Looking back, my first progress report was much more optimistic than this. After observing different aspects of my organization, I have seen how the organization itself works and how informally it handles problems and treats its volunteers. There are more rules and restrictions placed upon the clients as opposed to the volunteers, many of whom are clients themselves. The volunteers who are also clients do not have to wait in my organization’s line nor do they have to immediately accept whatever is given to them in their box. Grace*, the coordinator of the food bank area, does her best to ensure that the volunteers who receive food boxes receive the items they want. While my organization does do its best to cater to the needs of the clients, there still is a disconnect between those who are volunteers and those who are clients. I interacted more with fellow volunteers than the clients themselves. There is a stronger sense of community amongst the volunteers than with the people we are trying to help.

This organization does not address structural problems at all, structural problems that could help the organization itself work better. There are no volunteers who teach the clients about the economy or how to lobby Congress for economic change. There are no volunteers who are informed about policy making decisions or are willing to spend Friday nights protesting on a street corner for positive changes to be toward EBT cards and Food Stamps.  Instead, my organization’s aim is for clients to have a series of food boxes that add up to roughly $300 a month, and the pastor encourages clients to spend the money they are supposedly saving on their bills as opposed to anything else. My organization maintains the status quo. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it does not help its clients in the long run. Instead, it perpetuates the problem like someone trying to scoop out water from a sinking ship. The organization will change if there is a sudden increase in the amount of clients but it will not change in order to actually work at solving, at the very least, local structural problems.

When the food the clients receive is either expired, junk, or not what they particularly enjoy, it does not ameliorate the situation, but instead creates a relationship between my organization and its clients that basically says “Well I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but here’s this food box that has some items that add up qualitatively to roughly seventy-five dollars.” My organization sometimes sacrifices quality in order to achieve efficiency and to always have a surplus of items. These are pragmatic reasons, but they only help the organization, not the clients. Clients cannot go to the store to pick out their own eggs. They have to rely on the judgment and the cleanliness of the person who is putting together egg cartons or egg bags. These iffy, at times problematic standards create a discourse which forces a client to accept these sacrifices and compromises because the alternative is having nothing or at least not enough.

I believe that clients should not have to accept lower standards in order to survive, and I think there is more that could be done in order to ensure that dignity and quality is always at the forefront of the organization’s goals. I think my organization is open minded about it, but I think there should be more organization amongst the volunteers.

The organization that I volunteered at this semester is a non-profit organization centered in the city of Redlands and caters to a variety of people in the city and provides a number of successful and vital resources for these people. I volunteered there all semester and found a great depth of care for those that they were helping and a firm structural foundation on which the organization was built. The volunteers at this organization are dedicated, kind, and caring individuals who are really trying to do the best for these families, but are operating within a structural system that doesn’t always allow them to reach everyone or help in the best ways possible. There are certainly failings on behalf of the organization itself, but these people and this group is really doing what they can for those they are trying to help, but seem to be met with obstacles at many points.

The organization I volunteered with feels the controls of our structural system in a variety of ways, but mainly in dealing with getting families in need into low-income housing. As we discovered pretty early on in the semester, it is not easy to live on a minimum wage budget in our city, and there are little to no options for quality, low cost apartments for those in need. In my time at this organization I have observed the frustration most of the workers feel that there is only a limited amount of services that they can provide for these families, and sometimes there isn’t anything they can do to keep them in quality housing. I think that if they could, and if they were supported by the city, they would be building low-income housing all over the city, because as I’ve observed and talked to different volunteers about, they see this as one of the biggest issues facing their clients today.

I know that the this organization does everything in their power to help families throughout the Inland Empire get back on their feet and helps them in any and every way that they can, but sometimes it felt like it wasn’t enough, especially after talking to an employee from an organization that builds low income housing and hearing everything he was able to do in his state for homeless and borderline homeless families and individuals. One of the most glaring problems with my volunteer site is that they are stuck in a small town where the majority of the citizens are conservative and focused on maintaining a certain image about the city and those that run the organization cannot really move in any direction to enact change on a larger scale. I think it’s hard to criticize this organization for this issue, as it is not something that anyone can really control. I know that if they could, this organization would be building low-income housing all over the place and lobbying congress to change the laws, regulations and “red tape” policies that keep people in poverty throughout the country, but they are a small organization trying their best to help the people in their community, and they are doing the best they can under these circumstances.

