On the Hunt for Barbie's Head

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

It seemed like a simple request: a twin-sized floral bed-in-a-bag for a 16 year old girl. Okay, I thought, I can do this. But my confidence soon wavered as I stood gazing at an array of bedding options – “floral” could mean little feminine pink flowers, or old-fashioned vine patterns, or big bold retro flowers in oranges and reds. Which did she want? I had no way of knowing…and I could feel the panic start to set in.

This year, I had decided that I wanted to take part in EECM’s annual Christmas Gift Program as more than just an organizer. I wanted to be a gift-giver, too. Every year, hundreds of caring and generous individuals pick a name off a tree and take on the responsibility of providing gifts to our clients and their children. I thought it would be a good idea to see what that’s like, so last weekend I braved the post-Thanksgiving crowds in search of the perfect gifts for “my kids” (three girls – aged four, eight, and sixteen – and an eight year old boy).

And let me say right here and now that I have increased respect and admiration for the dedicated gift-buyers who participate in our program each year. It’s not as easy as it sounds!

The eight year old girl wanted a Barbie head with hairstyle capabilities…but I couldn’t find one. Would a Bratz doll work instead? Or would I be the cause of a Christmas morning tragedy if it wasn’t Barbie? (I decided to risk it).

The boy needed sneakers and his size was listed as Youth 4.5. But I couldn’t find that size. The kids shoes all had big sizes like 10 or 11 and still looked teensy and the adult shoes looked huge. I saw a pair of cute Spiderman tennis shoes that lit up when you walked, but then dithered in the aisle for about 20 minutes trying to decide if they would be insultingly “kiddie.” (I didn’t buy them).

And of course there was the daunting bed-in-a-bag conundrum. (I settled on pretty purple flowers, attached a gift receipt, and hoped for the best.)

All in all I’m pleased with my purchases and I feel good about having participated in the process. I also have a better understanding of how challenging it is to buy gifts for total strangers, particularly when you add on the stress of knowing that your gifts may be the only ones under the tree on Christmas morning.

So allow me to end this post by sending a huge THANK YOU out to all of the individuals who are buying gifts for this year’s Christmas Gift Program. We appreciate all the time and effort that you exert to make the holidays special for our clients.

Thanksgiving Bounty

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Well, the Thanksgiving Bounty continued (and increased) last week. Here's a quick look at just a few of the donations that rolled in in time for Thanksgiving at EECM.

A group of students from the Falk School brought in the results of a pie-baking fundraiser: $500 and more than 100 pies. They got parents and other friends to "sponsor" the pies by paying for the production of a pie that would then be donated to the Food Pantry. What an awesome idea!

The 8th graders at St. Edmund's Academy came by with hundreds of grocery items, neatly organized into boxes of complete meals -- cornbread, green beans, etc. Just add turkey!

The Hunger Busters at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children rounded up more than 150 pounds of spaghetti.

Club One made good on their promise of a frozen flock -- they brought in 60 frozen turkeys along with enough side-dish groceries to fill up four of our HUGE plastic tubs (we're talking hundred of pounds of food here).

Thanks to all for helping to make Thanksgiving a happy holiday for all of our clients!

Breakfast at the Men's Shelter

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Let’s face it -- college kids often get a bad rap, especially when it comes to their “hours of operation.” We often assume that those wild youngsters are up partying until the wee hours of the morning and never roll out of bed before noon on the weekends. And for some that is indisputably true. But I try not paint the whole species with the same brush. And here’s why.

Last week, half a dozen students from Carnegie Mellon University showed up at out Men’s Emergency Shelter at 6 AM to serve breakfast to the men there...on a Saturday. Dinner at the shelter is always handled by groups of volunteers, but breakfast is usually more along the lines of cereal and fruit. It’s much easier to find groups willing to arrive with food at 7pm than 7am! But every now and again, a dedicated group of people makes that extra effort to provide a special hot breakfast for our homeless clients.

Like the members of Lamda Sigma, a Sophomore honor society at CMU dedicated to service. The group on Saturday was led by Carolina Velez, the bubbly and energetic president of the organization. Carolina’s ties to EECM go back a number of years to when she was a high school student at the Ellis School. The school promotes civic service by cooking and providing dinner at the Men’s Shelter every month and Carolina was usually among the group that came.

When she arrived at college and got involved with Lambda Sigma, she remembered the positive experience she had with EECM and encouraged the members to choose serving the men at the shelter for a service project. The group made vats of pancake batter, which they cooked on cookie sheets on the stove, scrambled eggs, and sausage. They also handed out apples and granola treats for the men to take with them and eat during the day. It was a feast.

So how did our community-minded college students enjoy their morning at the shelter? Carolina reports that “some of the people we went with were a bit freaked out at first because of the hard reality that is a men’s shelter, but once they realized how nice everyone was....they got over it. And now whenever I talk about it, everyone cannot stop gushing about what a wonderful time they had and how much they want to go back!”

We’ll be happy to have them.

Full Turkey Ahead

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Thanksgiving may be still a week away but here at EECM it’s Full Turkey Ahead and All Turkeys Go. Harvest season is a bountiful time of year and the approaching holidays bring out the charitable in everyone. The result of which is that our Food Pantry is overflowing…which is a good thing because traffic at the Pantry increases dramatically at this time of year. Ordinarily, we see around 20 to 25 families each day. Yesterday, we served 76.

One of the reasons for the extra people is that EECM is a recipient of Turkey Vouchers from Giant Eagle. The vouchers are good for a turkey, ham or chicken at Giant Eagle and we distribute them to our clients. A good-sized bird can feed a family for quite a while and the turkey vouchers are always eagerly anticipated.

