Category: 2009-2010

Catherine C PEN Visit 4

My fourth visit at PEN was an interview with Stacy in her office. I would say it was more of a discussion than an interview. We talked about the festival PEN was organizing, which was, ironically, the same day as our teach in. We also talked about a lot of imprisoned writers and about censorship in America. We compared it to censorship in other countries, and Stacy made a point about how even though the struggle was less known, it was still there. She explained how in a lot of places censorship is used and widely known for a reason. They want people to be afraid, they use the fear to their advantage. The difference is, in America, the censorship is concealed.

PEN America – Josh C – 3/12/10

On this visit we had interviewed Stacy at the PEN American Center. Catherine wasn’t able to make it so it was just Danica, Nathaniel, and I. I had around 10 or so questions that weren’t very long or to short, while Danica had 15 very long questions and Nathaniel had around 7 or 8 very long questions. We had the interviewed Stacy in the room where we held the workshop with the kids from the different school. One of my biggest questions was which country gave PEN the most trouble because I have never liked China’s government and wanted to make sure that i was right about them not letting to many artists have free expression. Well, it turns out that I was right about that. After China Cuba had given them the most trouble. After both Nathaniel and I’s questions were answered, we kind of zoned out because Danica still had a lot of questions that we didn’t even think about. Stacy had some orange juice out for Nathaniel because he really likes orange juice. He usually drinks around a carton or so every time we go.

Chase Bronx Visit

On this visit, I left school at 2:20 to visit a school, PS 335, that Dennis’ organization had already helped. I was pretty excited because I was finally going to be able to see what one of the schools we were helping looked like.

We rode the subway to the Bronx and got off. When we got to the school, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I know this isn’t true, but every time I think of an underprivileged school I think of a bombed out building with the children sitting on the floor. To my surprise, the school looked perfectly normal, though it was much, much bigger than my school. We met the vice principal in the lobby, and she led us up the art room. We went on to intervview a 5th grader, an art teacher, a parent coordinator and the vice principal with the same questions: Do you think the supplies help the children? How do the parents react? Do the children seem more interested or excited about school?

The teachers said that the children were extremly happy and grateful about getting the supplies, and that their work did seem to improve.

We left after the interviews, and I was even more excited that the efforts we had been making would pay off.

Here is a link to the Youtube video of the supplies being delivered

Getting Tools to City Schools

This was my first visit. It was on 2/10/10.

On this visit, I went to the library at LREI with Ben, Miral, Jason and Bryce to talk to Dennis Kitchen. Dennis is the founder of Getting Tools To City Schools, and was happy to meet with us. As this was my first visit, I was kind of lost, because I thought we would actually be going somewhere.  But I eventually caught up and realized that the visit came to us. Basically, we are trying to raise awareness about the organization and raise money to purchase supplies to give to underprivileged schools in New York . Ben and Miral took notes.

It was cool to meet the actual founder of the organization. I didn’t think we would be that lucky.  I admire him because he’s working for other people, not himself and creating something that is not for profit.

Noel-5th Visit to LES girls club, 4/14/10

Today, Josh Harry and I went back to the LES girl club for our last (required) visit. While there, we talked to Jenny about the walk-a-thon. There, Jenny and one of her associates that keeps track of the website stress the importance of us getting sponsors. So far we have made it half way to our goal, but we have to keep pushing forward. We (being Harry and I) have to contribute more the the raising money and getting sponsors, because Josh has raised 500$ so far. Our goal is 1000$, now Harry and I don’t have to raise as much money as Josh because he set the way for us. So now we need your help. Everyone that’s reading this post can donate. Simply, go to the website, girlsclub.org, and in the bottom-left corner underneath the upcoming events column there will be something that says “DONATE”. Click on it, then in the next new page there will be a selection of options. The second one down will be on the Walk-A-Thon. Click on that, then you can either register or donate. Donations are done through credit card. To register you will have to follow some steps that it will tell you once you click on it. Though once you register, it will ask you if you want to join a team or make your own. Pick join a team, type in “LREI Knights”. The captain will be Josh Wilson, and the two other members will be Noel Diggs and Harry Davidson. We need at least 10 people on our team, we can have as many as we want there is no maximum number, the more support the better. Each member can get other people to join and also donate. So once you become a member of our team then you can ask to be sponsored by friends or family. Also, ask those friends to register and asked to be sponsored by someone else. We will be making announcements at middle school meeting later on, most likely next Wednesday.

Josh LES Girls Club 4/14/10

For our last visit with the girls club we didn’t do that much.  I am not saying that we didn’t do anything important though.  We sat down with Jenny and she started to talk to us about the walk-athon.  She really liked the fact that we already raised 500 dollars, but she wanted us to raise 500 more and get 7 more people to join our team.  I was thinking that it was going to be easy to do that because our friends will want to go to the (parade like) walk-athon.  Each team will be paired with a Girls Club member “co-captain.” Teams will compete for prizes in several categories including: most members, most funds raised, most creative, and most spirited. There is no fee to register a team.  So it i obviously important for us to get a lot of members.

This is how you sign up for our team in the walk-athon (the Knights).  You go to girlsclub.org and you click walk-athon for health may 15.  Than you click the big red button that says register.  Than on the right you will see a couple of pink links, the one that says register you want to click on.  You fill in the bubble i need to create an account and press next.  You than fill out all of the information it asks you (it is a trustworthy organization so they wont exploit your info).  From there you pick the team you want to join and preferably make some donations or campaign for our team.  If you want to donate and not join our team, which is still very nice, you basically do the same thing but instead of filling out your info, you fill out your credit card info and pick a person on the team to donate to.  We are excited to see everybody that shows for the walk-athon and our work pay off.

