Up in Arms!

I have been swearing like a F&^%ing sailor lately! I blame this on something that has me up in arms and mighty ANGRY.

Six months into my year of service as an Americorps VISTA, the Republican led House of Representatives decided that, you know, national service means NOTHING so let's put Americorps on the chopping block.

This isn't simply a reduction of funding, they want to ELIMINATE Americorps entirely. This is the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time and let me tell you why:

• Americorps has played a huge role in the following organizations/programs/stuff: Head Start, Foster Grandparents, Teach for America, Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross, Hurricane Katrina relief and clean-up.
• Americorps volunteers serve the country's most vulnerable population. During this economic crisis, we are needed more than ever. Most of the organizations that people like myself work for do not have the budget to hire a full time employee. If they lose us, who will do the important work that needs to be done.?
• Cutting funding won't put a DENT in our deficit.
• The money, jobs and talent that it brings to communities facing economic hardships is invaluable.
• Thousands of people would be out of work. Yay, even more job cuts!

People have rallied over this issue and have created a petition. If you agree with me on the importance of the Americorps program, please sign this petition. I don't know if this will get past the Senate or not, but please consider signing the petition. If nothing more, please sign it to support me.

Oh SNAP

Yeah, so I knew this whole keeping-up-with-blogging-during-my-term-of-service-thing was not going to happen. That's just how I am and we all know it!

So, instead of trying to update my blog on everything I've been doing, I'm going to talk about something in particular - I'm going to talk about FOOD STAMPS.

As you may or may not know, Americorps Volunteers receive a very limited stipend. I'm talking 110% of the poverty level of the area you are serving.

Poverty is measured in different ways by different organizations. The Federal Government uses the "Orshansky Poverty Threshold" to measure poverty in the US. Orshanksy, an economist in 1969 who was working for the SSA, determined that the best way to determine poverty was by food. This is the equation she came up with:

$3.60 (the cheapest USDA Food Plan per day for a family of 4) x 3 (1950's studies showed families spent one third of income on food) x 365 = $3,942 (Any family of 4 living on less than this amount was considered poor)

The main issue with this calculation is the fact that it is pre-tax (income tax is about 1/3 of income -there goes your $ for food!). Also, it does not account for the variation of cost of living from state to state and between urban and rural areas. WTF, US government, WTF?

The government does include things like inflation, etc. So the 2009 Poverty Guideline for a household of 1 (ie: me) is $10,830!

So as I said, I am receiving 110% of the poverty level, so I can "live in the community I'm serving". The Americorps does take into account the cost of living for different areas, which is good, but since I'm at the poverty level in Massachussets, I'm elgible for Food Stamps.

Or, as us Mass'ers call it - SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). I recently applied for food stamps online and had to schedule a phone interview with someone from the Department of Transitional Services. I had to tell them my income, how much money I have in the bank, how much my rent is, if I'm paying for utilities, etc etc. So, I did that and now I have to prove everything and send them my lease, my bills, proof of identity, and proof of citizenship.

Once I do that, I'll receive $200 per month (this varies based on how much you are making, size of household and the area you are living in, obviously metro areas will get more, cause the cost of food is higher) that can be used at various grocery and convenience stores.

Now, I'm sure once I use it I will get different reactions. I know there's always been a stigma attached to food stamps, but they no longer look like play money, they look like a debit card:


I'm sure people will look at me and think that I don't look like I should be receiving food stamps, or that I'm taking advantage of the system, but this is obviously not the case.

I think an advantage to being on Food Stamps is that I understand what people need to do to get them. At the organization I'm working with, we determine if a school is eligible to receive our school-supplied filled backpacks if they have a certain amount of students on the free or reduced lunch program. Again, determining poverty by food, only one of the basic needs of people.

As an Americorps VISTA, our mission is to combat poverty, and I suppose the best way to learn how to do that is to live it yourself. You know, walk a mile in someone else's shoes, blah blah blah. Well, I am doing just that - I'm walking a mile by doing a year of service.

Bad Blogger

I've been extremely bad about updating this thing about my time in Boston and in the Americorps, so I'll give you the short version, and then hopefully keep up with this.

• Had Pre-Service Orientation in Philly, which was great. I met a lot of like-minded people, which did wonders for my outlook on my future. I thought I was one of a limited amount of people who value human service, philanthropy and volunteering, however, I learned that there are others out there who feel giving back is important.

The Liberty Bell, which was closed when we went.

• Moved to Boston and started with Cradles to Crayons. I've been there for almost 2 weeks now and it's been a lot of fun. We've had fun activities and I'm learning how everything works in The Giving Factory.

Me and my "Freedom Trail" Tour guide. Hells yeah.

Drained

I am so tired when I get out of work, but it's a good tired. It's the kind of tired where you know you worked hard and are making a difference.

Americorps!

So, as I've mentioned, I have joined AmeriCorps*VISTA. I have moved to Boston to do a year of service with an organization called Cradles to Crayons. It's very exciting and I'm really enjoying it so far.
A little about Cradles to Crayons:
We are based out of Boston and serve the homeless and low-income children in the community by providing kids ages 0-13 with the everyday essentials they need to feel warm, safe, ready to learn and valued. The second part of C2C's mission is providing the community with volunteer opportunities so they can get involved and make a difference.

These missions are fulfilled in our "Giving Factory" which is a large warehouse in South Boston. We get donations from individuals, families, businesses and organizations. Then, we have volunteers come in and sort through these items and make sure they are up to par (so the child can feel valued).

We also partner with over 400 social service agencies and the case-workers log on and create orders for the children they are serving. We put these orders together (which is called a KidsPack) and could have clothing, pajamas, shoes, toys or school supplies.

It's a really great organization and I'm super excited to be working here for the next year.