When Doubting Would Be Easier: "Never Let Go of Hope. One Day You Will See That it All Has Finally Come Together. What You Have Always Wished for Has Finally Come to Be. You Will Look Back and Laugh at What Has Passed and You Will Ask Yourself... "How Did I Get Through All of That?"" ~ Author Unknown

New Furniture!

This blog episode was typed up over the course of two weeks because I usually work on it throughout the week and then put the finishing touches on it on Friday, when I have no kids to prepare for. Last Friday, though, we spent the day building all the new furniture we were able to purchase with the grant we received from the Stamps Foundation. I must say, things are starting to look pretty great around here!

Jeff and Justin showing off the new bookcase they built.

New sitting chair in my office that won't make my back hurt!

New filing cabinet for Liz! I was running out of space.

This is our new Board president, sitting in a bookcase.

The Homework Room in progress

Nobody's slacking here.

Some of our college volunteers here to help out.

New cubbies that are NOT made out of cardboard.

New cabinets to hold science supplies

New bookcase for K-1st grade. And so much space for more books!

This is what it looked like after the first day (and second, and third...).
I think they like it.

New, MATCHING chairs EVERYWHERE!

New bookcase for 2-3rd grade. Also, plenty of space to expand!

My Nerdiness is Showing
Last Monday, I actually really connected with the two Junior High students who have been giving us the most trouble. With one, I offered to help him out if his teacher really didn't believe him when he told her that he has people who can help him with homework after school. At the end of the day, he came in to my office, patted me on the back, and then told me he had just given me his trust and faith in mankind. It was weird, but he said it was a good thing, so I'm taking the win.

The other student and I started talking about computer games that we've both played/are playing. Who knew that my humble beginnings as the product of nerd royalty would prepare me for working with kids in a rough area of Pomona? I think I got him when I told him that I learned to type while playing Everquest, and he said he's in the Beta for Everquest Next (why is there a "Next"? World or Warcraft pretty much killed that franchise... I'm sorry, that was the nerdiness I was talking about). The more he opens up to me, the more I realize he is almost exactly like my brother. I'm not sure if they would be friends, or if they would hate each other. But it's always good to know you're not the only one. :-)

In other news, the chess craze is spreading. We're taking Pomona by storm!

We start them young around here.

Keeping them quiet during homework time. After this, they asked to play it every day.

And these are for my aunt and uncle, who donated the K'nex and Legos. This kid wants to be an engineer.

Exhausted
Last Wednesday marked a new challenge for me as Volunteer Coordinator and scheduler. We had 5 adult volunteers for the entire day. For 50 kids. Not all at the same time. We're well-staffed when we have 14 people throughout the homework hours.

So, my quick fix was to have the 4-6th grade group and the 6-8th grade group travel together for the day. Since the 4-6th graders get there an hour before the other group on Wednesdays, and they do nothing at the same time, it got a little bit hairy there for awhile as I tried to figure out how to make sure everyone got their snacks and the younger group got their Art and Gym games in. Keeping in mind that, once all the volunteers got there, there would only be two adults to split between all of them. And those volunteers wouldn't arrive until more than an hour after the kids did (which is their normal schedule and usually works out just fine).

Solution: Younger group's Art and Gym Games took place BEFORE snack time, so that they got to eat snack with the older group after all, and do homework at the same time, and everything else that they had in common on the same schedule. Everyone was in one big room together.

For the most part, they did pretty well! But having been the only one in the room with them for the first half hour before gym games, and constantly having to explain why things were different today over and over, and having 20+ kids asking me different questions all at the same time, during a time when they were allowed to be talking (not homework time), was just exhausting.

That, and there are a couple kids in each of those groups who just don't know how to stop talking. Ever. It's not even a possibility in their mind. Even when they get in trouble for talking too much or at the wrong time, they keep going, because they can't not talk. Which usually means they have to be smart alecs, in order to continue on in having something to say. Because smart alecs always have something to say or respond to or noise to make of some kind. I hope you get the point here, because the introvert in me can't take it anymore. I was tired.

And Then...
That night, I had just enough time to drive my sister home, drive myself back home, and eat dinner before I started going blind. Oh wonderful, it's migraine season for Liz. (Not necessarily the kids' fault. I tend to get them just before winds pick up. Seems like it has something to do with the atmospheric pressure.)

The worst of it was Wednesday night, but I spent much of Thursday completely wiped out. Luckily, I had wonderful, self-reliant volunteers that day (and enough of them!), so it was a fairly easy day, Coordinator-wise. Though I finally admitted to myself at the end of the day that I probably should have just stayed in bed that morning.

The saddest part of that day was that we were saying goodbye to 4 amazing and dedicated volunteers, who were all either graduating from college or starting a new job the next week. It feels like the end of an era.

They all ended up in gym games at the end of their day.

When it was time for them to leave, all the kids, 4-8th grade thanked them.

Last Friday Workshops
Last Friday, in addition to building furniture most of the day, we also had our last math workshop. Almost all the kids who ever came were there. We played a game of Magic: The Gathering, with Kevin in charge. It was probably the least amount of complaining the kids did the whole time. I think Kevin may want his own workshop soon, just to teach the kids the game.

They seemed pretty interested.

It was also the last Friday Art Workshop run by the dA. They decorated cookies for everyone building furniture. It was delicious. :-)

I remembered to take a picture after I took a bite.

Weekend Fun!
So after building furniture all day on Friday, I decided to spend all of Saturday cleaning/organizing the house in preparation for the Mother's Day dinner that was cooked for mine and Kevin's families on Sunday.The cleaning happened (I don't know what else to say about that, except that I am also almost caught up on Downton Abbey).

