Big Sunday!!!!

In case you haven't heard, this weekend is Big Sunday, the largest regional community service event in the country. There are plenty of places you can go and help out! Everyone should be able to find something that matches their own taste. I hope everybody is having a good week. Here is a link to their website Big Sunday.

Shanes Inspiration

Grading:

Ease of Sign Up: 5/5

Physicality: 3/5

Fun Factor: 5/5

Info:

Address: 15213 Burbank Blvd. Van Nuys, CA 91411 USA

Phone: Toll Free, (888) 61SHANE or (888) 617-4263

Hours for Shane's Club, Last Saturday of Every Month: 9:30AM - 1PM

http://shanesinspiration.org/

Time Spent:

10:00AM - 1:00PM April 25th, 2009

Cut The Crap:

Shane's Inspiration was founded 11 years ago by two parents who lost their child soon after birth. They realized that had their child, Shane, lived; he would have never had been able to play on a normal playground. They made it their mission to make a universally accessible playground. What started as one playground, has spread and their are many of these playgrounds not just in LA, or the country, but around the world. Click here to visit Shane's Inspiration.

Our Experience:

Third times the charm... But the first and second times were great fun too, so I guess that saying doesn't apply. As usual Shane's inspiration was a great time in the park. The weather was great and everyone had a blast. For entertainment, Campbell Hall's theater club put on two great skits telling Colombian folk tales. Thanks to Jennifer and Amanda for coming and helping out. And no thanks to Josh and Nick, who decided playing golf on the adjacent golf course was a better use of time than enriching the lives of today's children.

Project Angel Food (Food Delivery)

Grading:

Ease Sign of Sign up

4/5

Physicality (0 being no physical labor)

1/5

Fun Factor

4/5

Info:

Address: 922 Vine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90038-2702

Phone: 323.845.1816

Hours: 8AM - 5PM, Sun-Friday

http://www.angelfood.org

Time Spent

11:30AM - 1:30PM April 24th, 2009

Pictures

Cut the crap:

Project Angel Food is a volunteer organization geared towards providing meals for those who are home bound due to illness and unable to prepare meals for themselves. It was originally set up to care for HIV/AIDS patients but now cares for people with Cancer and other debilitating diseases. It was started in 1989 and since it’s conception, has prepared and delivered more then 3.4 MILLION meals. To find out more about Project Angel Food click on the link.

Personal Experience:

We arrived at 11:30 in the morning to get ready for food deliveries. For the most part it is a pretty easy job. As usual, the staff at Project Angel Food is very appreciative and friendly. In the delivery area all the food items for the drop offs are put in one spot. It is your responsibility to put the different items in the correct bags. Since they don't deliver on Saturday, our bags were a little bigger then usual. This was so that the clients would have their Saturday meals, however the bags were not heavy or cumbersome in anyway. This was a bit different from our Meals on Wheels experience in several ways. At meals on wheels the coolers smelled pretty bad, however the directions from stop to stop were a lot better. Luckily Justin and I had a GPS, this made our route much easier. A convenient part of the Project Angel Food deliveries is that you don't have to return to their office when you are done to drop off anything. If there is any food that can't be delivered you can give away or eat yourself. There was one person who didn't answer the door and we were not allowed to just leave the food so Justin helped himself to some Cheerio's. We gave the rest to a homeless guy. The people we delivered to were a little more talkative then the people we served at Meals on Wheels but not by much. I am sure that the more we go the more we will have a chance to strike up some conversations. 

Guns for the Children................APRIL FOOLS!

Grading:

Ease of Sign Up: 5/5
Physicality: 3/5
Fun Factor: 5/5
Info:
Address: 1983 February Ave. LA 90024
Phone: (401) 401-2009
Hours: Monday - Friday Starting at 10:30AM

www.GunsForTheChildren.org

Time Spent:

8:30AM - 12:30PM

Cut the Crap:

Kids in developed countries are at much more of an advantage when it comes to having quality weapons. In underdeveloped countries many kids are stuck using small knives or stones. The fortunate ones are able to get machetes. Guns for the Children does their best to correct this disparity by providing quality and dependable arms and ammunition to children whose only wrongdoing was not being born in the best country in the world…the United States. You can visit their website here www.GunsForTheChildren.org.