So far as an Intern at the Homeless Youth Shelter, I have learned a lot about how to be a positive role model, provide resources and raise awareness of the structural causes of homelessness. I have been lucky to work with diverse staff who care about the youth and see the societal issues that force youth into unhealthy and dangerous situations. All of the staff always encourage the youth and never blame them.  The youth are given a safe space where they can learn, play, have fun and fully be themselves without being judged. Many of the youth share everyday that they are grateful to be at the shelter in such a supportive community. This month the youth had the opportunity to go to Sacramento to support youth by participating in legislative visits with some of our state representatives and participate in the California Coalition for Youth Taking Action Conference for 2014. Staff come with great knowledge to share such as Just heard a great presentation by John Doe the director of FYSB. He had an inspiring story of growing up in the projects and now the director of all federal funding for homeless youth projects. Now we get to have a round table discussion to ask the hard questions.”   One of the shelter staff shared with me that some youth are “expected” to follow a certain path based upon family history, socioeconomic status, and many other factors. This does not have to be the case. One way to abate human trafficking is by having higher hopes and dreams for our youth.  There is always more to the story. We so often hear people who mindlessly judge youth for being promiscuous based upon what is on the surface. Another staff member shared with me her personal story as a survivor of human trafficking and  now travels to conferences, events and schools to educate people! The shelter staff  are continually striving to build bridges between themselves, the youth and their families which begins with basic respect and finding commonalities. It’s nice to see kids who are going through so much, just relax and be kids once in awhile. As an intern I have had the privilege to lead spoken word/poetry and art therapy groups with the youth. So far the youth have loved these groups, and have opened up their hearts with each other.  The youth have thanked me for being supportive, listening and treating them with equal respect. The youth are very creative and have a lot of inspiring wisdom and support to give each other. Through working with the youth I have learned a lot from them.  It is inspiring to hear them share their goals, dreams, values and beliefs. Recently I have been doing research for a Resource Binder that is used to provide resources to the youth after they leave the Shelter. I hope the youth continue to participate in  programs, groups and communities which will support them in following their goals and dreams. Its painful knowing that when the youth leave many of them are going back to horrible and messy situations without family support. All of the youth have case managers cell phone numbers and are encouraged to call whenever they just need someone to talk to or need help to get out a situation. All of the staff, who I have had long conversations with see the structural causes of homelessness and do not blame the youth. I feel proud to work for this organization and will continue to next year until I graduate.

For the past few months, I have been interning at a local organization that provides services to families who are either homeless or very low income and in need of assistance in a variety of areas to meet their basic needs. Throughout my time spent here volunteering in several different areas of outreach, I have learned a lot about the organization as a whole including their strengths and their weaknesses. I have been able to see some of the positive impacts that this agency provides as well as flaws that hinder their abilities to serve at their full potential, both of which are important to closely examine when considering the agency as a whole.

Because this agency has been in existence for over one hundred years, it is evident that their model is in many ways successful and they have been able to ensure their continued existence. They are able to serve thousands of families each year, providing more than just basic supplies for survival. They are a staple of the community and without them it is without doubt that there would be a significantly larger number of street homeless individuals. Their staff consists of many hard working and dedicated workers that are truly invested in the well-being of their clientele.

While this organization is beneficial to the community and is able to positively impact the lives of many, like any other agency it too has its downfalls. Many of these shortcomings are directly related to funding issues and are in some ways out of the control of the staff. Because of budget cuts and lack of grant support in recent years, the staff and administration have suffered dramatic cut backs at a time when the community needs assistance the most. These cuts have in many ways been devastating for the organization, with their current strategy seeming to be to focus on maintaining their assistance instead of growing it.

Because this agency has suffered cuts in their staff, there is currently a lack of stability in some ways. This means that when emergency situations come up, the staff has to find ways to adapt and meet the challenges of the situation. An example of this was evident one day when the only child care supervisor had an emergency and had to leave, causing a case manager to have to fill that role and leaving her own position empty. It seems to be a constant juggling act for the workers and this ultimately impacts the quality of care that is provided to the clients.