The dinner went better than I ever expected! I forgot to take pictures! I had no idea that that many people could fit in my small house. And I never thought before about how warm it would get. But Kevin cooked a very delicious steak and everything seemed to work out.

These Things Happen
This week has been pretty interesting too. As I was coordinating Tuesday, I had a kid bend down to pick up his folder off the ground and slam his head so hard that he was bleeding, but he kept insisting he was fine. So I cleaned him up and made him finish his homework in my office where I could keep an eye on him, in case he passed out or something. He was pretty much fine, but I told his mom to keep an eye on him anyway, just in case.

Tragedy Strikes the City
I also found out on Tuesday, that one of the victims of this horrible murder-suicide that happened last week was best friends with two of my high schoolers. They're taking it pretty hard. It really sucks to have something so awful and unexpected hit so close to home. If you have it in you and your budget, the last remaining family member is taking up a collection to bury her family. You can help out by clicking here.

Survey Fun
I sent out a survey to all our volunteers asking them about their experiences at After School with Pomona Hope on Wednesday afternoon. It was heavily based on a survey I remembered getting a few years before when I was just a volunteer. It also asked them about any suggestions they had for the program, so I'm hoping to have some inspired ideas to work on over the summer for the Fall.

We've already received a few responses and they're pretty good so far! Makes me feel a little bit better about my work performance so far. Sometimes it's hard to tell, when I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, whether I've communicated everything everyone needs to know effectively, or if I just said something horribly offensive (I wouldn't expect that, but who knows?).

And Some Excitement for Your Day
As the kids were leaving for the day on Wednesday, I had a little run-in with a homeless man. He had passed by a few minutes before with someone he later called his wife. He came back while many kids were still waiting to be picked up, didn't make eye contact as I asked him if I could help him, but crossed himself, mumbled something, and started walking down the ramp towards our door! I got in front of him and put my arms out, since kids were still coming out, and told him that he couldn't go down that entrance because kids were coming out. There are MANY doors to the church, but that door is just for Pomona Hope. We don't even let our own kids come in that door for Youth Group if they skipped program that day. They have to go around like everyone else.

He kept insisting that he had to talk to someone inside because his wife was hungry. I tried explaining to him that we didn't have any food to give (for this very reason), but if he went to another door and rang the doorbell, someone MIGHT be there who may be able to help him.

He kept walking forward throughout all of this, and I kept backing up to stay in between him and the kids, and there were a few times I didn't back up fast enough and he bumped into me. Then he would yell, "Don't you put your hands on me!"

Luckily, one of the parents of a couple of our kids came to my rescue. I'm not sure what would have happened if that parent wasn't there, because he was definitely more intimidating than I was at that moment. The man left screaming at us, "Where is your compassion?!"

The sad part was that he was so agitated to begin with that I didn't have a chance to give him the resource we do have available to give to people who come to us hungry. It's not food, but it tells you where you can get food and shelter.

I haven't had to stand up to anyone like that since I worked at Disneyland and people were insisting that they could do whatever they wanted because they paid to get into the park (completely disregarding the fact that everyone else did too). This was a different kind of feeling though. It's a little scarier when you know they're more desperate, but I'm glad I was the one in the line of fire, rather than our kids or volunteers.

They're Not All Bad
There's also a really nice homeless man who has been hanging out across the street this week. He has a broken leg, but he waves and smiles at me when I enter and leave work, but he's never anywhere around when the kids are coming and going.

COULD Have Been Crazy
Thursday marked the time we began our last week of programs for the school year. We had said goodbye to most of our regular Thursday volunteers who work with the two oldest groups (4th-8th grade) on the previous Thursday, so I was down to one adult volunteer and one high school volunteer to help both groups together. Normally we struggle to keep the ones who don't have homework quiet enough for the ones who do to work in silence, but with only two volunteers, and the extreme heat agitating everyone, I sent the few students who had homework to another room with the high schooler, and kept everyone else in the larger room to play board games or read quietly. It totally worked! I definitely hung out in that area of the building more, but I'm glad that we didn't have any major issues.

As for Garden Workshop on Thursday, it was the last one of the year, and it was 102 degrees outside, so that happened inside, in our one classroom with A/C (not counting computer lab). Emily M, our exiting Garden Coordinator came in to show the kids how to plant several different kinds of herbs in pots. She had them decorate their own pots first. It was a super cute idea and it seemed like most of the kids were getting into it! One kid who came too late to participate even got jealous. (I gave him the example that Emily gave to me.)

Well done, Emily! Thank you SO much!

Your herbs have faces too.

PLANES!
Today (Friday), as a reward for students who did the most "I'm Done" assignments (which is our way of keeping the kids quiet and productive during homework time if they have none or finish early), the kids who won are came in to watch Planes with me. I'd never seen it, so it was fun. We gave them popcorn and punch.

Normally for this reward, we take a very small group of kids to Boomers, but since it's so hot and we're all still super busy (with no time to find drivers/chaperones, plan a budget and agenda for the trip, etc.), this seemed like the best solution for everyone. As it is, Jeff is celebrating Memorial Day today (Happy Birthday, Jeff!), I will be next Friday (mental health day!), and Emily will the Friday after. In the meantime, the mischievous side of me wants to gift wrap everything on Jeff's side of our office. I'll definitely post pictures if that happens.

Wrap Up (Pictures that Didn't Fit into Stories)