St. Anthony's Church (Padua Dining Room) Reflection 2 (Vida)

Vida Saffari
September 18th, September 21st, and September 22nd 2017, 10am-11:30am
St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room
Bob Dehn

Supervisor Contact Information: paduadiningroom@gmail.com or 650-365-9664 

I really enjoyed my last 3 visits at St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room and I am very sad that my PACT project has come to an end!

During these last three visits, I did similar activities such as doing work in the kitchen, serving food, and helping organize boxes of necessities. I also helped package lunch boxes that these low income families could take to their homes. These lunch boxes would provide them with food for the next couple days. I really liked how such a simple idea could be so impactful on these individual’s lives. For instance, if a parent was working that entire week and didn’t have enough time to prepare food for their children, these foods could make life much easier on them.

By serving food, I was able to build relationships with the people, especially the ones who came in regularly. One interaction that really stuck to me was one with a teenage girl. She was extremely friendly and kind. She asked me about school and where I attend high school. When I told her that I attended Menlo School, she mentioned that that was one of her top choices for high school and that she would be applying next year. For over 10 minutes we talked and established a really strong connection. Her love of learning and education was extremely inspiring. Despite the challenging times her and her family were facing, she still had so many goals and aspirations. Her determination was uplifting and moving. I am really glad that I met her! 

My service at St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room made me realize how important volunteering is. I loved helping out the other volunteers and becoming a part of their community. It made me smile to see older men and women working there and taking time out of their days to make an impact on the world. I will definitely volunteer at St. Anthony’s again and would recommend it for anyone looking for volunteering opportunities!

St. Anthony's Church (Padau Dining Room) Reflection 1 (Vida)

Vida Saffari
September 9th, September 14th, and September 16th 2017, 10am-11:30am
St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room
Bob Dehn
Supervisor Contact Information: paduadiningroom@gmail.com or 650-365-9664 

These 3 visits at St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room have been short, but extremely impactful. A group of volunteers and I have been able to provide individuals and families who are facing malnutrition and hunger with a clean, healthy meal. 

During these visits, I first started off by helping recycle the boxes of fruits and other foods that were used for each meal. I also aided St. Anthony's by organizing necessities such as toilet paper, feminine products, shampoos/body washes, and many others into compartments. These necessities would then be provided to low income individuals and families who needed them in the future. Through this process, I realized that I take for granted many of the basic aspects of my life such as having shampoo to wash my hair everyday. I loved the fact that St. Anthony's provided low income individuals with these commodities in addition to meals. 

For the rest of my visits, I helped out mostly in the kitchen. I helped prepare certain dishes, cut up slices of cake, and washed fruits and vegetables. After kitchen work, I was able to step out and serve the individuals. This was an extremely rewarding experience. It didn't take much time to prepare the food, but the impact that it made on these people was delighting. It was amazing how each individual took the time to thank me for serving them a meal and spoke about how delicious it was. Even though these individuals were facing challenging times, they still stayed positive, smiled, and remembered what they are grateful for. These are all things that I forget to do in my daily life as a privileged individual. I sometimes even forget to thank my parents for providing me with the basic necessities of life such as serving me healthy, nutritious meals. 

Watching the families smile and spend time together talking over a meal, made me realize how important breakfast, lunch, and dinner time are. Not only is it a time to give the body the food it needs, but it is also a time of connecting with the people around you and engaging in interesting conversations. I loved the sense of community that was built at St. Anthony's and it felt amazing to be a part of it. 

Managing Equipment Donations at EPATT, August 5, 6, 7 2017 (Clark)

Clark Safran

July 26, July 30 August 2 2017, 9am - 1pm

Susan Lynch

2017 EPATT Kids Cup Chair and EPATT Board Member

Supervisor contact info: susan.lynch@epatt.org or 650-766-4576

Through managing equipment donations at EPATT, I was providing underserved kids with proper equipment that not only helps there tennis game, but helps there confidence. Using better equipment allows for an advancement in one's tennis game because higher racket technology and simply functioning rackets change the way a tennis player can hit the ball. Furthermore, new good strings and grips allow for the student to be able to hold on to the racket and not mishit the ball as a result of the broken equipment. But most importantly, the new equipment helps the kids feel better about themselves. When they hold new and properly managed equipment, it makes them feel a greater self worth because it shows that someone truly cares about their growth as a tennis player and a person.

Not only did my work at EPATT benefit the kids in the program, but it benefited me. When I witnessed kids with unusable gear, I recognized my own fortune that I take for granted. I never really thought of my tennis gear as a blessing, I just saw it as another thing that I wanted and the biggest issue was what gear did I want to get. It was such an eye opening experience to see how privileged and lucky I am to be able to play the sport I do with the amount of support I have from my family who are more that willing to spend an enormous amount of money to buy me the best gear. After seeing the kids with malfunctioning gear and how much the new gear helped there confidence and tennis game, I am inspired to do more community service in the future and to make a greater impact on underserved kids lives.

