Autumn Nor'easter and Waterbury Outreach

Last week was the third natural disaster I never expected to experience while in CT. After an earthquake and a hurricane... I expected some winter storms. But one that knocked out our power for three days? No! I'm sure many of you heard about it on the news. But it was really a surprise! Thursday I heard 3/4".... suddenly, Friday we were hearing 6-12"! We heard that we could expect massive power outages due to heavy branches and wet snow. We went to the Home Depot for shovels and to the public library for books Saturday morning, but to be honest, we weren't too worried. We lost cable Saturday evening, which we expected, but went to bed with power. Around midnight, we lost it. My roommate from California and I made her first snowman, and we anxiously waited for power to return... and waited... and waited. It was chaos. Only 6% of the people in our town had power. People were waiting an hour in line to get gas because so many stations were without power. The cashiers at the grocery store were wearing bulky winter coats as they sold non-perishables and batteries. On Sunday we hardly had reception because so many cell phone towers were down. We all sat with our candles and flashlights, reading in the dark and laughing about our situation. We took showers at a fitness center nearby with power. Although Middletown only had a few power lines down, driving in a nearby city was scary. There were trees and power lines down everywhere. I was thankful I never had a reason to drive at night. Our apartment was down to 50 degrees, and we made plans to sleep somewhere else Tuesday night. Thankfully... power was restored to our apartment on Tuesday evening. (Probably one of the few times I was glad to live near the business district.) Unfortunately, one of the AmeriCorps was blocked into their driveway for days because of powers lines and a downed tree. A few other members went until this past weekend without power as well, and one member went 10 days without power. One of the good things to come out of this is that many community members (myself included) reflected on how there are people who struggle daily with finding hot meals, hot showers, and a warm place to sleep.

The health center will be opening a new site in Waterbury this month, and as AmeriCorps members, we've been asked to go door to door to alert the community. Because the health center aims to serve underserved populations of people, we primarily went to low income neighborhoods. We were in groups of four or five with an Access to Care worker (someone who works for the health center to help enroll uninsured people in state health insurance). The homes were large, beautiful Victorian style homes, but it was a huge eye opener, as half of the homes in the neighborhoods were boarded up, many with profanity spray painted on the boards. We saw condemned notes for reasons like raw sewage, and many homes had suffered through a fire, with burnt furniture strewn onto the yard. Maybe I've been watching too much Law & Order... but I was just waiting to trip on a line and see a house burst into flames. While it was a bit intimidating, we had many positive interactions with people. One man I spoke to put his hands up in the air and yelled "Woohoo!" at least three times in our conversation, as I described that the health center would accept his insurance. Another time, this little old lady was yelling at me from down the street, 'Hey! Hey! What are you doing here?' When I went over to speak to her, she was very sweet, and seemed to be the type of person who had lived in the neighborhood before it became abandoned. Overall, I feel that the community health center will make a positive difference in the community.

Peaceful Playgrounds

In the past month, there have been two events that really stick out in my mind involving children. The first event is peaceful playgrounds, a program that gives paint and stencils to schools located in impoverished areas. As AmeriCorps members, we decided to take part in painting some elementary school playgrounds. We arrived at the school to find spray paint and typical stencils: foursquare, hopscotch, and a map of the United States. We then proceeded to paint encouraging words such as: jump, bounce, fly, explore, and zoom! As we finished cleaning up at the end of the day, the principal came over to chat and learn more about AmeriCorps and our year of service here in CT. Upon chatting with her, we soon learned that because they were the hosts of an annual spelling bee, their auditorium underwent a $40,000 renovation. This was against their will, as $40,000 could be used as a salary for two aides at this largely underfunded school. The mural, however, was unbelievably breathtaking. As we stepped into the auditorium, we were all in shock and awe. Surrounding us were many familiar faces: Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter, Madeleine, the Wizard of Oz characters, Cinderella, the Cheshire Cat, Peter Rabbit, Mother Goose, and on and on. Every time I turned my head there was a new character that I didn’t see before.  Although the mural was spectacular, and they were putting it to good use, the school was clearly in need. The principal was actually moving to a new school that week, and was heartbroken about her decision. The school in New Britain, where she is leaving, has near 700 students, and only 60 staff members (where as the new school has 110 staff members for 450 students). Because their test scores are below national average, the school is losing funding. She is without an assistant principal, and in the past week alone had to restrain two children and call family protective services three times. The rate of childhood obesity and incarceration rates for families in their area is well above average. Many of the children also suffer from behavioral health disorders. Despite all the barriers, she has done wonderful things for the school. They now have a bank that comes to the school regularly, and have many college pendants hanging all over the school to encourage them to think of college. She has many awards and recognition events occurring in the school to encourage good behavior and things like attendance. They also have a ‘Where in the World is Smitty?’ event, where Smitty, their owl mascot, travels the globe, teaching them about new countries. They currently have a school based health center in their school, which allows them to have a nurse practitioner, medical assistant, and social worker on site, and they also have Recess Rocks! a program aiming to end childhood obesity, coming to their school. (It makes me proud to say that these programs are both programs through the health center that I work at). In her 7 years at the school, it seems she has overcome many barriers, and that the children are losing a fabulous principal.

The other event happened when I was doing outreach with Roberto (another AmeriCorps member) at a homeless shelter in the evening. There were children there, and as we were giving them stickers, they were eager to interact with us. One of the comments of the children caught me off guard, he said 'It's embarrassing to be here'. We acknowledged what he was saying, and he commented again that he did not want people to know that his family was at the shelter. Roberto and I made our best attempt to encourage them, and point out all the wonderful things that they had available to them at the shelter. Eventually, we got them to show us their dance moves they had created to a Veggie Tales song. Although we left the shelter knowing the kids felt better about their situation, I can't even imagine living at a shelter. As a kid, you look forward to bringing your friends over to visit or having your own room, even having your own toys. It's sad to know that many of these kids come in with nothing, and that they may leave with hardly much more. Emergency shelters are often 60 day stays, and there are limited resources for safe, affordable housing. I can only hope that these children are able to recognize the importance of family, and grow up able to live in a stable environment.

I know I haven't been writing frequently, and part of this is due to Winter Storm Alfred. I'll write a bit about this experience later this week!