Making lemonade out of lemons

Turns out, I'm still in a bit of Hawaii limbo, which might be fortuitous for work in Iowa.  Though I'm not yet where I thought I would be this year, I am making new connections here at home.

As of yesterday, I am officially a member of the Board of Directors of the Iowa City Free Lunch Program.  Not only am I beginning to learn more about the operations of all non-profits (e.g., NAMI, DVIP, etc.) at 1105 S. Gilbert Ct., but I am gaining a better understanding of the funding structure and organization of the ICFLP.  Perhaps most importantly, I am meeting more movers and shakers in the non-profit world, including a representative for Veterans Affairs and the founder of Soil Mates.  I am excited to see how programming, agency representation, and opportunity for training/education of ICFLP clients can be expanded, but I am also excited to think of the partnerships I may form with other Board Members for service learning projects in future.  In particular, Scott, of Soil Mates (a non-profit working to bring gardening to the schools) relayed a future project that might be of interest to my students: The restoration of a community garden for marginalized folks at the old "Poor Farm" outside Iowa City.

The fact that I've spent lots of time right here in Iowa working for non-profits the last few months has me thinking about more ways I can turn 'lemons into lemonade' (in so far as we call remaining here a 'lemon'...).  As I've done with the Dubuque Rescue Mission, Iowa City Free Lunch Program, Donna Ginter Thanksgiving Dinner, and Table to Table organizations, I'm thinking that I will be spending much more of my professional development time this year and next visiting non-profit agencies in the corridor.  The more I think about it, the more I realize how vital this is to community connections, my content area, and contributions to the College in future.

For example, Kirkwood no longer has an official 'service learning coordinator,' but I will definitely continue (and perhaps expand) the service learning components in my classes upon my return.  As such, perhaps this is the perfect time for me to have the unexpected pleasure of more of an Iowa winter than anticipated.  Eh hem.  :)  I can use more of my time to begin to visit non-profits on the Service Learning Agency Checklist thereby gaining knowledge and connections.

To that end, I hope to interview the folks at The Tapestry time bank in Cedar Rapids and Resources Unite (an attempt to mobilize volunteers across agencies) in Dubuque and report my findings on the blog in the near future.  Happy holidays, B.