Niles Ellis-4/13/10-Merill Moore, Police Officer NYPD

Today, I met and visited with one Merill Moore.  He is a police officer in the NYPD.  Day in and Day out he works to stop cirme all over the city.  He specifically does a lot fo work to stop gun violence in all neignborhoods and boroughs.  I spoke with him about the probes and tactics that the police use to stop gun violence in the city.  Some of the tactics that are being used are guns for money, gun drives, tip lines, gun search warrants and frisking and debreifing on the rise.  Cops are now supposed to and they are allowed to search any person in their custody for guns.  There are now specific units and task forcesmade to stop gun violence.  I spoke to another detective, who told about being on one of these anti-crime task forces.  he said that the captain would send him and 5 other detectives out to patrol the neighborhood but in normal clothes.  Making them seem normal but they are really detectives looking for men and ttenagers who look like they’re could have a gun or know information.  The main reason why the NYPD created these things is to get these illegal and dangerous guns off the street.  Form a cop’s perspective the less guns on the street the better.  But when i was talking to Mr. Moore he also told me that he think that laws shoiuld be changed that deal with guns.  He feels that criminals, in America and overseas are way too easily let in and out of jail if they are convicted of gun charges.  Officers are now losing power, the force once had 45,000 men and women, now it is closer to 35,000.  More potential officers are finding other jobs because they are afraid or aren’t willing to risk their lives and not be properly cared for or that justice will be sought out.  But, there are still those like officer Moore and Detective Carl who still work to stop specifically gun violence all over this great city.  Saving the lives of innocent people like me and you.

Jasper Stallings, 3/9/10, AID for AIDS

Last Friday Alma, Olivia, Katharine, Lenny, Adam and I all went to AID for AIDS. When we go there we expected to be assigned to our usual task of folding pamphlets but this time they had something different in store for us. Our job was to take the pamphlets that we had folded on our previous visits and put them along with two condoms, and packet of lubricant into a Ziploc bag to be distributed all around New York city. AID for AIDS was giving out these little packets to encourage people to have safe sex and to teach them why it is so important. It felt good knowing that just one of these tiny packets that we were packing could save someone’s life from AIDS. We all got a lot of work done and at the end it felt good to see a heaping pile of Ziploc bags tightly sealed covering the entire table. We started with boxes of each material that would go into each packet and within an hour we were already asking for more supplies to pack. Even though my group has already gone five times we plan to continue our volunteering for a while longer. We will be working in the AIDS Walk so If you would like to support a very good cause, register to walk at, http://www.aidswalk.net/NEWYORK/takeaction/register.html

The AIDS Walk is on May 16 so I hope to see you there!

Jasper Stallings, 3/16/10, AIDS Walk

On March 16 I went to the AIDS walk office building with Matan, Lenny, Adam and Alma. On this visit we planned to have our interview with Shaun Shepard one of the head organizer of the New York AIDS Walk. We prepared some questions to ask Shaun about his work at the AIDS Walk.  Listed are a few of the questions that we asked Shaun Shepard in our interview.

. Personal connections with HIV/AIDS: Shaun had a Cousin born infected with the HIV virus.

. Organization’s linked to Aids Walk: the most important partner of the AIDS Walk is the GMHC (Gay Mens Health Crisis), Duane Reade, the Gap, Macys, and about 30 other AIDS service organizations

. Importance of AIDS Awareness: Aids is an epidemic. It doesn’t affect one group but it affects the whole world. None of us are immune to it so we all need education and awareness about it.

. How much money does the AIDS walk bring in every year: in 1986 it raised $710,000 and in some of the more recent years it has raised as much as 105,000,000.

. Shaun’s job at the AIDS Walk: He supervises and hires workers and also supervises what jobs each worker is doing.

. What do you think is the most shocking statistic about AIDS/AIDS Walk: In some AIDS Walks there have been 50,000 walkers and only 24% of them fundraised. The other 76% might have thought that their money would go to the pockets of the people in charge of AIDS Walk. Also, Black Women between the ages of 15 and 24 are the biggest victims of HIV/AIDS.

After the interview we went back to work putting all of the boxes of posters into lines according to what type of poster was in the box. After aligning all of the full boxes we got to have a little bit of fun looking around the room for empty boxes and getting to stomp on them so they could be recycled. I think we all learned a lot on this visit.

Samantha-March 8,2010-IANSA

On March 8, Niles, Phoebe and I went to the IANSA office to practice and revise our presentation on gun violence and it’s relation to women. There we met with Mark Marge, Sarah Masters of the branch of IANSA in London, and Clare Hutchison from the UN Department of  Peacekeeping operations/PBPS. At this meeting we made our presentations as perfect as can be. The actual IANSA office was covered with public service announcements that had lots of facts about gun violence. After our meeting learened a little more about Sarah Masters, we discussed her work and how she got into gun violence.

Samantha-February 24,2010-ArtsEASTNY

On February 24, 2010, Niles, Phoebe and I met with one Catherine Green to discuss her organization ArtsEASTNY.She is founder and executive of this organization. The ArtsEASTNY organization is located in East  New York, where the gun violence rates is said to be the highest. Children within the East New York area have the choice of  participating in various types of art such as dancing, singing and drawing. The organization is funded by community leaders and those who contribute.

In East New York, children and teens outnumber adults by a huge ratio and gun violence is mostly seen amongst the young people. There’s been 24 murders, 678 robberies and 700 grand larcenies just in the past year. In the first few months of 2010 there were 3 murders. ArtsEASTNY is just one of many organizations working against gun violence.

Here is a picture of Catherine Green:catherinegreene

Max Fried-3/13/10-5th Visit-Village Temple

For our last visit I went with Taliana, Will, and Ruby G.  I brought my flip camera so that we could interview some people at the soup kitchen.  We ended up using the camera, and getting three great interviews.

