23 March 2009
Okay, so I’m going to try to knock out three different things that I do in once blog. Here we go:
The 174 Trust is a community organization that Kevin and I work with for about 40% of the week. The trust runs a lot of different projects and also houses a lot of programs that are run by outside agencies. At the Trust I work with:
1.) 174 Trust Afterschools project. It’s basically what it’s name suggests – kids from local schools come to the Trust afterschool to play games, socialize with other kids, and do their homework. Most of the children have parents who work, etc., so the afterschools can provide a safe and supervised environment for them. I’m there for a couple hours each Wednesday afternoon. It’s been great getting to know the kids, and I’ve really seemed to connect to a few of them. One even came out and told me that he liked me the other day.
2.) 174 Trust Nursery is kind of like pre-school. It’s for kids who are 3-4 years old and they focus on teaching the kids how to socialize with other, some basic reading skills (like letters and how to spell their names), and other developmental type things that will help them make a smooth transition into primary school. I’m there on Tuesday mornings and absolutely love it. I taught the little ones the “Pick Bananas” song from Camp Donegal (if anyone reading is familiar with that one) and am going to try to teach them some other ones. It’s pretty fun, and I really enjoy the women who work in the nursery too.
3). PHAB Club is part of the 174 Trust’s disability project. The project does a wide range of things, including offering support groups for children who have a family member with a disability and clubs for children, teenagers, and adults. I help out with junior PHAB club (which is for kids) on Wednesday nights and with youth PHAB club on Tuesday nights. They do different programs with the participants, like currently the Youth PHAB is doing a 6-week photography course. They’ll also have summer programs where we’ll go on day trips with the kids, so I’ll be helping out with that. The clubs are really fun – we pretty much go crazy. (Okay, well I go a little crazy – it’s fun to tease the kids. Don’t worry, the tease me right back! They really get a kick out of making fun of my accent…)
So there you have it! Another part of my schedule explained.
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