Managing Equipment Donations at EPATT, July 26, 31 August 2, 2017 (Clark)

Clark Safran

July 26, July 30 August 2 2017, 9am - 1pm

Susan Lynch

2017 EPATT Kids Cup Chair and EPATT Board Member

Supervisor contact info: susan.lynch@epatt.org or 650-766-4576

I collected, gripped, and strung tennis racket donations for the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring organization.

I have worked at EPATT a multitude of times since my Freshman year. My freshman year, I taught clinics and fed balls to the kids. For my sophomore year, I participated in a project to fundraise for the organization, called Aces 4 Kidz, which helped raise over 20,000 dollars for EPATT. This year there was an identifiable need in the organization for higher quality and greater quantity of rackets, so I decided to contribute this time to the equipment needs. One misconception about this year was that obtaining, stringing, and gripping racket donations for EPATT was going to be easier, less hectic, and less impactful than helping in clinics or participating in Aces 4 Kidz, when in reality, it was much harder and more valuable.

At first, the project was super hard because I never learned how to string rackets. It took me over 6 hours to figure out how to string my first racket because the string kept snapping and I always made a little mistake, which would cause me to restart the entire project. In the beginning, I was extremely frustrated that it took me so long to string the rackets. But after I got better at stringing and gripping the rackets, I started to enjoy the work because of the reward to come. The program will continue with better equipment and as a tennis player myself, I know the great difference quality equipment can make.

I definitely feel like I am having an impact on the organization as a whole. Tennis is a hard enough sport without damaged equipment. Overused grips cause your hand to slip and poor strings can lead to balls being miss hit. Most importantly, cracked and old rackets can lead to entire game changes from constantly miss hitting the ball to hurting one’s arm. By collecting and improving the equipment used at EPATT I feel like I can help the kids feel better about tennis, which they have dedicated so much time to, and therefore hopefully have them feel better about themselves.

Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 2 (Jojo)

Jojo Bachechi-Clark

6/20/16 - 7/07/16 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

This was my second week at Peninsula Bridge, and it keeps getting better.  Either way I wasn’t able to work in a classroom with the kids this week, since I was working in the office all week long, I got to go around from class to class taking pictures of the kids all week long. I worked on sending out the letter to parents in both spanish and english to update parents on how their kids were doing in classes.

As the second week started, I continued to endlessly play foursquare. I have been playing it at almost all the free time with the kids getting schooled by them every day because they always like to team up on me and get me out quick. I have also enjoyed playing ping pong and basketball in my free time, and I have learned that even at their young age, they are very skilled at the sports they love. In basketball, I always see Jack dribbling past the other students on the court and schooling the teacher assistants(TAs) who are all in high school!

Mid-Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 1 (Jojo)

Jojo Bachechi-Clark

6/20/16 - 7/07/16 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

This was my first week ever working at Peninsula Bridge. Either way I wasn’t able to work in a classroom with the kids this week, since I was working in the office all week long, I got to go around from class to class taking pictures of the kids all week long. It was cool because I got to see all the kids participating in all the different classes, like in the art room, I got to see them draw wonderful trees which were then placed all over the walls of the classroom. I would then move over to the math room where I got to see the kids hard at work where they were filling out packets or taking a test.

As a TA, I was also assigned to a family group, which is two teacher assistants and four students. When we first met in our family group, everyone was shy and timid, and no one really wanted to talk to anyone in our family group. Throughout the week as a family group, we have eaten lunch together, and we have done small science labs together. This was great because I was able to witness some of their passion for learning. And in the process, our family group has become more open and everyone has become more comfortable talking to each. I signed up to work at Peninsula Bridge this summer because I really wanted to help kids focus on their education. I know it is hard for the students to be at school during their summer, but I can see that they really want to learn and I’ve enjoyed working with them and I hope to continue having fun for more weeks to come.

Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 2 (Julissa)

Julissa Torres

6/26/17 - 7/28/17 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

During my time volunteering at the Peninsula Bridge Program I learned that I enjoy working with children. I also find it incredibly rewarding to help children who come from underprivileged communities. I think the reason is because I saw myself in many of the children. The majority came from the same school district that I was part of in middle school and they lived in the same area that I do. I knew going into the program that many of the students were coming from under resourced schools and for that reason I was even more encouraged to help. I believe that my time as a volunteer at Peninsula Bridge had a positive impact on the students. I made strong personal connections with the students in the group that mentored. I noticed they became more confident in themselves throughout the program and seemed more excited for their upcoming years of education.