (no idea), tweezers, deodorant, lice kits, toothpaste, tampons, men’s hair color, fake eyelashes, eye drops, nose spray, lotion, hair gel, nail polish, and powder.


The boys were pretty tired and took a quick nap during our break.

Job two was repacking beans. This again seemed like bad business process management to me. The beans had previously been sorted into 5lb bags and then put two bags to a box. Our job was to open the boxes, open the bags and repackage them into one pound portions for family boxes. Basically, we were re-doing work that someone had already done previously. There was only four stations set-up so Willen and I double teamed it. A few hours later, we re-packaged 25,000 pounds of dried beans.


Willen and I may have monkeyed around but we still packed the most beans.

The High Plains Food Bank was significantly smaller than the Albuquerque Road Runner Food Bank. They did not carry fresh produce nor did they ever have us in sterile environments (because I doubt there were any). Overall the food bank appeared to operate on a much more local level than the Road Runner Food Bank in Albuquerque.

The Road Runner Food Bank (Albuquerque – Thursday)

Today was my first ever experience of volunteering at a food bank. I was expecting to sort cans, pack boxes or something. What I was not expecting was the chicken broth….


Quite a noble goal!

MacAdam, Alex, Willen and I hit the Road Runner Food Bank at 10:30am. Jenny was off doing more trip logistics and Sandy and the Doodles were walking in a park I assume.

First things first; we had to be sterilized. We washed our hands, put on lab coats, snapped on hairnets and put on gloves. We looked like mad scientists.


Willen scooping chicken broth. (Look at the mess that I made.)

We were then led into a sterile room (it looked like a lab) where we would be working. Our job was to repackage dry chicken broth. Tyson Chicken, bless their misguided soul, had donated over 1,700 lbs of dry chicken broth in 90 lb boxes. As it turns out, nobody wants nor needs 90 lbs of DRY chicken broth (a shocker, I know). We had to open the 90lb boxes, scoop .75 lbs of broth into plastic bags, heat seal the bags, staple directions and ingredients to each bag and then pack them 30 to a box.


Alex stapling directions and ingredients to the bags.

Let the chaos begin. First, the powder is extremely fine and gets everywhere (and I mean everywhere). It gunks up the scale (which is now covered in a giant plastic bag) and the heat sealer. For awhile, every time we swallowed, it tasted like chicken Top Ramon. It was going pretty well but I am a disaster in the broth packaging business. I spilled more of the fine dust then everybody else combined. After four very sticky (the chicken broth becomes sticky after being exposed to the air for a few minutes) and chickeny hours later we successfully completed repackaging two of the 90 lb boxes. (I feel like the Food Bank has a ways to go with the Tyson chicken broth.)

Afterwards, we got a tour of the facility by an extremely competent woman named Christine. New Mexico, like Oregon, is considered to be one of the hungriest states in the nation. The Road Runner Food Bank has been in its current location for two years and is the largest hunger relief organization in New Mexico. The warehouse currently holds two million pounds of food and eventually will be able to hold seven. Sixty percent of the food being processed is considered to be fresh produce.


You are looking at two million pounds of food.

The Road Runner is not the only food bank in the state but they are the largest and deal directly with Feeding America. As a food bank, they are top of the line and deal not only with Albuquerque but with the entire state of New Mexico.

The food bank runs many worthwhile programs including the Food for Kids Program, the Mobil Food Bank, the Senior Helpings Program as well as many others. The tour really opened up my eyes to how families with hunger insecurity live. Christine showed us a food box that was supposed to last a family of four for a whole month. I was shocked. These families really have to know how to best utilize the food that they receive in order to make it last. Not to mention the fact that they also have to ration it correctly.


This is suppose to feed a family of four for 30 days. That is 76 meals assuming that weekday lunches are skipped or found else where.