Here they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pZn1r3UXs

Throughout all of our visits I think that the fifth and last visit was the greatest experience for me.  During each visit I would ask some of the workers if there was anything that I could do to give myself some more work.  By the final visit I already knew all of the things that I could do at the Village Temple that I ended up having no free time.  This was a complete transformation from my first visit which I was bored and I ended up sitting down and not doing much work.  We started of with the usual.  We cut vegetables for the soup, made sandwiches and then bagged the sandwiches.  Then Will and I went to Knickerbockers and  Trader Joe’s. On this day Trader Joe’s was all out of bread but one of the volunteers gave us some money to get some bread at a local supermarket.  I took a lot from this experience.  I learned many things and got to help out the hungry people in my community.  I am very glad that I chose to help out the Village Temple, and I wouldn’t take back this experience that I had with my peers.

AlmaBremond-AidForAids-April10th2010.

For my 8th visit I went to AidForAids with my group. We got there and there was some kind of technical problem (in the computer) because the “door man ” didn’t have our names in the computer so he didn’t let us up. Then later when LEnny call AidForAids the problem was solved. We got there and Hannah welcomed us in and gave us a bucket with condoms, an information sheet, a plastic bag and we were suppose to put them all in a plastic bag. That is pretty much all we did. When I was there I looked around and saw these people next to us, they looked like they were having a meeting.  There was about a five year old kid, I think he was probably one of the people’s kid. The only awkward thing when we go to the AidForAids is that it is like one office with one (I am exagerating) big room so we kind of feel bad if we talk and the feeling is kind of awkward. But the people are so nice there that it’s okay. The goals that I set for my next visits are to be more involved as I said in the earlier blog post and to benefit as much as I can from the information the people that work at the organizations know/ can give me.Often I want to ask questions at the organizations/ places but I am not sure if the question I want to ask is “ridiculously easy” or something that I should already know… That visit was pretty fun.

Nora-LINC-4/1/10

Vviane, Naomi, Kyla, and I went on our final visit to the 125th st McDonalds in Harlem.  This was the same place as our first visit, so we didn’t do anything different.  We recognized some kids from the last time we went to this activity.

We have become professionals! We wait for the kids to arrive, then we sing some songs including: there was a great big moose, and the ABCs.  Then we broke into groups of about 5 kids and begun to read to them.  I read three books to the children in my group, and I had some time left so I tried to teach them some important words.  All of them were so excited and seemed like they were having so much fun.  After everyone was done reading we came back into one big group and sang a couple more songs like: the wheels on the bus.  At the end all the kids got some food and ate patiently waiting for their parents to pick them up.  So that gave us a chance to talk to Mrs. D.

It wasn’t until after we left that we realized we forgot to take pictures with the kids.  We were having so much fun I guess we didn’t even think about it.  This whole experience has been a lot of fun.  I am glad I chose the topic I did, and I wish it could’ve lasted longer.

Julian-HUC-3/22/10

For my fifth and final visit, I once again visited HUC.  Before I went, I was very excited but a little sad because I knew that it was my last visit.  Once I was there, Ruby and I helped do the same things that we usually do, put the salad onto the plates, put the rest of the food onto the plates, put the plates onto the tables and serve the people.  This time, I also helped bring around the sandwich tray.  However, on this day, we weren’t serving sandwiches, we were serving leftover food and chicken.  I happened to notice a few things over the time that I volunteered at HUC.  I saw that about 90% of the people who visited were men, and I never saw one child even though I was told that they visit occasionally.  About three quarters of the people who visited were black, and the rest were either hispanic or caucasian.  There were very few Asians.  All in all I loved working here and I will probably visit on Mondays, even though I have finished my requirement.  If you have nothing to do on a Monday afternoon, I really believe that you should take some time to help out others.

Phoebe-IANSA-3/9/10

On March 9th we got to the same office we had been the day before at 9:30 to practice.  I wasn’t really nervous until I saw all the other speakers whom had come from all different countries just for this conference at the United Nations. Around twelve we headed across the street to the United Nations for the actual thing.  I got a little more nervous when we actually entered the room and I saw how many people were there.  A few other speakers went before us.  One that I found really interesting was Rebecca Gerome.  She went to a Cali, Columbia and she conducted many interviews with women and shared them with us. She and other speakers spoke about how guns are commonly used to intimidation and to threaten women. She spoke about a woman she met in Columbia, who wanted to get an education, but her husband did not want her to and did not let her.  He threatened her with a gun.  She was too scared that he would kill her so she didn’t try to go out and learn.  Many other women spoke.  I didn’t really know much about what gun violence was like in other countries before, I only really knew about America, and specifically New York City.  I had no idea that is what that bad in other countries as well.  I thought everyone else’s speeches were very interesting and it was definitely a learning experience.

Getting Tools to City Schools-Bryce Council-5th Visit

Today Dennis came in a bit late and a lot of people left. We worked on the chart with him and completed it. Chase helped cut the paper in order to make the chart and Jason helped color and glue he chart together. I helped with the making of the title and colored in a few other pieces at the bottom.I had robotics that day as well so I got to the chart late and could not help much with the completion of the chart. Afterwards, Jason left and I had to to take the chart upstairs and see how it would look on the bulletin board. Then we made a few changes and put it in Mark’s Office. Now chart might be n the board in a couple of days. I can’t recall the information that we put on the chart but we had so many pencils we can’t put it on one page.

