A Placement

Well folks, I know where I'm going. I'm going to Washington DC to work with the Capital Area Food Bank - my first choice! Yay! I'll be working with a branch that focuses on pairing organic food with people of low income. Before I thought that was the mission of the whole food bank, but it's just the branch I'll be in. It's a really small department. I'll be working with Susan Topping, her boss is Jodi, and there's one more woman in the department. I interviewed with Susan, and she told me that they can take someone, but it has to be through August because Spring and Summer are the fruits of the Winter work. And I agreed, because I really like the job. This is what I know of it:

In the Fall/Winter, I will be going to Food Kitchens that participate in our From the Ground Up (FGU) project to see how they're doing. When the season ends, we'll be interviewing them to see if there's anything we can do better next year, and maybe I'll be compiling the data. Then I will interview/assess who will be in the program next year. I will also be developing curriculum for a class (not exactly sure what yet). In the Spring, I will be getting the garden started and maintaining it, in addition to office work. In the summer when kids' groups come to the farm, I will possibly be assisting the teacher of those classes.

I will be mainly working with Susan, who is 7 months pregnant. When she goes on maternity leave, I'll be working with Jodi. They seem to be a tight knit group, so I think it will be okay. The commute is about 45 min from the BVS house to work, using public transportation. I might be able to get a bike though... :) The BVS house is big and located in a neat area, near Capital Hill (I think). Because of the type of work I'm doing, I am eligible to join AmeriCorps this year. BVS has a certain number of slots for this, and I get one! This means I will be logging my hours very carefully, and after about a year, I should get an education scholarship for my loans ($4725). I didn't imagine this possibility at all, and it's pretty exciting!

Two from my orientation unit will also be living at the BVS house. They are high school grads from Germany named Stephan (SHTEH-fhan) and Jonathan. There are other BVS-ers at the house already, and also people working for peace and justice with low income. I think about 14 can live there. One person is like the "house manager," so there will be some constancy in how things are run. Susan used to be the house manager there, so she's excited to be in that loop again. She already told me where there's a co-op nearby, and she's going to help me find a bike.

I have to go make supper - pizza! I feel like there's so much to say. I will certainly blog again when I can. I go to DC on Friday!