Care Force Chronicle- Miami, FL

By Dan Nemiroff 

Hillel Volunteers hard at work building benches

Partner: Hillel

Volunteers: 85

Service Partner: Northwest Boys and Girls Club, Kline Boys and Girls Club, Kendall Boys and Girls Club

When: March 22-25, 2011

TCF: Aundrea Dean and Dan Nemiroff
Reserves: City Year Miami Corps Members: Kristi Demartino, Marvin Toliver, Vanessa Christiansen, and Drew Campbell; City Year Miami Senior Corps Members: Dan McGinnis, Chris Cartagena; City Year Miami Staff: Noah Youngstrom and Aaron Gougis

Aundrea Dean and I had the pleasure of touching down in beautiful Miami on March 20th after a few long, freezing months in Boston! That day, we got settled, made a few runs to stock up on supplies and got some rest.

On Monday morning we finally got to meet our team of awesome City Year Miami Corps Members, after weeks of emails and phone calls. We had a lot of work to do to get prepared for the Hillel students who would be coming the next morning to perform physical and human services with three different Boys & Girls Clubs in Miami. Throughout the day, the team cut wood, organized tools, sketched murals, and primed walls at the Northwest Boys & Girls Club. The Northwest Club, located in Opa Locka, provides great services to the community, and is a safe haven for the students that it serves. Their staff, headed by Unit Director, Mr. Wilcox, was very welcoming to us, and super helpful in assisting us as we prepared for the exciting week ahead. That evening, Aundrea and I met Michelle and the other Hillel Staff members to talk about the week’s plan and get on the same page.


The Northwest Boys and Girls Club

On Tuesday morning, the Hillel students arrived at the Northwest Club and got off of the buses ready for service! The day started with some Physical Training and a warm welcome from Mr. Wilcox. Before we knew it, the teams were dividing up and getting to work! The work continued until a much needed lunch break. Once lunch was done, the Hillel students split into two teams and headed out to the Kline and Kendall Boys & Girls Clubs to help with the afterschool programs there. After two fun hours of playing, reading, art, and sports, Day 1 ended with a debrief and reflection about the day.

Wednesday and Thursday flew by, and the Hillel students provided amazing energy and hard work. Led by their City Year Project Coordinators, the students painted, built, organized, and cleaned in areas all around the Northwest Boys & Girls Club. Thursday also represented the students’ last days volunteering with the afterschool programs at the Kline and Kendall Clubs. Though bittersweet when saying goodbye, the volunteers seemed thrilled to be working with the afterschool students, and did an awesome job at helping out the wonderful staff members at those Clubs.



Newly Completed Mural Benches



On Friday the Hillel students came ready to put the finishing touches on all of the projects that they had worked hard at all week. By Friday afternoon the volunteers had finished painting 20 decorative panel murals, building, painting and installing a new entrance sign, painting 4 wall murals, repainting the art room, repainting the snack room, building 5 art tables, 2 bookshelves, 5 cubbies, 2 picnic tables, 8 backless benches, and 8 mural benches! A fantastic amount of work!

In all, the week was great. The Hillel students, from Binghamton, University of Maryland, UC Davis, Kent State, and Univercity of Illinois Urbana/Champagne were flexible, hard-working, energetic and really passionate about service. For Aundrea and I, this was the first project that we were able to lead on our own. We loved being able to plan out all of the details of the event, and learned a lot throughout the entire process. We also gained a profound respect for the work and leadership of all of the Care Force Staff members!

A special thank you to everyone from Hillel, especially Mimi & Michelle who were incredibly supportive in planning the week. Also, a huge thank you to the prep team from City Year Miami!



Dan and Aundrea with the City Year Miami Prep Team!