Written by Comments Off on Getting Tools to City Schools-Bryce Council-5th Visit Posted in Bryce Council

Phoebe-IANSA-3/8/10

Niles, Samantha, and I went to IANSA to meet with Sarah Masters and Mark Marge.  We had to finish our presentation for how gun violence relates to women that was the next day was good.  Before we headed over to their offices we worked at the school for a few hours to add any last things to it, make changes the video, and practice.  I was a little nervous because I felt like we were unprepared and we definitely needed more practice.  Once we got to the IANSA offices we presented our whole presentation to Sarah Masters and she made many changes.  The changes she made really made it sound a lot better.  We also went over our video of women who have been affected by gun violence that are taking a stand.  We took one of our clips out because it worked out better if we just spoke about her rather than showed her in the video.  The office had many desks and there were many public service announcements around the room.  It gave me a lot of ideas about what to do for my own PSA.  There was one poster that had the statistic “1,000 people die everyday from gun violence”.  Then the whole page was completely filled with 1,000 stick figures and a few smaller pictures on the front.  After we fixed/finished our whole presentation  it made me feel a lot more comfortable because we were definitely more prepared after our meeting.  Sarah Masters then explained to us how the next day would work.  She told us we would have to arrive at that same office at 9:30 am to practice our presentation again.  She said that all the other speakers whom had come from all different countries would be there too, practicing just like us.  And that at 12:30 pm we would head over to the United Nations for the actual conference that would take place at 1:00 pm.

Kyla- LINC- 5th Visit

Viviane, Naomi, Nora and I attended another cross-aged reading at the McDonalds in Harlem.  This time we actually knew how to get there so we weren’t walking around trying to find our way.  We basically did the same thing as we did for our second visit. We sang  different songs like The Wheels on the Bus, Great Big Moose and ABC.  We each separated into different  groups, we each had about 4 or 5 kids to read to.  After each of us read at least 2 books we moved the chairs to the side and we sang some more songs.  Once that was over the kids started to eat.  Miss D offered to buy us some food, the other girls weren’t hungry but I was so I said yes.  Once I finished eating my McChicken and fries we left the McDonalds.

PEN America-NaT-Interview

Today, we went to the PEN America branch today for the third time to get an interview with Stacey Leigh. We had many questions, especially Danica, who had 3 pages full of questions. Josh had about 12 questions, and I had 1 page with about 8 really long questions. The way it worked was that since Josh and I weren’t that much into the conversation, so Danica read all of her questions, and we still listened intently even though we weren’t much for the conversation. Only a few times, Josh and I asked some questions. That was mainly what we did in that visit.

Harry-3.18.10-LESGC

Yesterday on our fourth visit we discussed the walkathon.  We have now raised 500 dollars! And that number is growing.  We are almost positive that we are going to reach our eventual goal of a 1000.  Our team really hasn’t been growing but the word is spreading around the school and we have written info about it on the board.  My parents are looking to donate and so are their friends.  Jenny and her associates are excited, we are too.  They described to us the parade like walkathon.  Hundreds of people dressing up and walking and dancing.  It is the most fun event they have and i found it very appealing I think using this information we will be able to recruit many more people.

Matan – 4/5/10 – AIDS Walk Volunteer Center

On april 5th, I went with everyone in my group to the AIDS Walk volunteer center. We were sat down at one table, being the 3rd and only kid-group there. There were three stacks of paper that each of us had to put in envelopes to ive to the people who will participate in the AIDS Walk. One paper had information about the AIDS Walk, another was an ad and the last was a fill-out sheet. I was surprised that there was even more paper work for people to distribute. I did not know that there was a whole envelope distributed, and not just one ad given, and you suddenly show up to the walk. There is more to it. I could now see why it took so long to prepare for the AIDS Walk. It’s not all year round, but they do work several months. They make posters, organize paperwork, organize boxes, recruit volunteers, etc. There is a lot to do, and why shouldn’t there be? This is quite an important issue. Scientists haven’t come up with the remedy yet, but they are still working on it.

Something that bothered me a little bit was the amount of volunteers each time I visited. There were only two groups (on average) that came to the AIDS Walk volunteer center other than us. I was disappointed that there were not many people in the room that took up the whole floor. One would think that more people would volunteer for such an important issue. But on the bright side, that eased the food funding when people came to volunteer.There was good food, an open, calm space, and everyone was quite relaxed and happy nothing like the regular office environment, except for the one in the show. I that that was quite nice.

Harry-3.11.10-LESGC

Yesterday we went to the Girls Club for our third visit.  When we arrived Jenny was not there.  So for the first five minutes Luna another employee, had us mingle with the girls while she waited for either the rest of the girls Jenny to get there.  When all of the girls were assembled Luna took us down stairs where we saw the girls go through a workshop, teaching them about their own psa project.  Although theirs was on video it had a similar message to ours.  Halfway through the workshop Jenny arrived and took us back up to the main floor where we discussed our psa’s and our visits to come.  Jenny then had a last minute discussion with us about our team for the walkathon that we are slowly bringing together.  We are also in the midst of finding donators and we have raised a few hundred so far but the goal is a thousand and we would really like to reach that goal.

Violet-3.2.10-Positive Exposure (Visit 5)

On March 2, Cheyenne, Parker, and I went to Rick Guidotti’s studio, Ruby could not make it. Although he was not there (he was on a trip to Tanzania), we were given instructions by Miche Griffin (my mother). We were told to pack envelopes for his upcoming event on Thursday, April 22. Miche gave us directions, and an example of how to stuff the envelopes. We made an assembly line, with Cheyenne packing the RSVPs into their envelopes, me packing the RSVPs into the media kits, then Parker packing the media kits into the envelopes. These jobs were a lot harder then all of us expected them to be, they had to be perfect since some people who were being invited would make a donation of $5,000. The easiest of the 3 jobs was putting the RSVPs into their envelopes, but they still had to be perfectly centered and tucked under the crease of the envelope. The jobs got harder while going down the line. The job of putting the RSVPs into the media kits was the moderately easy job, the RSVPs had to be centered in the crease of the envelope. The hardest out of all of the jobs was putting the media kit (with the RSVP inside) into the envelope, none of us were sure why it took the longest, but or some reason it did. The next day we had to go back to continue making them, then closing them, and labeling them.

