The VISTA Adventure!

This whole VISTA thing is just one big adventure after another!!!!!  Which is why I haven't posted in a while.  I've found myself working long hours to get things done, but it is starting to pay off.  For instance, Sedalia just got a new Panera Bread, so I went over to welcome them to Sedalia and the next thing I knew I was setting up The Salvation Army and Amigos for weekly donations!!!  WOW!!!  They are just so AWESOME!!!!  I cannot say enough good things about Panera Bread!!!

This past Saturday, we had the Legacy Ride from Katy Depot for the Senior Center.  That was fun!!  I got to hang out with the main director for a few hours and the ideas that we came up in that conversastion!!!  I had a BLAST!!!

Then today, I got to The Salvation Army Camp Mihaska!  What a BEAUTIFUL place!! We dropped off the kiddos, took a tour, and then we were headed back home.  I was so glad that I got to at least see the place.  The Salvation Army practices Safe From Harm, which means that there is always 2 adults with the kids at all times.

So, I find myself working, hard, long hours, but I wouldn't change it for the world!!!

Summer Food

The Salvation Army Summer Food Program is off and running for the summer, this is made possible by a grant from the USDA.  I went over to help out one day to see how it really works.  As of now, there are about 550 lunches that get packed out to 32 locations across Pettis County.  We have 6 cooks that prepare the all food and put it in deliverable containers.  I was assigned a location, that needed 55 lunches served, so I pack 55 cartons of milk, sandwiches, peaches, and applesauce into 2 big coolers.  Then I grabbed a stack of lunch sacks and a clipboard to keep track of everything that we passed out.  I was paired up with another volunteer and we set out in a van loaded with 5 coolers, the other 3 coolers had to be dropped off at other locations, where volunteers waited for the arrival of the food.  Once we got to our site we started assembling lunches into the sacks, to make easy work of handing the food out to the kids, because when the kids start coming they tend to come in small groups to our picnic tables.  The children are encouraged to sit and eat with each other and it is also part of the grant requirements.  The Pettis County Health Department does come and do inspections to make sure the food is safe and that the volunteers are properly handling the food.  The children sit and visit with us and the other children, so it makes for a nice picnic.  There is a Youth Director that makes the rounds at different locations everyday to make this a learning experience too.  Currently, we are expecting to exceed last summers numbers.

WOW!! The things a VISTA gets to do!!

I've been so busy getting things done that the time has just flown by!!!  I've also been putting in some really long hours, but for a good reason!  Last Thursday was Salvation Army's Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, so I helped to set-up and clean-up afterward, but it was an amazing dinner!  I got to help pass out awards, sit by the Mayor of Sedalia, and have a great meal among other volunteers.

Friday I had EDS Trainging all day at the Salvation Army.  This means that if there is ever a disaster, I have a chance to be deployed to that area to provide food and comfort to the victims. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all I did was research!!!  The community outreach VISTA wants to have a big multicultural festival, to celebrate all cultures.  I love this idea, but times are tough and finding funding for something like that, well it's challenging!!  I'm still working on it, my supervisor warned me I needed to be able to take a lot of "no(s)" for an answer!!  We started by listing  a lot of possiblities for funders, and now it's short!!

Today I made my first budget!  I used Excel, which that was an experience since I haven't used Excel much.  This YouTube video help so much!!  If you need help learning how to make a basic budget, I HIGHLY recomend this video!!!  We had a meeting with a UCM Professor so he could show us few basic things about the Pachoro.  We have looked high and low around Sedalia to find someone that knows how to play the Pachoro, but we have not had any luck, so I e-mailed the UCM Music Department.  UCM doesn't know anyone either, but they do have a stringed insturment department and they helped us get started and found a fingering chart for us!!  One of the music students came with us and on the way home he sat in the back seat and had figured out how to play "Go Tell it on the Mountain" before we got back to Sedalia.  The student was so excited about the Pachoro!!  I also observed the ESL class tonight!!  WOW!!!  The things there get done in that class!!  The teacher is amazing!!  Even though these are adults, she still gives them play money so they can practice buy items from other students in the class. 

New Ways of Fundraising

With my graduate degree being in Educational Technology, I find new uses for technology amaze me!  When I was at my PSO, they mentioned a new way of fundraising by using the social resources of the web.  I had lunch today, with a fellow VISTA, and she made mention of Crowd Funding, which I hadn't heard of it, but then I described www.hopemob.org and www.donorschoose.org.  To my amazement, we were talking about the same thing!  What are your thoughts on this idea?  I know there are a ton of grants out there that can be written, but what about just making your plea to the public?  I think the odds are just as good anyway you try!  At the time of my PSO, April 19, 2012, was the first day of www.hopemob.org so this is a REALLY new idea.

Yesterday, I was filling out an initial survey for a grant and they said" of everyone that will complete the survey less than 2% will go on to receive funding."  I was kind of surprised by this number!  My wonderful supervisor said that a number like that is very normal among foundations that give grants.  She then said when I receive my first grant, "I'll give you a big party!"  Because grant writing is a very competitive field.

Getting Started as a Grant Writer

Here are a few tips I have learned in my first few weeks of being a grant writer.

• Make 12 folders, one for each month of the year, and keep the details of grants the need to be submitted or looked into for that month.
• I'm writing grants for three different places, but one thing that could be helpful is to gather legal name, address, phone number, tax ID numbers, DUNS number, and other identifying numbers and put it onto a card then keep it close!  That will save you from having to look that information every time you start a grant.
• Encourage the organization to have a web site!  I ran across a grant today that I couldn't even try to apply for it since we don't have a web site address!!  So tomorrows adventure is to invent a web site!
• Don't be afraid to e-mail people to ask for help!  I e-mailed the UCM Music Dept. to see if they would help teach one of our volunteers to play the pacharo.  They unfortunately don't know anyone who plays that, but they do know how to play other guitars so we could make this work.

Stay tuned for more things that I will learn!

I went to a Sedalia Inter-Agency Meeting, this is where all of the non-profit agencies get together and tell each other what they are doing, like fundraisers, projects, or issues they need help solving.  I found this information very useful!  This meeting happens only once a month, so I think it could be worked into my busy schedule.

Day 18

I spent my day reaserching funding for a couple of projects.  Such as a culture festival we have started planning as a community outreach project.  With Cinco de Mayo we just did everything with donations and really didn't spend a lot of money on it, but it was a really nice family event.  This time we are planning to have professional entertainment instead of a VISTA in a chicken outfit!!  Although that was the funnest chicken ever and I'm not sure how we will top that!!!  We also wrote down several ideas of what we would like to see there and an estimated cost of each section.  So we have got that project started, now to find funding!!

Day 17

I used this QR Code maker to make this QR Code
I found it very easy to follow the steps on the QR Code maker web site.  To me this is a simple way to guide people to an online/digital destination.  All anyone needs to access the information is a phone with a QR Scanner that you can download free from any of the app stores.