Personal Experience:

Justin and I had an amazing time at Guns for the Children. After we got through the checkpoints we were led around James McCreedolie. Even though he only had one real limb left he had a great disposition and was very impassioned by the cause he was working for. It was very inspiring to see him work. He told me they ship out over eight tons of arms and ammunition a week. G4C receives most of their weapons from private donations within the United States. We live in one of the most charitable countries in the world.

The work was somewhat menial. We had a list of weapons that were going in different boxes. Once we figured out where everything went, things moved along a lot faster. Justin messed up, however, when he accidentally packaged and sent a box of stun grenades instead of nerve gas grenades. We didn't tell the supervisor. Hopefully no one will find out. I spent most of the time there using a hammer to make sure the firing pins were properly placed in the shoulder held rocket launchers. They made me wear earplugs and safety goggles, lame. McCeedolie thought it was hilarious to light firecrackers while we were working to try and scare us. I still have no idea how he managed to operate a lighter, he only had two fingers on his only arm. Unfortunately we were unable to round up anyone to help us volunteer this time, but next time we go, I am sure we can round up someone.

Shane's Inspiration Part II: Balboa Park RETURNS

Grading:
Ease of Sign up (5 being easiest)
4/5 (Zach) 4/5 (Justin)
Physicality (0 being no physical labor)
1/5 (Zach) 2/5 (Justin)
Fun Factor: 5/5

Info:
Address: 15213 Burbank Blvd. Van Nuys, CA 91411 USA

Phone: Toll Free, (888) 61SHANE or (888) 617-4263

Hours for Shane's Club, Last Saturday of Every Month: 9:30AM - 1PM
http://shanesinspiration.org/

Time Spent:
9:30AM - 1:45PM March 28th, 2009

Cut The Crap:
Shane's Inspiration was founded 11 years ago by two parents who lost their child soon after birth. They realized that had their child, Shane, lived; he would have never had been able to play on a normal playground. They made it their mission to make a universally accessible playground. What started as one playground, has spread and their are many of these playgrounds not just in LA, or the country, but around the world. Click here to visit Shane's Inspiration.

Our Experience

Once again we stopped by Shane's Inspiration, this time Shane's Club was at Balboa Park in Encino. This was such a cool playground. Even better then the last one! We would like to thank all the people who helped us and Shane's Inspiration by volunteering. For a more in depth breakdown of Shane's Inspiration, check out our last blog about it here.

AIDS Project Los Angeles S.T.A.G.E Fundraiser

Grading:

Ease of Sign Up: 5/5

Physicality: 2/5

Fun Factor: 4/5

Info:

Address: 611 South Kingsley Drive. LA 90005

Phone: (213) 201-1600

Website: www.apla.org

Time Spent:

5:00pm-12:00am

Cut the Crap:

AIDS Project Los Angeles, is dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by HIV and raising awareness in hope of reducing the infection rates. They run several major fundraisers per year, including the AIDS walk, and the S.T.A.G.E. event which is a musical compilation with a new theme each year.

Personal Experience:

When we first arrived at the theater to help, we met Jim, the Volunteer Coordinator. He was really nice and very appreciative of our help. We were split up and assigned to work the silent auction and run the ticket booth. It was a lot of fun and a very social event, so that time went by pretty quick.

After intermission, the silent auction ended, and with the handing out of the prizes, so did the fun. When the show ended the flood gates opened and a rush of people came in to claim their winnings. To say it was an unorganized mess would be an understatement. The ladies in charge of the silent auction were yelling and throwing out commands like "Hey you! Get me sm143," without saying what sm143 was, no one liked that very much. Besides the hectic end, it was great hanging out with everyone and supporting a great cause. They have some really interesting and fun events coming up that we will be attending and looking forward to helping with. Thanks also to Jennifer, Nesrine, Lindsay, and Amanda for coming with us to help!

Operation Gratitude

Grading:

Ease of Sign up (5 being easiest)
5/5 (Zach) 5/5 (Justin)
Physicality (0 being no physical labor)
3/5 (Zach) 2/5 (Justin)
Fun Factor: 3/5

Info:
Address: 17330 Victory Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406
Phone: No Phone Available
Hours: Monday & Friday: 9AM - 4PM
Tuesday - Thursday: 12PM - 4PM
Saturday & Sunday 9AM - 4PM
http://www.opgratitude.com/

Time Spent:
9AM - 1:00PM February 13th, 2009

Cut The Crap:
Operation Gratitude is a great organization that works out of the Van Nuys National Guard Armory and sends out care packages to troops in conflict zones overseas. The organization has already sent out 320,000 they all include nice little gifts along with personal letters from caring people. There are many ways one can help out. You can help put the packages together, assist with labeling or by writing letters. There is no sign up process or lengthy set of paperwork to fill out before you can start helping. For more info on how you can get involved visit Operation Gratitude.