Olivia-3.9.10-aidforaids

On friday, me, Alma, Jasper, Katharine, Lenny and Adam went to Aid for AIDS. We were given the task of packaging condoms, pamphlets and lubricant into small plastic ziploc bags. These were to be given out to people as protection against the spread of AIDS. I believe that we all worked very well. Since there were others working in the building and meetings were going on, we had to be quiet and focussed. We were all fast at the packaging and by the end of our visit we had a large pile of small ziploc bags containing the necessary tools for AIDS prevention. I like visiting Aid for AIDS because its a calm workplace where I believe we are truly benefitting the community. Also, it was nice to present our efforts to the workers at Aid for AIDS.

Cheyenne-Positive Exposure Interview-3.9.10

Violet and I went to her house and did homework etc until Miche and the two of us were all ready and calm to interview her since we had been laughing. If I knew how to add a Garage Band doc on to this post i would, since Miche gave Violet and I permission to record the interview. It was about 45 minutes. Something  I remember the most was when she was talking about a girl who came in. She was all sad-faced and leaning over when she got to the Positive Exposure studio. Then rick photographed her and talked to her a bit. By the time she was done, she seemed like a supermodel. She had her head up high and she was smiling, talking and walking confidently. It’s amazing how much of an effect Rick has on the people with albinism that he works with. Miche talked about how working with Rick changed the way she saw people and things. She had some experience in modeling beforehand which I thought was cool and she seemed passionate about her job. It was fun and by the end of the interview it was around 6:30 and I had to go but I thought it had gone well and I good information for my paper.

Cheyenne-Positive Exposure-3.3.10

We went back and got there around 12 or so. I don’t completely remember. We did more envelope stuffing. Miche ordered sandwiches for us, which were amazing. We had finished more than anticipated the day before, so we finished at around 3pm. We were not exactly the most focused people in the world in the last hour since we were finishing up. All I did that day was wipe dry-glue-seal envelopes with gross used water with glue in it from the day before of sealing envelopes. Once we thought we had forgotten to put RSVPs in some of the invitations that had already been sealed. So we opened up about 10 to find the envelope was just flatter than the rest from being under the stack of envelopes for so long. After we finished sealing, we added the labels and were good to go. There were less invites to be made than expected so we did less than we thought we did. There were only about 800 people invited and about 1,010 invites. so we did about 850 0f them, then packed up and left. I wanted to see how many people would reply. It was cool that we got to see that magazine columnists from prestigious and well known companies were invited. The assembly line moved so much faster than when each of us were doing all the steps individually.

Cheyenne-Positive Exposure-3.2.10

We went to the Positive Exposure office and were given instructions on how to stuff envelopes. I wasn’t completely sure what it was exactly that we were doing. I had never “stuffed envelopes” before. There were a few steps. We decided to make an assembly line like we did at the Waldorf with Go Red. The 1st step was to tuck a return card under the flap of a small envelope. Next, was tucking the envelope with it’s R.S.V.P. into the crease of an invitation. Next was to put the entire invitation into an envelope. Then to seal the envelope, and finally to add a pre-made label on the front, in the middle with a person’s address on it. These were the invitations to an event to raise money for Positive Exposure. It was a benefit, taking place on the 22nd of April. We will most likely, later be volunteering for, since we can go for free. It was actually harder to put the invites in the envelopes than the other steps. What made it annoying was that we had to make sure that each card was faced up, in the middle of the envelope, then tucked in the invitation a certain way. I had always wondered how organizations sent these things out. All of the specialized stationary, pre-made and ordered. I always think there seem to be machines and robots and computerized doohickeys for everything. But there’s a high chance that the other organizations actually either pay someone, hire and intern or get volunteers to do the job of stuffing. What made it fun was we took a break to play with buster and we were there together. If I was sitting in an office, with strangers, quietly stuffing envelopes.  We don’t have any pictures that I know of for this visit but for the most part we were sitting around a dining table with stacks of envelopes and invitations as well as RSVPs and labels. It was Trishka’s birthday and she was there with us stuffing envelopes. Rick was not there, but in Tanzania for a Photo shoot. But Will was there again. I’m curious to see the pictures that Rick takes back with him this time. I don’t know how long he stayed but when he comes back, if he hasn’t already I want to see the pictures. Miche said the envelope stuffing was a great help. So I feel “helpful.” We did not actually finish the job so we had to come back the next day.

Jason Boehm-3/10/10-Getting Tools to City Schools

Our visit with Dennis in the library today was very brief.  At 3:45 I headed into the library only to see Ivo, Carin, and Dennis.  It looked like Ivo was showing Dennis his PSA which looks very well done.  Once we were done with some small talk Dennis asked Ivo and I to print out our social justice paper.  He read them over giving us some constructive criticism.  We then realized that Miral, Chase, and Bryce were not at the library.  Me and Ivo went on a wild  goose chase to locate our missing members.  We weren’t very successful in locating our group.  I only found Bryce.  I asked him to print out his paper and he did.  After he went back to the science lab to finish robotics.  We then talked about things to add that will improve our papers.  After that we talked about some more fundraising activities and the poster we were going to construct.  All in all it was a very short meeting and Dennis really helped us with our papers.

