Day 4

It was another educational day for me as a VISTA!!!!  I heard a young man's story about how he left Guatamala, as a boy, because his gaurdians becames injured and ill and could no longer take care of him.  It just made me realize how lucky we are here is America!  He came here to be with his mom and to get medical care, and as an adult he just wants to raise his daughter with his wife in their house.

The Salvation Army Battling Economic Recession (SABER) Program is just getting started in Sedalia.  It's sponsored by the Sedalia Corps Salvation Army.  The program is geared for those that are out of work, underskilled, under-employed, or a convicted felon.  Since this is just a pilot program there is only one course (but we are planning on expanding it), those quilifed, take a class on pipe fitting that is currently being taught by volunteer that has the skills.  The class is offered free of charge, but the students must complete an hour of volunteer service for every hour they are in the class.  I have been given the task to find out how much it costs to get a GED and then find funding for the students in the SABER class to be able to get their GED too, so when they finish the SABER course they are ready to enter the work force.  I think this is an excellent idea!!!  Do any of you have ideas about the SABER Program?  I had to go to the local community college and talk to the lady in charge of the GED classes and she just loved this idea for her students, she said there would be a lot of demand for it.  I did start working on my first grant with this project, the Green Foundation looks like a good match and my supervisor helped me to get started with it.

At the Limit Salvation Army store tonight they had a fundraising auction.  All the items had been donated, so I wonder how well they will do.