Operation Gratitude – Zach's Experience
When I arrived, Justin and I met up with the director of volunteering named Charlie. He was very friendly and told us real simple instructions. Take out these five hour energy drinks from the care packages and then separate all the contents. So pretty much they already had these packages put together but they were completely ruined by these stupid energy drinks. We are talking tens of thousands. Turns out they burst in transit and got all over many of the other contents of the care packages. They would soon become the bane of my existence. First of all, why are we giving this type of crap to our soldiers overseas? It is like poison. It is bad for you and gets you all tweaked out. Is this what we want to give our guys out on patrol. These were really tiny bottles… but somehow they managed to squeeze in enough warning information you would think they inscribed the Aeneid on the side. Oh well, all I can say is, I am glad that we were taking that garbage out of their care packages.

Justin and I were examples of efficiency. We hauled ass and separated things faster then anyone had ever done in the place. Then after a couple hours rolled in “Mr. American Flag Suspenders Guy.” Operation Gratitude…More like Operation Attitude. To tell you the truth I didn’t even mind working with the guy who was doing community service for the hate crime he committed…but “Mr. American Flag Suspenders Guy,” to be henceforth known as, MAFSG was terrible. Instead of being friendly and introducing himself to us, like everyone else had done, he came over and immediately told us we were doing everything the wrong way. However, he never told us his correct way of doing things. Everyone else was telling us what a good job we were doing. I hate saying anything bad about a community service organization but I can’t let this go. We went to Operation Gratitude with the best of intentions and myopic pseudo Grinch was constantly over our shoulders and grabbing things from us instead of just letting us get work done. It truly seemed like this was his way of hazing us. Luckily he was only there for about two hours. In my opinion it was two hours too long. It got better after that.

One of the coolest aspects of the whole program is the personal notes that go along with every package. At the armory when I was walking around there were boxes and boxes full of handwritten notes from adults and school children. If I were to go back and help out I feel that is what I would want to help with. All the letters need to be screened and put in each of the care packages. They need to be screened because sometimes people write things that are NSFW. The woman who was working on the notes that day told me a colorful story about one of the most touching notes she had ever read. She spoke of how the writer expressed their thanks for everything the soldier was doing for the country…It ended with the woman offering to make a personal dinner for the soldier and offering to make a special “desert,” for them when they got back stateside. Unfortunately that note got tossed. I mean what better way to express your love for our country. In my opinion, it is much better then wearing American flag suspenders.

Operation Gratitude – Justin's Experience
Project gratitude, an organization set up to send care packages to soldiers, unfortunately had a mishap with the 5hr energy drink in the packages exploding on the ride from D.C. On this day everyone was sorting through each care bag and sorting all the items of the bags where the 5hr energy hadn't exploded. The bags that were tainted with a 5hr energy that didn't make the trip were put to the side and any items that weren't ruined were cleaned and sorted.

We walked in and met Charlie who welcomed us and put us to work. He was really nice and even said we could take some 5hr energies if we wanted, since they weren't sending them out in fear they would explode again. So after the kid who was also at our table helping decided to go for one, I figured why not? WORST IDEA EVER! On a side note, the 5 hr energy is supposed to not have a crash. Turns out they are right, you feel like absolute crap for 5 hrs then at about the five hour mark you finally start feeling good again. So, drudged out on caffeine and shaking like I had Parkinson's I continued my work and our group flew through boxes, sorting away like there was no tomorrow. In between sorting we were constantly fending off our Mr. Patriotic supervisor who was a bit trigger happy on taking or sorted boxes kept coming by and telling us we were inefficient. He was a nice guy and did constantly thank us for our work, we just felt like we were by far the most efficient group and it just gave us what we needed to work that much faster.

Project Gratitude is a great cause, but unfortunately like most other volunteer work there are day where you are really busy and have many people to talk to and days that feel like you are sitting on an assembly line doing a repetitive motion for hours and hours. This was one of the later days. I'm looking forward to helping them out for their big shipment preparation in early April when there should be many more little projects to help out. It was still fun to hang out, and the work wasn't that physically demanding. So if you have a group of friends and want to hang out and talk while helping out a good cause, give it a shot, but you might want to skip on the 5hr energy shot!