Jason Boehm- 4/7/10- Getting Tools For City Schools

This wednesday I met Dennis and Carin in the art studio.  Ivo was up there working on yearbook.  We all said hello and talked about our spring breaks.  I noticed that not to many people were at the meeting spot.  Ivo and Bryce and Chase had some extra curricular commitments and Miral and Ben had other important plans.  So today it would be just Dennis and I.  We decided to create the poster to display all the materials we have collected and or goal, which is 22 full binders.  Since we were up in the art room we used common sense and got all the things we need to create this master piece.  Ivo helped us with this before he had to go.  We got two big pieces of oak tag and taped them together.  We then collected a sharpie, meter stick, and some pencils.  We went downstairs to Mommi’s room to use as our construction site.  First we looked at the model on Dennis iphone.  We had to divide that paper up so it would be is 7 equal columns. We separated it out and then sketched in the lines.  We then wrote in the categories and numbers.  I went over them with sharpie and then Chase came into help.  We went back up to the art room to get 6 different colors of construction paper.  We ran back down stairs to cut the paper into about 3.5 inch strips.  Once we got that out of the way we cut them again to the right amount of whatever material it was for.  I left at 4:15 and Bryce came in to put the finishing touches on the poster.  I look forward to seeing it in the school soon.  Hopefully more people will show up next time.

LES Girls Club 4 4/7/10

Noel and I went to the Girls Club the Wednesday before Spring Break.  We got there and Jenny was talking to couple of the mothers of some young girls that were just joining the Club.  She was talking to them about a dancing program that they could do or a singing program.  One of the girls asked if they could play basketball but the Girls Club don’t have those kind of facilities yet, but i am sure it is something that they will have in the near future.  We waited on the couch while we were waiting for Harry to get there and for her to finish her conversation with the mothers and we started to realized how comfortable we felt in the Girls Club because they are so warm and welcoming.

When Jenny was ready and Harry got there we all sat down and started discussing our team.  She was telling us how we can create accounts and how we can get people to donate to a certain person or how they can join our team.  She was wondering who would join the team or who would sponsor the team and we said that we could try to get people from the school to join the team and we would focus the donating more towards family and family friends.  She brought in one of the people who work on the website to teach us how to do all of the technical stuff on the website and even she was welcoming to us.  After she was done telling us how we can work the website Jenny started to talk to us about our last visit.  She said that we could get on the computers and send emails to people that inform them about the walk-athon.  I am excited and can’t wait to finish off our job at the Girls Club.

AlmaBremond-April5th2010-AidsWalk

3 Days ago I went to the AidsWalk wear house.  This is my 7th visit. When we got there we were folding papers and putting them into envelopes. The food there was something that was good (I don’t know the name of it…) and Chips. That’s all we did… I feel like when we go there we are given papers to fold and we ( my group/ LREI kids)  are kind of in our own world, we talk together and just fold, maybe an hour later a woman comes and says that it is over and we should leave (of course she says thanks for your help…).What I think of that is that we should be more involved, ask questions and try to be more into the learning. But I see other groups around us and they are the same. I have talked to some people about this and they said that maybe it is the organization that is the problem but we have gone to two different ones (not counting Rainforest Alliance) and they make us do the same things.

Something that I find really cool is that we adjusted stands and now two weeks later I see them in almost every store even in the LREI lobby… Pretty Proud!

Some Random Facts About Aids:

.HIV is the human immuno deficiency virus that causes AIDS.

.Aids is a disease that breaks down the  body’s immune system and is unable to fight off certain infections/ diseases, known as “opportunistic infections,” and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system.

. About 40,000 Americans become infected with HIV each year.

.In the US nearly one million people are infected have HIV infection or Aids.

Web Site I go to for simple imformation like this: http://www.thebody.com/content/art32981.html

AlmaBremond-March2010-Aidswalk

For my 6th visit I went to the AidsWalk place with Jasper, Matan, Adam and Lenny. We got there and did the usual (Folding Papers). Later I went upstairs alone and put stamps on envelops. I did it with a girl I didnt know. She was about 18 and she was very nice. What I think was interesting about meeting her was that we kind of come from two completely different worlds but still had A LOT in common.  Later i signed up to volunteer to be some kind of assistant at the actual Aids Walk May 16th. That nigh we also had an interview with Sean Sheppards. He talked about many things including the fact that many celebrities came to the Aids Walk every year. How the Aids Walk people decide which celebrities they want to invite: they write on a piece of paper who the want and then invite them (this might be confusing because I am not sure how to explain this…).  That’s Pretty much all we did. That visit was nice and I liked meeting the girl. 🙂

AlmaBremond-MarchSomething-RainforestAlliance

About two weeks ago I went to The Rainforest Alliance with Jasper. My topic is Aids but I went to this visit as extra credit… The Place was on Brodway a Couple of blocks from LREI. The Organization does projects in forests and get support from individuals. They also do projects in Asia, Peru, Africa and Latin America. They make  Organic food products that are sold all around the city. This is their logo:

When Jasper and I got there they greeted us very well and different people came to talk to us about their different jobs in the organization. The first woman explained her job as a someone who funraises. Then another woman came in and explained her job as a representitive of the Rainforest Alliance. She goes to schools and informs kids on the organization. After that a really fun guy came in and talked to us more about the organization. Then a guy from Madagascar showed us a power point on some projects they have done. They gave us a frog pet (fake don’t worry) and chocolate they made. That visit was very fun!! It was kind of awkward sometimes because they made like this whole “presentation” just for Jasper and I so I felt sort of bad. We were just sitting there and listening. At the same time we were very lucky so should not complain! 🙂

Lenny Weissman-4/7/10-AIDS walk

On Monday, April 5th, Adam, Matan, Katherine and I all took a subway down to 24th street where we took part in the preparation of the AIDS walk. At six, we arrived, and walked up to the set up room where we were assigned to a table full of different papers. We were given chips, soda, and burritos, and were only asked to pack envelopes full of information about the AIDS walk. The work was easy but surprisingly not boring because we all had the company of each other. Lifting heavy boxes and signs was no longer required which made me wonder if all of the boxes i had seen in my earlier visits had been taken care of. That would be a huge accomplishment. Everything seemed to be organized and in great shape. Alma and Olivia, arrived about 20 minutes after Adam, Matan, Katherin, and I. I left at around eight and felt satisfied as i walked out the door.

