More Pictures

Here are some pictures posted by a local volunteer network of the picnic on Saturday:

Erin

Farmer's Market

Today I went to the Columbia Pike Farmer's Market, which is about a 5 minute bus ride from my apartment. Although the selection wasn't great, I got some lettuce and a cucumber and had a great time listening to the fiddle and banjo players and people watching in general. I also got my first proud dose of the Arlington bus system. I hope to really utilize public transportation this year, if only to make up for the damage done in St. Louis this past Spring driving 30 minutes to and from work everyday. I went to the Arlington's Car-Free Diet table at the market and pledged to go car-free at least one day a week- but I'm pretty sure it will be most of the week.

Greenbrier Learning Center is only a 8-10 minute walk from my house. Check this out:



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A: My Apartment
B: Greenbrier Learning Center (everyday)
C: Cambell Elementary School (where I will be stationed 2 mornings a week)

It doesn't really get much better than that.
Erin

Training

Me, Carolyn, Ileana @ the Picnic 

I finished my first week of my two-week AmeriCorps Learning Links training. Here's what I've done.

Monday I met my team, pictured in my last post. Great young people! I live with Carolyn, and work most directly with Ileana, Kyle and Joslynn. We all get along great!! We played a lot of ice breakers (my favorite!) and got to know each other pretty quickly. Carolyn lives with me, and Steve lives in the apt below us- so thats GREAT. : )

We went to a local Elementary school to get trained in Language Arts, which is what our kids need the most guidance with. A lot of the children that will come through the program (Greenbrier Learning Center) are ELL's, or, English Language Learners. They are all at different stages and we learned a lot of tools to be able to help them through this very difficult process. We also went to the Math training later in the week.

We also learned about food bank donations and how to serve them safely. Every week we get a shipment and have to go through and inventory everything, and serve it to the kids everyday for snack. We have 40 kids at our center, so you can imagine how quickly some food can be used up. We don't really have a choice on what we get--sometimes it's canned beans, sometimes it's granola bars, fruit cups, etc. It's actually a pretty big variety though, and we have a kitchen in case we need to cook anything (there were a ton of frozen burritos, for example). I've never worked with food bank donations and it's great to be able to get the experience! Also, they make weekend bags for the kids to take home with more snacks and dinner food we may not be able to serve easily (canned green beans/potatoes).

Another part of my service is at Columbia Grove apartments. Once a month on a Saturday, we hold a children's program at the community center. It might be a cooking activity, or jewelry-making, dancing, or whatever we decide to plan. Today was a big picnic for all the residents. AmeriCorps had a table, and we had crafts for kids, and I was in charge of face painting~!!! So exciting. Here are some of my masterpieces:

New Backpacks!

Ileana's so impressed.

More later!

Erin

My AmeriCorps Team!

Top: Steve, Joslynn, Me, Carolyn

Bottom: Kyle, Ileana

Intro

Information about my service at GreenBrier Learning Center in Arlington, VA:

Greenbrier Learning Center provides afterschool and summer programs to 60 children in 3rd-5th grades from predominantly low-income, immigrant, and refugee households, as well as topic-based workshops for parents and families. We place a strong emphasis on partnering with families and schools, and provide 864 hours of direct service to Arlington Public Schools each year through our new Learning Links AmeriCorps Program.

Greenbrier Learning Center's mission is to promote education, youth leadership and strong families through structured enrichment programs beyond the school day. Utilizing a community-driven approach, we foster academic achievement and personal growth among our after-school students, act as a resource for youth and adults, and increase collaboration among service providers in Northern Virginia.

More Later!

Erin!