The most interesting story that I heard was about a boy named Frankie. The Backpack Program is meant to provide weekend meals to school aged children and their younger siblings up to third grade. After third grade, the kids are on their own. Frankie was a high schooler who was on scholarship to a private prep school. Although he went to a school where tuition was $20,000 a year, he was living in extreme poverty. Christine (she used to work as a teacher at this private school) said that it was heart wrenching to watch him try to stay awake in class. It was not the fact that he was slacking off, he just literally was exhausted from not eating. It is sad and interesting how often situations like this occur, even in affluent environments.

Rio Ranch Boys and Girls Club (Albuquerque - Wednesday)

By our third Boys and Girls Club – Rio Ranch, Albuquerque – I am convinced that there is no such thing as a typical club.

The Corvallis Club (near OSU) has an AMAZING facility (which I have never really realized until now). Two gyms, a stage, a recording studio, a computer lab, a teen only lounge, a kid ran coffee shop, an art room, class rooms, a game room, ect. The Medvale Club was well run with clipboards, schedules and an abundance of adults. The Lied Club had a laid back community feel with kids running around everywhere.

The Rio Ranch Club was different from all of these. The facility was isolated in the middle of the desert with bars on the windows. It was smaller than any others that we have seen and in poorer condition. The people in charge did not seem happy (it could have been a bad day I guess) and yelled way more than I thought was necessary.






The kids were the same as everywhere though; happy, excited, rambunctious and causing trouble. We had about 60 in total, 5 to 11 year -olds. We gave them the spill on hunger in the USA and had them color what hunger meant to them.

Here are a few of their pieces:


Abby




Alexis - 10 years old

The Inn at Paradise (Albuquerque - Tuesday and Wednesday Nights)

One of the perks about participating in noble causes and charity work is that people like you. As a result, most of the hotels and places that we stay are given to us complimentary. People like what we are doing and they want to help us out any way that they can. Usually it is the big hotel chains (Double Tree, Hampton, Sheraton, Hilton, ect) that can afford to comp our rooms but in Albuquerque, we got the opportunity to stay at the Inn at Paradise.



The Inn at Paradise is a beautiful family owned hotel on a country club golf course. The rooms are large and comfortable with a large deck that overlooks what I can only assume is the Garden of Eden. The Niemczak family has owned the inn for almost 11 years now.







Because I was not raised in an overly religious family, I sometimes forget the power of faith in a higher presence. The Niemczak family is Polish and they are stanch Christians. I know this because I ate breakfast and spoke with the mother during my stay there. As I have mentioned several times, most people are extremely enthusiastic about our cause. Mrs. Niemczak was the first person that I have met who was genuinely disappointed that we are not a religious organization (we are a business organization). It was not that she did not believe in our cause or that she was biased against non-religious groups; it is just that she thinks that we cannot be as effective.

Her reasoning was that people (especially children) are not just hungry physically but also emotionally. “They are hungry for love”, she tells me. She believes that our efforts must be combined with pray. “We must put our trust in the Lord.”

I am not sure that praying will help anybody physically (what I am aiming for- curing physical hunger). But after talking to Mrs. Niemczak, I believe that she is right. Eighty-seven percent of Americans identify as being religious. Religious beliefs play a large role in who we are as Americans and dictate a large part of our lifestyles. I think that this is essential to keep in mind as we continue to move across the country. To best help someone, we have to know who they are and where they are coming from. This means recognizing and embracing the power of religion in the face of a national issue.

With this in mind, I will couple my efforts with pray from now on - because if nothing else, it will at least keep hunger at the forefront of my thoughts.

If you would like more information about the Inn at Paradise please visit: http://www.innatparadise.com/index.html

Painted Rocks and the Moab Desert (Utah - Monday Night)

After the Lied Boys and Girls Club in Salt Lake City, we hit the road for Cortez, Colorado. (a quick layover on our way to Albuquerque). As a result, we got to drive through beautiful southern Utah including the Moab Desert.

