WORK:
I am a client advocate!
Well that is my official title over at SVDP (St. Vincent de Paul). And to be quite honest with you, I am pretty damn proud of it. There are 5 different departments housed at the Bank Street office: Development, Mission Integration (service learning/retreats, etc), Food Pantry, Charitable Pharmacy, and the best one of all: Social Services. In my position as a client advocate I work directly with individuals who come into our walk-in hours twice a week, and during scheduled rent and utility assistance appointments (among with many other things). Every week our neighbors who need help with their Duke Energy bill or are having trouble meeting their monthly rent payments for any reason in the entire world can apply for our assistance. Part of why I was so busy during my first week of work last week was simply because I was sorting through the couple hundred applications we receive from individuals applying online and in person. Of those, we can only help a couple handfuls for rent as well as utilities. As a client advocate I am the direct line between landlords, their tenants, and us at SVDP trying to get money to people who need it. I will say too that some of the vignettes we read from the people disclosing why they need help is definitely tear jerking, heart breaking, and even sometimes frustrating that we can't help more. But I have to remember to be thankful of the help we can give and keep staying strong and true to our mission.
We are not just a social services organization.
As my supervisor - Bob, likes to tell me. And we most definitely are not. There is sincere, spiritual integrity in everything that we do. Everyone who works there is a genuinely good person. Most are absolutely hilarious - and the average age is probably around 50. It is also very interesting to be in a non-profit community serving agency where women are the minority. It definitely makes it fun. But on days like this week when Chicago sports face Cincinnati sports (and win), I get some grumbles from the old dudes who are die-hard Reds or Bengals fans. I welcome them with a smile :D
And for those who may have been wondering (or have asked me)- no, not everyone is Catholic who works there. And you don't have to be. In the mornings all of the staff have an option to meet in the small chapel, coffee cup-clad, to focus our selves and be mindful about bringing God into our work during the day. I am seeing that for Rob, Demar, and myself this is essential. If we go by everyday thinking, "I love my job just because I love my job", the fact that we are making $0.63 per hour will start getting to our head. I have found so much energy and light in meeting the people who humbly come to us for help. I feel like I make $20 per hour just by having the opportunity to hear their stories and be in the presence of their spirits. Of the 40 or so individuals I have met with personally over the past week and today, I would say only about 5 of them didn't have a smile on their face. I would say that is something to praise about!
FEEDING MY CREATIVITY THROUGH...MY STOMACH:
As an previous musician, dancer, poet (still am)... I have found that if I don't find some way to feed my appetite for creativity I feel suppressed and unhappy. So around my sophomore year when I got out of the dorms and into apartment-living I started to use cooking as a creative outlet. I would experiment and throw stuff together until I found something so unique and delicious. When I started going on Weight Watchers I discovered hundreds of tasty and healthy recipes that I often go back to now (and color outside of the lines a bit too).
Living in an intentional community means cooking, eating, making decisions, delegating tasks - all family style. It has been... interesting combining likes, dislikes, allergies, preferences together into meals that all of us want to gobble up. Before our SNAP food benefits kick in (formerly called food stamps) we have been given a Kroger gift card to use sparingly, as to mirror what simplistic eating will be like on food stamps.
NOTE: ** For our mothers, when that does happen, we will still be eating good healthy food. Promise ;)
We are finding that combining canned food with fresh, and a protein from the freezer will leave us in a great spot for extending the life of our already bad-ass pantry. I know I am looking forward to making ribs in the Crockpot for our community dinner this Wednesday, and topping it with a Cincinnati favorite - Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce. If you visit here, try it. You won't regret it!
Here are a couple meals that we made last week that I (and my stomach) found particularly blog-worthy:
(Taken from my IPhone 4S...sorry it's not a Nikon or Canon like a real blogger)
- Chicken marinated in Montgomery Inn sauce and Kraft Creamy Balsamic "Anything" sauce- it was mouth watering believe it or not.
- A favorite salad of mine: Arugula, white bean, and roasted red peppers. We didn't have some of those ingredients so we used what we did have. Simple, and SO tasty. Please try and share: http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeId=335891
- A cup of good ol' frozen broccoli with garlic, and S&P.
- Baked salmon seasoned with Emeril's Essence, olive oil, lemon juice, and S&P
- Side dip: Shredded chicken, creamed corn, black beans, and green peppers. Random - yes, but it was so tasty. It was just a bowl full of leftovers that happened to taste really delicious together.
Over the weekend I rode my newly tricked-out hybrid bike to a YMCA to apply for their "Membership for all" program, and to check out a yoga studio nearby. After turning out of our quiet vicinity in the West End, I was immediately reminded how compassionate MPLS is to their street-bikers. Here, there are no bike lanes, hardly any bike racks, and people stare at you like you are Shaq juggling cats. I wanted to throw my fist up in solidarity with all the other urban street bikers in the world, but then realized that someone would just see it as a signal for me turning right or left. Mission failed. Oh well.
In 1910 Mark Twain was quoted: "When the world ends I want to be in Cincinnati, because its always twenty years behind the times." Well, bike lanes may possibly come in 15, bike racks- ehhh - I give it 10. But biker-friendly drivers, probably never. So I will keep my biking pride in my pocket.
I have also just started my job search for what's coming next in 2014. So if anyone has any cool jobs for a young professional any where in the world I would love to connect with you!
Oh and here's a very cheesy pic of us enjoying a Cincinnati tradition on Fountain Square- Graeter's ice cream. I tried the Black Raspberry Chip, but Demar's Mango sorbet was equally as delicious. (Demar - left, Me, Rob)
Until Shaq juggles cats,
Mary
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