As a volunteer, the biggest shortcoming on the part of the organization that I witnessed is their lack of willingness to discover the talents and individual skill sets of their unpaid assistants. While they do allow the volunteers to choose which existing areas they would feel most comfortable in, they do not encourage them to use their talents in unique new ways that could advance the organization as a whole. Because the staff of this agency is limited in size and there is such a huge reliance on the help of volunteers, I feel that ignoring the ways in which these people could advance this agency leaves a huge gap in their ability to expand.

Overall, this agency is very successful and during my time spent there I have had the ability to learn about their values and methods of outreach and was able to actually see the ways that these actually impact the community. While it is obvious that they are in many ways successful and undoubtedly help a wide array of people in more ways than most would realize, it is equally important to look at their deficiencies and issues that stand in the way of them expanding and reaching more individuals who desperately need their assistance.

Homeless Solutions is a non-profit in Morristown New Jersey which develops and provides emergency shelter, transitional and affordable housing.  They also provide services for families,  people with mental disabilities, single men and women.  They also have a furniture resale store which provides low priced furniture for people in need.   Volunteers can prepare meals,  assist with shopping provide childcare, and  share knowledge through teaching workshops on reading comprehension, budgeting and stress management.  Youth Leaders of Homeless Solutions  educate, fundraise and network to  raise awareness about homelessness and affordable housing. This is a diverse non-profit which provides affordable housing, furniture, resources, services, meals, and childcare. Homeless Solutions is effectively providing a variety of help for people and  is in tern combating the structural causes of homelessness. I am grateful that organizations like Homeless Solutions exist. I believe there needs to be more organizations and developers that provide affordable housing  across the U.S. This organization inspired me to look for similar organizations in CA, that I could potentially volunteer and work for! Through my research I found  Non-Profit Housing  Association of Northern California. NPH is a collective voice of those who spuuport, build and finance affordable housing. This includes The Bay Area Quality of Life Initiative aims to put a ballot measure on the nine-county Bay Area ballot (by November 2016) that will raise dedicated funds for parks and open space, transportation and transit, climate adaptation and affordable housing of %750 million to $1 billion. annually.The housing element is a long-term plan for how a local jurisdiction plans to adequately meet the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community.

When given an organization that no student has “good luck” with, my initial perception was skewed. Yet, after volunteering for the past several weeks, I have gained a new outlook on life and have a different perception of society. I learned the most from the volunteers rather than the people using my internship’s services. Life is full of all kinds of obstacles that people face. The most valuable thing I have learned is that anyone can bounce back from an unfortunate turn of events; all it takes is dedication and a little bit of help along the way. The organization I volunteered at attempts to be that helping hand to aid people’s success. Even thought they have a religious foundation, that does not come into play when they are actually providing a service to the community.

Volunteers do not necessarily do it for the fact that the cause is a good on; people volunteer for themselves most of the time. This being said, the people I have met because they had to volunteer were more interesting than the people who came to receive services. The volunteers have gone through everything we have talked about in class but have turned it around somewhat to have a place to live but they still have to pay back the societal debt that they owe. Based off of their mission and goals, my internship lives up to everything they promise. Yet, the way in which they complete those tasks do not seem to be aligned with the image they hope to convey. It is hard work day in and day out to provide these services to those who need it. Yet, this kind of “work” should be viewed as help rather than a burden in a schedule.

The point and intended purpose of this internship was supposed to be learning about the structure of these organizations and how they live up to their mission. However, the internship caused me to learn more about the societal structures of poverty and homelessness, how even in this situation there are people who exert dominance, and how picky people with nothing can be. Additionally, the “work” that I did was just manual labor of lifting boxes, filling them with food, and taking them to people’s cars.

I value the feeling of helping others and this experience heightened that feeling and more. The internship allowed me to go out of my comfort zone due to the fact I have never volunteered somewhere by myself. Being alone through this process  enabled me to reflect and appreciate my time that much more. Hunger and homelessness are issues that will not be resolved in my lifetime. However, I know that I am able to do my part in helping where need be. Now, I know that others are out there to help as well; the difference lies in intent and the effect of the service. This passion I have for the issues surrounding hunger and homelessness will always be instilled within me and I know I will continue serving my community in one way or another because of my internship.