Fifth-Visit-All-Souls-4-5-10

On Monday I went to All Souls. This is my second time visiting here. Now that I know the place my jobs becomes easier to manage so I can work faster. I went to go help setup and prepare for this nights meal. I started off preparing the dessert for tonight. It was cookies and brownies and I had to put several on each plate. I had 29 plates for the 29 tables. There were 2 tables of 4, 5 tables of 10, and 22 tables of 8. I first took a napkin and covered the plate with it, and then I took a cookie or a brownie and placed 4, 8, or 10 depending on the tables. The two four tables I put four brownies on a plate. Then I used a mixture of tiny and regular chocolate chip and then sugar cookies. I did the same for the table of 10. One important thing is each table had to have the same amount and types of treats. Otherwise there would be fight if someone saw that someone else at their table got a brownie when they got a cookie. I finished by stacking them all on a trey and storing them for later. I then help setup the tables, which is a lot of work since there are 29 tables. I first helped unfold each of the twenty-nine, and then I put a green tablecloth around each one. Depending on the table size either 4, 8, or 10 chairs were setup. Next bowls where put in front of each chair setting followed by silverware, napkins, and cups. Lastly a flower was put on each table for decoration. One thing I like about this place is that everything seems to be organized and they treat people like their guests by making things look nice. This gave a more welcoming feel that makes me happy to always come and help volunteer. This time the job list was quite full, so I only got to partake in several activities. I am looking forward to our teach-in so that I can share all these great places that are helping make a difference.

Olivia-3.5.10-AIDS Walk

For my fourth visit, my group and I went to help out the AIDS Walk organization. We helped them by packaging and folding fliers and sign up sheets for the AIDS Walk. The sign up sheets will be mailed out to various places–such as schools, companies, and past volunteers or walkers. The people who choose to participate in the AIDS Walk can fill up the sheet with donations from family and friends, which they will hand in to the AIDS Walk workers on the day of the walk. This money goes towards AIDS research and medication. From taking part in the AIDS Walk in the past, I can remember completing the sheet myself. We placed all of these sheets into large envelopes and dropped these into a post box. I think that the group worked well and that we got a lot done during the time we were there.

Will Balsam-3/13/10-5th Visit-Village Temple

For a last visit at the Village Temple Soup Kitchen I went with Max, Taliana, and Ruby G.  We got there a little bit early so we could interview the ladies who work there.  They were all very busy so we only go to interview one of them.  Her name was Paula and she told us a little bit about how she got involved in her work there and who comes to help out every week.  Then we got to the preparing part.  We didn’t have a lot of bread for the sandwiches, Max and I went to Trader Joe’s to get the bread the donate.  Then to Knickerbocker’s for cornbread.  When we got back the first thing we did was interview two more people, carol who helps run the soup kitchen and Sarah who is a volunteer who helps out there about twice a month.  Then we started to help the other people who had already started preparing the soup.  They were peeling and cutting carrots, onions, and potatoes.  After helping them for a while, we went to making turkey sandwiches with mustard.  We then split into 4 groups.  One group bagged pastries, another bagged bread rolls, one who helps finish the soup, and the last one cuts up the corn bread.  I was cutting up the cornbread but when I was done I helped bag the bread rolls.  After everyone was finished with their jobs we were finished preparing and then just had to set up the table.  I found this to be a great place to help out because there are a lot of other kids who help out there and there are many jobs to do.

Matan – 3/16/10 – AIDS Walk Office

On Tuesday, March 16th, I went with Alma, Jasper, Lenny and Adam to the AIDS walk office location in New York. There, we met Shaun Shepherd, the leader and head organizer of the New York City AIDS Walk, to interview him. All week long, we had been prepping for this day, and were extremely excited to finally be able to have an informational meet with him. I was the person asking all of the questions, and Lenny was the one who jotted down notes about what he said, since we stupidly forgot about the tape recorder. But luckily, everything went fine.

. Personal connections: Cousin born infected with HIV
. organization’s linked to Aids Walk: GMHC, Duane Reade, the Gap, Macys, (30 other aids service orginizations
. Importance of AIDS Awareness: Aids is an epidemic. it dosn’t effect one group but it effects the whole world. none of us are immune to it so we all need education and awareness about it. Aurthur Ashe was a streight man who became infected with HIV through blood transfusion and lived with AIDS for 10 years.
. The biggest impact of AIDS: discrimination received due to fear from others.
. Worst TImes: in 70s and 80s people couldn’t recieve alot of treatment.
accomplishment: in 1986, $710,000 were raised, but recently, $105,000,000 was raised.
. who they work for: They work for MZA event Inc. they produce the AIDS walk in New York
. celebrities that did the AIDS walk: Hillary Duff, Whoopie Goldberg, Patty Labbel, Allic Baldwin, Mathew Brodderick, John Stewart, Joe Biden, Nora Jones, Cindy Lauper.
. Huge supporter: Kenneth cole
. How Sean became leader: had been doing the walk since he was 5 in 1991. started interning in 2007 and built his way up.
. His important duties: Hires and supervises the workers and supervises the posts they are working at. (Making sure that everything’s going smoothly)
. What education does: Education in school helps with overall awareness.
. biggest amount of people with AIDS: Women, (large amount are black women)
. why awareness is important: People have to be taught that NOBODY is immune to it.
why crystal meth ad uses slang words: People suffering from problems such as this are lower to middle class people. they don’t want to baby them with scientific words and instead choose to be direct. also the slang words provide schock value and grab the attention of the reader.
. Why women might be bigger victims then men for HIV/AIDS: Their sexual practice might be causing it.
Most Shocking Statistics: There were 50,000 walkers and only 24% of them fundraised. the other 76% might have thought that their money would go to the pockets of the people in charge of AIDS walk. Also, between the ages of 15 and 24, black women are the biggest victims of HIV/AIDS.