I have never been to this part of the country and was blown away by the intensity of it. (The only reason that I was awake was because the boys made me drive for once – 349 miles – but I am glad they did!) The scale was magnificent and the colors were otherworldly. I can truly understand why people believe that there is something more.

We got to the famous Utah arches a bit late but Jenny insisted that we go and look at them anyways. The boys humored us for a while until it got pitch black and then demanded that we go and find dinner (It was only like 10:30pm – Jeez!).

These pictures do not do the drive justice but here they are:

A Day at the Zoo (Salt Lake City - Monday)

So, we were not literally at the zoo but it sure felt like that a times.

Today was our first day working at Boys and Girls Clubs. Our first stop was Midvale Club in the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Only Willen, MacAdam, Alex and I participated in this afternoon’s adventure. Jenny was doing logistics back at the Hotel and I assume that our fearless advisor was entertaining her Doodles somewhere.

We were more than a little surprised when we showed up and learned that we were in charge of doing activities with the entire clubhouse (140 elementary school aged kids). Usually we work with about 30 kids at a time but we know how to roll with the flow so we made a plan.



I took the Kindergartners, MacAdam took 1st graders and Willen took the 2nd graders. Alex floated around and took video and photos. Like flies to a light, the kids flocked to him; each wanting their picture to taken and then to see it right away. Poor Alex was more busy than the rest of us combined.


The family of a five-year-old.

After one hour with 20 four and five-year-olds, I have a new respect for Kindergarten teachers. Luckily my mad camp counseling skills came into use. There was a lot of “clap once if you can hear me” and “raise your hand if you can see me” reminders. Explaining the growing hunger problem to little kids is a tall task. I started by explaining to them who I was and where Oregon is (and what it is for that matter). We then talked about what hunger means (ie you are hungry) and that a lot of other kids in the United States feel like that too. That is about all the information that five-year-olds can process.




After that I passed out paper, markers, crayons and colored pencils and asked them to draw what hunger meant to them. Almost every kid drew food. Pizza, hamburgers, fruits and vegetables were the most common things. The kids were very rowdy but I do not feel that you can expect too much out of Kindergartners. After an hour we left to hit the Lied Boys and Girls Club in central Salt Lake City.


A poem by a second grader:
I dream, you dream, of a day when hunger is no more.
I dream, you dream, of the day when love has spread.

This club had a much different feel to it. The first thing that I noticed was that there were a lot more minority children and staff. There was also more of a sense of community to me. The kids were behind the desk, joking with the staff and helping sign us in. Adults spoke to the kids like equals and the kids seemed eager to please them.

Our lesson here was way smoother. First, the kids had the choice to come hang-out with us and therefore were way less disruptive. They seemed interested in the hunger issue and were very excited to color what hunger meant to them. Because we only had 30 children, it was easier to give each child individual attention between the four of us. After we were done with the art project the boys became jungle gyms to the kids and gave literally everyone a piggyback ride.


A pony named Willen.

I asked one of the staff members about the free lunch and dinner program. The Utah Food Bank supplies a free lunch each day to the Boys and Girls Club kids. Free dinner is also served Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The staff member was upset because every day that have a lot of extra food but they are not allowed to send it home with the children. Either the Food Bank or the State has a rule against it. She said that for many of the children at the club, this is the only meal(s) that they receive during the day. Apparently, we were in a relatively poor part of Salt Lake City and right in the middle of the territory of six different gangs. Now I was really surprised. Six gangs in the middle of a city with a strong Mormon stronghold?


Alex says he is not a kid person but the photo says otherwise....


The kids do not want MacAdam to leave!

She said that many of the parents in the community want their children at the club because it is a safe place. Many of the parents also ask the staff to make sure that their children eat at meal times. Despite the hardship that many of these kids face, they are happy and out-going.


Me and the kids! :)

The love of a child is endless. It is important that we nurture them so that this pattern of love continues.