Live United

Emily Baker is the director of Success by 6, a program of United Way of the Shoals that fosters early childhood learning.  Mrs. Baker recently graduated from UNA (and when I say recently, I mean May).  While at UNA, she was involved in all types of agencies, nonprofits, and child development: she started as soon as her freshmen year, and she told us time and time again--how many times have we heard this?--that experience MATTERS!  She became the director of SB6 in April, a month before she graduated, which is amazing!  She gave us advice on making connections and networking, advising us not to wait until it's too late.

She is also very knowledgeable about SB6 and early childhood development, as well she should be.  United Way focuses on education, income, and health, and they support about 40 different services/agencies, SB6 being one of them.  Early learning is one of United Way's three strategic priorities, so SB6 fits right into United Way's goals.  The Florence SB6 program focuses on early childhood literacy.  Mrs. Baker reminded us how early childhood development affects everyone, because today's children are tomorrow's workforce.  Having a well developed childhood also helps break the cycle of poverty.

90% of a child's brain develops in the first 5 years of life and the level of vocabulary determines a child's later reading comprehension and even whether they will graduate.  Children learn in all kinds of ways--cognitively, emotionally, and socially.  So that means just playing with a child helps them learn!  And there are many children who do not live in a stimulating environment, which will hurt them later in life.

SB6 currently has two programs to benefit early learning:

1. Jr. Reads is a book giveaway program.  Children's books are expensive but important.  Through this program, families have access to books they might not otherwise be able to afford. 
2. Better Beginnings is a volunteer based program where volunteers go to work in day cares to engage children in play and to keep them busy and constantly using their brain. 

In the future, SB6 wants to add more programs to benefit teenage parents, foster children, and pregnant mothers.  Two upcoming programs are: 

1. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library will be a program that will provide one book a month to a child until they turn five years old.  The program will be free for the families and allow children the excitement of new books every month.  SB6 is going to have to do some major fundraising before they are able to kick off this program. 
2. Text4Baby will be a program that will provide pregnant woman with information, through text message, they need to know about taking care of their bodies and children.

Mrs. Baker was a great speaker, and SB6 definitely seems like a fun program to get involved with--and not just because it's the Honors Program's philanthropy.  Helping kids learn really does impact the future of this country (and, let's be honest, our future: who's going to be taking care of us in the nursing homes?).  I'm probably going to get involved here with SB6.   

"Look, at Hardees, you can get a cheeseburger with fries for free."

"No, Grandpoppy, that means free internet."

Mrs. Kay Parker from the Healing Place spoke at forum this week.  Besides demonstrating an excellent three point speech to us, Mrs. Parker was nice, funny, and spoke honestly about her relationship with God, stating very often that God will pull you through the hard places and to keep on trusting Him.

You "never know where you're going, but you're going somewhere."  And "one thing always leads to another."  These two quotes from Mrs. Parker sort of describe my life at the moment.  I literally have no clue where I'm headed in life right now, so it's comforting to be reminded that I'll eventually end up somewhere and that I'll probably figure out where that's going to be sooner than later.  Of course, I always need to leave room open to be surprised because the roads of life can be a little windy.

This is a summary of the advice Mrs. Parker gave us (that really hit home for me):

• What work would I do if I didn't get paid for it?
• Don't be afraid to try on different majors to see how they fit. 
• Do what I want to do, not what others want me to do.
• "God can work through ordinary people to do extraordinary things."
• Fill in the blank "I was born to...." and never work another day in your life.

The Healing Place helps grieving children deal with family issues.  They also teach parents and guardians how to help their grieving children.  In establishing the Healing Place in Florence, Mrs. Parker and the others went through a few difficult times, where God was definitely responsible for the final coming together of all the pieces of the puzzle.  At the Healing Place, volunteers play with the children, just to give them some normalcy and for the children to realize that they are not alone and that someone cares for them. 

Mrs. Parker also gave us four ways to relieve tension and deal with stress:

1. Be honest with self and maybe another person (who won't judge you) and God. 
2. Be expressive. (Write, cry, pray, shout)
3. Be physical.  (Hit something, throw things)
4. Be aware of what I keep telling myself that is bothering me and what I need to forgive myself of. 

"Forget perfect.  It's nonexistent."  Don't let sadness, anger, fear, or guilt get out of hand.  Seek help and be peaceful.  

At the end of forum, Mrs. Parker called us out by saying it's easy to complain about what's wrong.  What's hard is getting up and doing something about it.  Small changes can makes a difference, and we should focus on what we can do, not what we can't.  

Mrs. Parker was the epitome of a motivational speaker--I suppose that comes from teaching grief classes for so long.  Listening to her was an absolute blast, and I was honestly surprised when class was over.  I would definitely love it if all our speakers this year were as awesome as Mrs. Parker.  Now, there are different types of awesome.  Mrs. Parker wasn't the fireworks display most people probably think of when I use the word awesome.  Mrs. Parker was soft-spoken and quiet but easy to listen to and understand, and it was obvious she cared about us and helping us as much as she wanted us to volunteer with the Healing Place. 

I'm not sure if I'll volunteer at the Healing Place this semester.  It involves working with kids, which was something I mentioned in my last blog, and it would probably be very fulfilling to love on some kids a little bit.  I'll keep the blog updated on my service and whether I decide to volunteer at the Healing Place.

Ready, Set, Serve

Get ready, it's year two of honor's forum!  And this time it's all about service.  Civic Engagement is the name of forum this year.  

So, I've actually already done some service work this semester through Lion's Lend a Hand.  A group of Honor's Program people spent the day working at a historic house for Order of the Confederate Rose, a women's society whose purpose is to preserve Southern culture.  Lots of people pulled weeds, trimmed hedges, or painted.  My job that day was to paint--no big, really.  But when the twenty of us finished the little jobs we were doing that, the house looked so much better!  That goes to show that effort goes a long way.  

This upcoming semester, I'm supposed to do 10-15 hours of community service and then use those service opportunities to give me an idea for a platform of service to aid me in continuing service for the rest of my time at UNA.  To be completely honest, I don't know what kind of platform to make out.  If I had to decide on one right now, I'd say the environment.  I had fun at Lion's Lend a Hand, and last year, I did a little bit of volunteer work by picking weeds at the Arc of the Shoals.  However, I know there are plenty of other kinds of work out there, and I'm likely to find one more suitable for me.  

With that said, my plan for this semester is to be open to new ideas and serve in a variety of places.  I am not a naturally outgoing person, so finding work that is behind the scenes (such as sorting clothing at the Salvation Army) is preferable to me.  However, I do enjoy kids and would probably find satisfaction working with children.  

By the end of this semester, I hope to have made a difference, gotten some good work done, and had fun while doing it!