After the interview, we all helped organize boxes of posters into neat and orderly lines. We also threw away the empty boxes, which was fun because I believe we were both “wrestling” and destroying the boxes, and recycling them.

Kyla- LINC- 4th Visit

Viviane, Naomi, Nora and I once again attended the St. Judes School.  We basically did the same things as we did for our 3rd visit, we went into the classroom where there were 4 tables, each having a few kindergartners and a 5th grader for each one.  Each of us sat at a table and we would either supervise the 5th graders, assist them as they read to the kindergartners or read them a story.  Afterwards, the kindergarteners needed to do the math worksheets that we gave them and then they colored the pictures that we’d given them

Benno-4/4/10-Food Bank

Today I went to the Food Bank, but unlike any of my other trips to the Food Bank today I got to work in the kitchen.  When I arrived I had to get suited up I put on a hair netting, a plastic apron, and some plastic gloves.  Once I was dressed and ready for action I was taken into the kitchen and was briefed on what I was going to do.  My job was to take bowls with two cookies in them and to put it on a tray which contained juice, a piece of bread, rice, vegetables, and salmon (which was the days special).  When I started my job I was greeted by Some collage girls from South Carolina that were visiting New York to do community service.  Once the doors opened, the place suddenly became full of people waiting for food.  Once the first wave of people came through my arms hurt like crazy but I could do nothing about it.  Today I really got a feel for the working poor because there were a lot of people that came that looked fine, but this does not mean that they don’t need help purchasing food.  Some facts that I learned when I was at the Food Bank is that they feed about 675 people every day serving hot food.  Overall I had a really fun time serving food and some of the people who were getting food were really grateful.

This is me, my dad, and Nate, who runs this section of the Food Bannk

This is me, my dad, and Nate, who runs this section of the Food Bank

Parker-3/19/10-Positive Exposure

The last day of school did not felt like a half day.  After school Violet, Ruby T, Naomi and went to Ricks studio.  Rick was still away.  Naomi isn’t part of our group but just decided to come with us.  Cheyenne was in Costarica.  we arrived at the studio and wrote a few more adresses on invitation envopes.  after we were told by miche if we go wiat in line and post the last few letters when we come back there would be pizza wating for us when we got back.  it was our shortest visit yet which was refreshing after visits that were way to long.  after ruby, Naomi and i walked towards school from there we went all different ways home.

Naomi-LINC Visit 4/1/10

Last Tuesday, Nora, Kyla, Viviane and I went to our last visit. It was at a McDonalds in Harlem. This time instead of looking around lost, we found Deborah easily and started helping to sort things out in the room. It was one of the best visits because we reconized some of the kids from Pj Night or from the last time we were in Harlem so there werent any ackward moments between the kids and us.

The routine was practically the same: we waited for the kids to arrive. Then we sang songs to them. I wasnt familar with any of them so I followed Viviane’s lead who’s an expert at kid songs. After, the kids were seperated into groups and we read 3 books to them. They all were really interested into the book that I had chosen, so there wasnt any trouble. Except the fact that I kept stuttering with the most easy words possible like “the” and the name of the character.

We didnt take any pictures this time because time went so quickly, we actually forgot. We were like experts finding the location except for me because it was my first time attending this event. It’s really upsetting that this is our last visit, and we don’t know if we will ever see Deborah again. But it was fun while it lasted.

Julian-3/1/10-HUC

photo-4For my fourth visit I returned to HUC with Ruby.  This visit was not very different from the other visits as we did practically the same thing.  We arrived a little later than usual and began to take food out to the main dining room.  It had been a month since we had visited, so the people there missed us.  I felt that while this visit was rather average compared to all of the other visits, we still accomplished many of our goals and I left with a great feeling of having felt someone in need.  One of the things that I did for the first time on this visit was that I pushed around a cart with soups and sandwiches on it and got to hand them out to the people at the tables.  They were extremely civilized and it was a great job to do and I hope that I will be able to do it again.  I really enjoy visiting HUC and I think that I will continue once we have finished our required five visits.

Viviane-3/25/10-LINC

The Children's Floor of the Library
The Children's Floor of the Library

Today Naomi and I attended Pj Night!  An event that is supposed to encourage reading before bed time.It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, Kyla and Nora were in Costa Rica and couldn’t join us.  We met up at the school, took the downtown “F” train one stop, took the”6,” and then finally transferred to the “4” express train, and got off at 125th Street.  When we got out of the station we had to walk under this bridge on Park Avenue.  It was very quiet and almost completely empty, which made it a little scary.  We then walked up two blocks and found the Harlem Branch New York Public Library.

Once we walked up the stairs to the second floor, there saw there were little rooms for small children to read with their parents.  Deborah (the coordinator) read a book aloud and a mother did the same afterwards.  The room was almost empty.  There were three mothers with their toddlers/babies, until the same children from our first visit piled into the room.  We then began singing songs; Old MacDonald, The Wheels on the Bus, and If You’re Happy and You Know It, just to name a few.  Once we were done with that, Deborah introduced our activity of the evening.  The kids would be making their own paper bears.  We were responsible for passing out the supplies and helping the kids use gluesticks.  It really surprised me that five and six year olds weren’t familiar with them.  Overall, I had a good time, but I still wonder why most of the program doesn’t revolve around reading when it’s supposed to.

Helping Evin create his bear
Helping Evin create his bear
Helping Evin construct his bear