But what would a turkey dinner be without the sides? Never fear – East Liberty Presbyterian Church to the rescue! Each year ELPC participates in a Thanksgiving Bag food drive for EECM. At the morning church services, they pass out brown paper grocery bags, to which they have stapled a list of Thanksgiving sides like stovetop stuffing, canned sweet potatoes, jars of gravy, and cornbread mix. The filled bags are then distributed to our clients along with their turkey vouchers and voila, a Thanksgiving Day feast. They even toss in festive holiday napkins. This year, they collected well over 100 Thanksgiving Bags.

And if all that food wasn’t enough, we’re expecting a large feathery donation on Monday – a flock of 50 frozen turkeys. All Turkeys On Deck!

Super Betty

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Today’s “Meet the Volunteer” post focuses on Betty, one of EECM’s Hunger Programs Superheroes. Betty faithfully volunteers two mornings a week, and when she’s there, she is a whirlwind of activity.

She usually arrives by 8am (earlier than many people are willing to roll out of bed!) and helps prepare bags of groceries for the Food Pantry. When clients come to the Pantry in the afternoon, they receive two large paper grocery sacks full of staples – pasta, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, canned soup, etc. (And in case you didn’t notice, those are indeed the same items that we list as our Food of the Month items). Thanks to Betty, those bags are packed and waiting well in advance of the afternoon Pantry rush.

Betty also helps unload the daily delivery from Whole Foods, sorts the donations and helps to set up the “extras room” which houses the fresh bread and produce and some of the miscellaneous donations that we receive (like taco sauce or the pretzel chips you see in the picture).

One of the other roles Betty fills for us is that of Food Pantry receptionist. She cheerfully answers the Pantry telephone that tends to ring incessantly. This may seem like a small thing but it is a lifesaver. The staff in our Hunger Programs are really busy and fielding the calls – many of which are general inquiries – could easily consume their entire day. So we’re grateful that Betty takes charge of that task!

Betty’s road to “EECM Volunteer” included a stop at “EECM Client” – she is a graduate of our PennFree transitional housing program. Betty is a bi-polar recovering addict and her road to recovery has been bumpy and not without its setbacks. But she is currently celebrating 18 months clean and welcomes the opportunity to volunteer with EECM as a way of giving back to the organization that has supported her along the way.

Keep your eyes out for EECM’s Winter Newsletter which features an article about Betty!

The EECM Classroom

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Meet Isaiah, Eliza, Elena, Chloe, Nathaniel and Evan. They’re part of a group of students who came by the Food Pantry last Friday to deliver the results of a Food Drive they had done for school. Their teachers had decided to go beyond simply collecting the food – they wanted the kids to get a better feel for why they were doing the food drive and where it was going. So they brought their students to EECM to deliver their collection in person. They’re planning to come to EECM regularly to volunteer, bring food, and generally experience the ministry.

Now you may be thinking to yourself: how are they able to arrange so many volunteer opportunities? Won’t the principal have something to say about weekly field trips? Well, the unique thing about this particular group of students is that they are all part of a home-school cooperative. The teachers who brought them are their parents, and they have made the decision to incorporate service learning into their curriculum for their kids.

This particular cooperative is actually one of several that have started volunteering with EECM. Keep an eye out for more stories about service learning at EECM in the months to come.

Clifford: The Big Red Van

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

What’s big and red and has Really Awesome flashing lights on top?

EECM’s new Hunger and Homeless van, of course!

Officially, he is a 1989 Ford Club Wagon E350, but that’s a bit of a mouthful and I’m planning on calling him Clifford instead. Isn’t he handsome?

Clifford was donated to us recently by East Liberty Presbyterian Church. This is simply the most recent example of the ongoing support shown to EECM by this fabulous congregation. To read more about ELPC’s involvement with EECM, click here.

We will put our new van to good use in our Hunger and Housing programs where one of his most important duties will be collecting the daily donations of produce and baked goods from Whole Foods Market.

Thanks ELPC! And welcome to the fleet, Clifford!

What's In A Name?

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

The other day, I was chatting with EECM Board Member Joan Millar about our non-medical respite care facility, the Orr Compassionate Care Center. Joan has been involved with the Orr Center for many years and she mentioned that at the Center, they are diligent about referring to the people staying there as guests, not clients. It was only a passing comment but it stuck with me and for the last couple days, I’ve been contemplating the importance of this distinction.

I think we can all agree that language is powerful. It can (and does) shape reality – when we describe something, we give it life and meaning. I think this is particularly true when it comes to language about people. How you choose to refer to another person says a lot about what you think of him or her and will most likely influence the interaction between you, whether you realize it or not.

Just for fun, I looked up “client” and “guest” in the dictionary and found the following:

Client – the party for which professional services are rendered OR a person using the services of a social services agency.

Guest – one who is the recipient of hospitality at the home or table of another.

I feel like I could probably leave it at that and make my point, but I’ll press on for a bit, just in case. “Client” is a technical and somewhat sterile term – it makes me think of lawyers and busy people in suits. It establishes a division between “receiver of service” and “giver of service” that will not be easily breached.

On the other hand, “guest” is warm and personal. Calling someone a “guest” means that you are extending your hospitality and friendship to that person and inviting them to spend some time with you.

It’s an interesting contrast, and I think that this distinction of language – guest instead of client – has helped to create the special atmosphere that exists at the Orr Compassionate Care Center. When you walk in, you enter a very homey environment. There is nice carpeting and neatly painted walls with wooden trim. Comfy couches and house plants. The guests eat meals together, sit and chat with staff members, and are generally treated…well…like guests – with warmth, good humor, and understanding.