The Job Readiness Program

18: The number of days I could take on vacation right now if I were to use all my sick, personal and comp time.

For the past several weeks I've been in contact with Stacy Keys, an employment specialist at the Greene County Adult Probation Courthouse. She has also been working on the Job Readiness Program, which is geared toward assisting probationers overcome barriers to employment.

The class occurs three times a week for three weeks, and she wanted a Benefit Bank employee to appear as a "guest speaker" for the first day of the program. So yesterday I loaded my car with my laptop, Quick Check cards, and several marketing flyers and drove out to Xenia.

There were five people in the program, and I went ahead and gave a brief presentation about what the Benefit Bank is and how it could help them. Everyone in attendance was interested in applying for health care. Unfortunately, they were all middle aged single men, and the Benefit Bank mostly helps the elderly, disabled, or families with children. While doing Quick Checks for everyone, I realized that they were mostly living with friends or relatives, and none had acquired a job yet. Everyone was at least eligible for food stamps and prescription assistance, so at least there was that. But I still felt kind of helpless because no one was eligible for health care. It was especially frustrating when someone told me that he thought he could be proved disabled, but he couldn't afford the hospital bills for the technology it would require to prove it. What do you do in that situation? Completely stuck.

It was frustrating, but I'm glad I was able to go. At least they're a little more aware of what they can apply for and what they're eligible for.

Cover the Uninsured

12: The number of people who applied for medical benefits at Cover the Uninsured.

I'm happy to report that I am in a much better mood this week than I was last week. For one thing, the spyware that had infected my computer is completely gone, thanks to our IT person in Columbus, Rebekah Moser. You have no idea what a relief it is not having to close those tiny warning boxes every five minutes.

Also, this is just a four-day week for me. My boyfriend, Kyle, is buying a condo and is going to start moving in this Friday. Yay! I took the day off so I could help him out.

AND, while working on a Saturday is never really a fun time, participating in Cover the Uninsured this weekend was not as bad as I thought it would be. I had fully expected to arrive only to have no idea what I was doing. I had planned to follow the lead of whoever was sitting next to me. But by the end of the day, the other volunteers were looking at me whenever our customers had questions.

The event lasted from about 9 a.m. to noon. We (me and two other volunteers) had a table set up near the pharmacy at the Kroger in Forest Park, equipped with applications for programs like food stamps, prescription assistance and Healthy Start. We had a pretty good stream of people coming through all day, and we ended up filling out applications for a dozen people.

I was starting to feel pretty good about myself when I was able to answer questions that no one else had an answer for. The one really frustrating part of it was not being able to use the Benefit Bank. It would have made the whole process so much easier. It was difficult hearing people say how redundant and confusing the applications were without giving everyone a pitch about why they should just come to Shared Harvest on Monday to use the Benefit Bank.

Okay, I even handed out a few business cards.

Anywho, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. At least my experience went a lot better than Kaitlyn's did.

Celebrate You

1.6 billion: The number of times my computer has told me I am infected with spyware (or so it seems).

This has not been the easiest week so far. This Saturday Kaitlyn and I will be going to two different area Krogers to help people apply for Medicaid (without using the Benefit Bank, those sillies) for this event called Cover the Uninsured. It's only a few hours in the morning, so it's not really a big deal, but no one likes working on Saturdays.

Yesterday I went to a training in Troy, where for some reason or another they were not aware that the OBB had reserved the computer lab there. Fortunately, it was only booked in the morning. Unfortunately, we had to start the class about 20 minutes late until it freed up.

Today my computer has been popping up messages every two minutes telling me that it has been infected with spyware. Not really sure what to do in this case. I'm not going to pay to install the security system it keeps recommending. And other than the annoying pop-ups, it's running completely fine. So I'm going to go ahead and pretend all is well.

So, enough complaining. I just wanted to share something that always cheers me up when I am down. I got this poem(?) when I was at a conference for the Ohio Benefit Bank. We were supposed to be learning about customer service. It turned into some kind of hardcore, confidence-boosting hugfest. You'll laugh, you'll cry, your heart will melt into a pile of warm goo.

Or you'll just laugh.

Enjoy.

CELEBRATE YOU
You are worth celebrating.
You are worth celebrating.
You are unique.
In all the world, there is only one you.
There is only one person with your talents,
your experience, your gifts.
No one can take your place!
You are precious.
You have immense potential to love, to care,
To create, to grow, to sacrifice,
if you believe in yourself.
It doesn't matter your age, or your color,
or whether your parents loved you or not.
(Maybe they wanted to, but didn't know how.)
Let that go, it belongs to the past; you belong to the now.
It doesn't matter what you've been, the wrong you've done,
the mistakes you've made, the people you've hurt. You are
forgiven. You are accepted, you're ok.
CELEBRATE YOU.
Begin now. Start now. Give yourself a new birth. Today.
You are you, and that is all you need to be.
You are temporary. Here today and gone tomorrow.
But today, today can be a new beginning, a new thing, a
new life. You deserve this new life, it is given freely. That
is the miracle called life.
So celebrate the miracle and CELEBRATE YOU!

I hope that made everyone who reads this a better, well-adjusted and confident individual.

Happy Easter!

74,452: The pounds of food we collected from Stamp Out Hunger last year.

It seems like most of the world got to stay home from work for Good Friday, but Kaitlyn and I are still here at Shared Harvest. It reminds me of when we had 11 inches of snow and my car was the only one on the road.

I know I haven't written in a while, but that's because not much has been going on. I had a very crowded training in Dayton last week. If one more person asks if they just completed a taxes or benefits training I am going to scream. We had our regional VISTA meeting with Martha on Wednesday, which is always fun. It's great to see how the other VISTAs are doing. Plus, Martha always brings in a ton of food.

And I had my first Stamp Out Hunger meeting with Tina and Bob, two fellow Shared Harvest employees. We're going to need to recruit a lot of volunteers in Butler County, so if you want to help out with a good cause, please let me know! We need some strong people to help us transport thousands of pounds of food from one truck to another.

I'm really glad it's the weekend. I can't decide if this week went by really fast or if it dragged. Everything is starting to blur together.