Projects to be completed for this event: Construct an outdoor classroom, 5 benches, 2 cubbies, and 2 bookcases; Paint 3 classrooms, 3 hallways, 10 canvas murals, 2 outdoor wall murals, and 10 indoor wall murals; Assemble new furniture and new electronics for classrooms.
Day of Travel:
Hour 1 - Arrive at Boston Logan International Airport at 7 am East Coast time. Flight delayed.
Hours 3, 4, & 5 - Crying baby in the plane seat behind me.
Hour 12 - Arrive in a Midwest city at 9 pm central time. Drive to the hotel.
Hour 13 - Go to bed.
Prep Day 1
Hour 1- Wake up at 7 am. Eat breakfast at hotel. Eggs and bacon. I love bacon. Drive to service site.
Hour 2 - Arrive at service site. Service site is old. Faded. Underserved. Care Force circles as a team
and performs a readiness check—Timberland boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in.
Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude—then we meet the staff at the community center. Staff thank us for coming. They all have big smiles and are very excited for the work we are going to perform there.
Hour 3 - Tape fixtures and tarp floor so paint will not get on them.
Hour 4 - Unload wood order from Home Depot for our construction projects. 400 pieces of lumber to be exact. Who needs the gym when you can just move pieces of lumber for your day job? Measure wood. Cut wood. Shop for groceries to make lunch for the week.
Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch.
Hour 6 - Measure and cut more wood.
Hour 7 - Measure and cut more wood. That’s right. More. I’m thankful for my team. Committed and hard working.
Hour 8- Kids arrive at center. They ask us what we are doing. We tell them we are preparing for a day of service. They smile and go to their afternoon programs.
Hour 10 - We end the day early. We debrief the day. Rose: I love the staff at the community center. Thorn: didn’t finish cutting wood. Drive to hotel.
Hour 11 – Team and I explore the city. Amazing city. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Taco Tuesday. Yum-o. Drive back to hotel.
Hour 15- Go to bed. Tired.
Prep Day 2
Hour 1 - Wake up at 7 am. Eat breakfast at hotel. Eggs and bacon again. But I love bacon so it’s okay. Drive to service site.
Hour 2 - We circle as a team and perform readiness check. Boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude.
Hour 3 - Finally cut the 400th piece of wood. Hooray!
Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch.
Hour 6 - Start sketching murals on walls. Lots of murals.
Hour 8 - Talk to the youth during their afterschool program. Play a round of kickball with them. Nice kids. Kids’ team beats my team at kickball. We share a glorious round of high-fives.
Hour 9 - Sketch more murals. Some in classrooms, some outside.
Hour 12 - Day ends late. We debrief the day. Rose: Playing games with the kids at the community center. Thorn: no thorns. Dinner at a BBQ restaurant. Baked mac n’ cheese, BBQ tips, and cornbread never tasted so good. Drive to hotel.
Hour 14 - Go to bed. Very tired.
Prep Day 3
Hour 1- Wake up at 7 am. Eat Breakfast at hotel. Don’t they have anything other than eggs and bacon? Oh that’s right. Sausage. Eat eggs and bacon. Drive to service site.
Hour 2 - We circle as a team. Boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude. Sketch murals again. This time on canvas.
Hour 4 - Start dividing paint for all the murals.
Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch. You can never get tired of sandwiches.
Hour 5.5 - Talk to the Staff at the community center about their programs. Great people. We share stories of running activities with youth. We share laughs about youth running us.
Hour 8 – Sketching complete. We begin sorting tools and materials for the big day tomorrow.
Hour 10 - Youth leave center. Move all 400 pieces of lumber to various locations for the different construction projects tomorrow. Gosh I’m going to have really muscular arms by the end of this year. Team agrees with me. I’m going to have really muscular arms by the end of this year.
Hour 13 - Drive to a department store to shop for furniture and electronics. Eat dinner in the food court inside the store. Salty pretzel hits the spot. We debrief the day. Rose: Everyone’s Can-Do attitude. Thorn: I smell bad. Drive back to hotel.
Hour 16 - Arrive at 11 pm. Go to bed. Exhausted.
Event Day
Hour 1 - Wake up at 5 am. The team and I go to IHOP because the hotel doesn’t start cooking eggs and bacon until 6. I order coffee. Lots of coffee. Drive to service site.
Hour 3 - We circle as a team and perform readiness check. Timberland boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude. Finalize moving all the tools/materials/furniture/electronics/paint to their final destination.
Hour 4 - Volunteers arrive at 9am. Greet volunteers. Perform physical training—Front, Side, Back, Side, Front. Jumping Jacks. Foot Fires— and begin a powerful day of service.
Hour 4.5 - Show my team of volunteers to the room they will be remodeling. Paint room.
Hour 6 - Paint 2nd coat.
Hour 7 - Lunch break. Check in with Program Manager, see how other projects are progressing.
Hour 8 - Assemble furniture. Assemble more furniture.
Hour 9 - Volunteers discuss where furniture should go.
Hour 9.25 - Mediate volunteers discussions before it is too late and newly assembled furniture is accidently thrown out the window in a brawl.
Hour 10 - Clean beautiful, newly remodeled room. My team of volunteers and I debrief the day. Some reoccurring roses I hear: “working with co-workers outside an office setting,” “making a difference in the community,” “volunteering can be fun,” “having the chance to get their hands dirty.” Some thorns I hear: “I’m going to be sore in the morning,” “I smell bad,” “I wish I could participate in a event with City Year more often.”
Hour 10.5 - Watch youth enter room and become overwhelmed with joy. More high-fives are shared.Watch staff and community members enter room and become overwhelmed with joy. Watch staff cry from joy.
Hour 11- Say sad Goodbyes to all the wonderful people I have met—community members, youth, my team of volunteers—in a brand new, enchanting city I have never visited before. Clean up any remaining messes around center.
Hour 13 – Dinner at a steak house. I order a salad. Too tired to eat a 16 oz steak. Get in some last minute sightseeing. Drive to hotel.
Hour 16 - Sleep like I’m dead.
Next Day
Hour 1 - Arrive in a Midwest city airport at 8 am central time. Flight delayed.
Hour 3, 4, 5 - Snoring person in the plane seat behind me.
Hour 10 - Arrive at Boston Logan International Airport at 8pm east coast time. Go home to my apartment. Happy, I get to sleep in my own bed.
Next Next Day
Hour 1 - Wake up at 7. Refreshed and rejuvenated.
Hour 2 - Commute to City Year Headquarters of Idealism.
Hour 3 - Begin researching the next event. Excited and with a heart full of grace.
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