Main Street Ministries

So for my social work class we had to get 15 hours of volunteer experience to start feeling out what the profession is all about. I am doing mine at a place called Main Street Ministries which is a local organization that gives low income housing to single mother families. It is a Christian organization and it requires all the women to sign a contract and go to counseling, be in a bible study, go to a church, and a variety of other things as well. I have had a chance to do several different things while there. The social worker who works there just got off maternity leave (which is significantly shorter here) and so I have spent some time with her, watching her adorable new born and two other kids so she can get some work done. Though this is not actually in the social work field, it is interesting because she gives me random tidbits about what happens at Main Street, some of the struggles she has, and some of the struggles the women and children have. I feel like I have learned a lot from these times. Plus I get to have newborns fall asleep in my arms....win win I think.
My favorite thing to do, of course, is to work with the kids. I have had the opportunity to babysit some of them twice. The first time was watching a large group of kids while the mom's were in a group meeting of some sort. The kids ranged in age from 6 months to 12 years old. I was surprised that they all seemed extremely well adjusted. I had expected kids in desperate need of love and attention and help but instead these kids were all extremely friendly, happy, and excited to meet someone new. It was a great experience. These kids lack a lot, but they also have a lot. It was great to shower them with attention and play games with them and get to know some of them. But it was equally great to see that these kids were doing okay, despite a less then perfect situation. The second time I baby sat was for a mom who had to have surgery. I watched her 18 month old (approximate age) for four hours one morning, and again it was just a wonderful chance to love on a little child and play with her. She is a cutie and she was quite amused by my phone which I used to take a bunch of pictures of her and some movies during which she would laugh hysterically.
I also had the chance to work at the Food Bank twice. The food bank is open every Saturday from 9-12 and it is the only one in a large area of town. A lot of people go there for some help with groceries every week. The amount of groceries each family gets depends on the size of their family. Each family gets one or two bags of box foods (which includes things like cereal, hamburger helper, baked goods, pasta, etc.) and one or two backs of canned foods (which includes fruits, vegetables, soups, canned meat, etc.) and some potatoes and some frozen meat. Families can also get toiletries and laundry items if they request it. The first time I helped was just after the youth groups in Hillsboro went around town for "trick or treat so others can eat" which was an event that collected food from the people in the community. It was great to see so much food and fill the cupboards. I didn't get to talk to too many people getting food. Most of them are embarrassed about it and it is hard for them to ask for help, but it is definitely nice to be able to help them in a little way.
The final thing that I did at Main Street was help one mom with some housekeeping. The point of this was both to help her get rid of some things and clean her house up but also to give her company and talk with her. It was really great to talk to her and hear parts of her story. Her mom is actually from Canada, so it was fun to talk about that. She told me she didn't think I had a Canadian accent. But she is just working really hard to get her life on track and be close to God. It was great to hear her talk about it, talk about how she worked through her struggles with various things. I didn't find out how she ended up at Main Street, but she seems to have grown and become much more stable.
That is my time at Main Street. I think I just wrote the paper I have to write about it :P