First weeks of Interning!

My first few weeks of interning were a bit chaotic because I didn't really know where to begin. Missy and I decided to attend the CCBB meeting to meet people and see what was going on the community. We had both e-mailed Gail, who sits on the board, so she would be expecting us. She was super excited to hear we were coming and even wrote our names in the time-sheet for the night.

While at the meeting we heard about many concerns related to the Brooklyn area. Trash pick up and recycling were of great concern because the neighborhoods were not given recycling bins which meant not many people were recycling. Having one trash day also meant that people would put their trash out a week ahead of time and it would start to overflow on lawns.

Apparently, prostitution and roaming drug vehicles are a great concern. CCBB wants to have nights where people gather together and walk the streets to let those causing disruption know that the neighborhood id aware and going to make their presence known. This is something that I would I like to do at least once, Gail said that having more faces out on the streets helps the area.

A few other areas of concern are restoration of the polish home, park clean-up, and raising money for the local firehouse to obtain equipment they may be short on.

Missy and I were introduced and got up to explain our internship. We let everyone know that we are more than willing to help on various projects and not to hesitate asking for help when needed. I think the group was well responsive and couldn't believe we were older than 23. I explained that I have lived in Baltimore for 8 years, but never gotten that involved with a community the way I was hoping to with the Brooklyn area. Gail also explained that we had worked on the Club4100 project and gave positive feedback about the event.

One of the best parts of the night was meeting Sarah Humphrey. She is the volunteer and outreach coordinator for the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition. She discusses a lot of environmental projects that were being doing by the organization and I became interested in focusing my attention on the BCBC. I wrote to her the next day and explained my internship project and how wonderful it was meet to her. I then offered up the idea of me contributing my time to some of the projects. We agreed to meet later in the week so I could pick up fliers for a “weed warriors program” they were putting on.

I went to the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition on September fourth, a Friday. A small office in a townhouse, I found myself surrounded by maps and posters of previous events and those yet to come. Sarah was so happy I came and explained where I would be going to pass out the fliers. She asked me if I had time to take a tour of the neighborhood and I of course said yes. We went up and down the streets through Bay Brook and Curtis Bay. We passed the schools and businesses I would be dropping off fliers to. She drove me through the area they call the “projects” as well as pointed out the homes that had been redone by Habitat for Humanity. The difference between a well-kept house and one that needed to be rehabbed was rather astonishing.

Sarah and I discussed some of the different projects I could begin thinking about. Teaching a class about vegetarianism, planning a race, starting a running group, and getting involved with park clean up were all likely possibilities. I am very excited about all of those ideas because they are all passions of mine!

I delivered the fliers to the various locations, got turned around a bit though.
Sarah and I have been e-mailing and I told her I was available to do any small projects this last week during my free time. She asked me if I would be willing to iron decals on t-shirts for the weed warriors event. I agreed and met her on a Thursday afternoon at her home. Because Sarah has three young children se is definitely pressed for time and was grateful to have me there helping out. I spent about two hours ironing and all was successful. The weed warriors event, pulling weeds from a local park, was set to take place on September 12th.

Sarah asked me to come up with an outline for the vegetarian class so that we can bid for a time at the Masonville Cove Center this October. The building where I hope to be teaching is an eco-friendly construction built above the cove. It is made entirely of recycled material and runs on solar power! It is a great place to host classes and other events. I hope to spend as much time as possible there during this internship.

Word count: 837

Hours: 11 hours