kelsey's weblog

april 10

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:09:26 -0600

this course directly relates to my site. i have discovered through st. anne's what it is to serve. i believe that it is an offer and recieve deal. i will retract my previous statement in my first essay that says it's possible to serve with a complete feeling of selflessness. either way, you get the rush that is offering a hand and someone there to recieve it. at st. anne's there are many hands to help, not all hands that are greatful of your servitude. i enjoy working with the people at st. anne's but there has been times when i feel i've wasted time there. there are mothers that have no intention to get themselves and their children out of homlessness, which makes me feel like my time there is useless. but you have to have hope that something will snap in them that makes them want to get out there and do something, and hopefully i will be a witness to that change. that's mostly what ties in from my site to this class. change. watching change, being a part of change. positive evolution of a city and it's condition. cleaning things up while keeping the culture.

week 11

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:07:15 -0600

i love my site. there hasn't been anything new since i was there last due to a much needed vacation. although i must comment on the fact that being in nyc seeing every single church step occupied by someone homeless made me think of my site even on vacation. the realities of homelessness is far more apparent there than here i think. and much to my surprise i wasn't bothered once for change or anything there. i've been there a thousand times so i guess i'm starting to get used to the street dwellers there. which is sort of depressing in retrospect.
i am volunteering an additional nine hours at my site which i'm not sure is thrilling or if it will just wear me out. there is one family there that has been at st anne's since i began. i am worried that if she's not on her feet by now, she wont ever get out there. this worries me.

march 27

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:03:04 -0600

the topic that i am exploring is single parenthood primarily among homelessness. i volunteer at st anne's place where i work with homeless women and their children, and i want to delve into their expirences and show what struggles they've had to overcome and how homelessness has effected the relationship beteween single parent and child.
i want to learn about the education they were offered about protecting themselves from being pregnant and why they are on their own, without help.
this topic is directly linked to my site, that's what sparked my interest in this topic. there is such a concentrated population of single parenthood in north minneapolis and i am having no problems with the women and children at my site sharing their expirences, they are my best resource.

march 20

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:15:57 -0600

my site is still going really well. unfortunately i've been ill since just before spring break began, so the last time i volunteered, i didn't really have contact with anyone. i am anxious to get well so i can see those kids again.
i am concerned because the family i did my interview with, may not be there the next time i go. their time in st. anne's place is drawing to a close so they have to re-apply for residence. i didn't think i would find myself so attached to these families as i have noticed i am. i think i am discovering my purpose for being at st. anne's place. only time will tell if to them, it has been worthwhile.

March 6

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:02:34 -0600

At St. Anne's Place, things are going really well. I so far have mostly worked with the little girls of the shelter and it has been a delight. The hardest part of volunteering always for me seems to be when time comes to leave. I say goodbye then sit in my car for about ten minutes and process what I've just seen. Trying to understand such a complex situation is far beyond me . I haven't been able to deliberately ask my questions for essay 3 but something one of the girls said (which i will be incorporating into my essay) was that she didn't have a real house. She is only five years old and understands that she has no real place to call her own. It's frusterating to know that soon these children will be back out on the streets while their mothers search high and low for affordable housing and a job. The pressure that they must feel and the blank stares so many of the mothers give, makes your heart go right out to them.

February 27

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:06:24 -0600

I was at St. Anne's Place for nearly four hours yesterday. It was most enjoyable to say the least. All the kids seem to be ill in some way or another. I wiped more noses yesterday than I swear I ever will in one day. There were two girls there who were best friends until dinnertime. These girls are only about five years old and say things far beyond their years. They were talking about how they give eachother "attitude" and "how they be disrespectin eachother." I couldn't believe my ears. After dinner another volunteer and myself organized craft time while the mothers had group. We had the girls make friendship bracelets so they would remember that they were friends. I had five girls (at one point 6) braiding my hair. They were so thrilled to have someone to play with. I hope all of my volunteering expirences there are more like that. The kids are what make me want to go back more than just on Sundays.

February 22

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:05:56 -0600

so far with my site i feel fine i suppose is the best word to describe it. i have yet to pull a three hour "shift" of volunteering at St. Anne's Place. Susan March is one of the directors over there and she's been really easy to work with and really accomidating to my schedule. The residents seem hesitant to trust or warm up to the volunteers. They almost make me feel like the services provided aren't appreciated or noticed but we stand as more of an inconvinence or a burden to them. I've been shot looks that seem like, "you think you can come in here and fix me and my problems?" Skoffs really. In our contract we aren't allowed to delve into any personal stories or testimonies. We can't share any infromation about ourselves or our lives which will make it difficult to make a connection. We'll see though. I have high hopes.

february 13

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:53:56 -0600

i'm thinking of comparing Urban Injustice and the article posted on UThink about the Jewish Communities in North Minneapolis. Both of these articles give a sensationally and thorough overview of the effects of the ghettos. they are both very eloquently written peices and give a great slate in which to work off. they provide quite different tales to and points of view to the ghetto and the cultures that came from the ghettos.

february 6

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:01:50 -0600

throughout reading these pieces i noticed a variety of differences between what north minneapolis was like then and what is like today. it seems as thought we've lost bits of our culture overtime which is to be expected. some loss is a gain for us such as mentioned in 'hellhole' of the spanking of students by the principal. some has stayed the same such as folks milling around the city like uncle dixie. i found both of these stories to be quite intreguing. mostly because i'd never really learned anything about them. hellhole focused more on one testimony and one take, one tale, and coincidently it wasn't so 'hellish', but jewish community ventured out into vessles and history spouts into the jewish interworkings.
jewish community brought up taboo topics such as the holocaust. it is strange to hear another side of the story and hearing names of streets you can picure now and understand that they're nothing like they used to be. i wonder what the residents of north minneapolis then would think of north minneapolis now.

Week of January 29

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:03:51 -0600

I've selected St. Anne's Place. I have quite a bit of expirence working in homeless shelters, so it seems like a good fit for me. It was my first choice and there i was placed. I hope to help and grow with those who I will be working with. Not only am I looking forward to understanding the innerworkings of a non-profit organization and the staff that supports it, but also to get to know and understand those without homes who reside in St. Anne's. I'm facinated and would like very much so to get in the field of social work. The expirence of volunteering for St. Anne's hopefully will help enrich me and those around me.
I plan on taking the bus. Which i am certainly hesitant about in terms of safety. My 23 year old sister lives right off of Olson Memorial HIghway on the edge of N. Minneapolis. She worries about me being down there past 6:00 at night. We'll see how it goes. I'm nearly certain that it will all work itself out just fine.

Understanding Service

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 14:38:08 -0600

Understanding Service allows people to open up their minds to what defines the term sevice. It brings up the question, "do truely selfless motives for service exist?" This is a difficult question to answer. I think as much as one can say that yes it is quite possible for it to be entirely selfless, it isn't completely true. The feeling that you recieve after giving someone a hand is worth the help you give them. Somethig as insignifican as holding doors open for people and to be throughly appreciated when they smile or say thank you. It passes along the smile. I believe it's generally an involuntary act that shouldn't be necessairly defined as selfless or selfish. It's rather, a system of give and recieve, an exchange of good deeds and feeling. In a world where time is money, to give up your time to help someone out is in the greater scheme of things a keen example of servitude. It's hard to say that the feeling of being humbled isn't a fine motive to serve, but sometimes you can't avoid it.