October 14, 2009

SERRV Day Three

Hello!

Today we only worked half day, because while we thoroughly enjoy working at SERRV we were anxious to be back at Bridgewater. So, we cut out at 12.

Yay for SERRV employees! Mary Ann Grossnickle is this wonderful woman who works at SERRV. She is the volunteer coordinator and the person that Tricia talks to when planning our Alternative Fall Break excursion. Mary Ann is so good to us, she's a Bridgewater College graduate, too. She talked to us about taking a packet back to our bookstore to sell fair trade chocolate and other goods. I think it could totally fly. She also challenged us on how to reach out to college students with fair trade, or how to make it college student friendly. That's such a great question. I've thought about this alot with the project I'm attempting to do and with being a member of New Community Project. I think I may collab with some of my SERRV buddies and make a video or something about it.

Today we had a project dealing with Dove Luminaries and they arrived in a box full of shredded paper. We took out all of the paper and then used FOUR SHEETS OF BUBBLE WRAP for each dove and its box. We wrapped 117 doves so that means 468 sheets of bubble wrap total! We all had a turn tearing bubble wrap - our shoulders are definitely stronger. =) 468 sheets of bubble wrap!! And that's not counting the sheets that we used for the owls (they each had a big bubble sheet).

The Next Overstock Blowout Sale is November 19-29th! Be there! Hopefully we will be! It's right before our Thanksgiving Break, which is only about 5 days. I wonder if my family could drive up - that would be something nice to do as a family. I want to take my family up there and volunteer, especially once I have a family of my own. I think it would be a great fmaily bonding thing to do and I could teach my children about the purpose and goals of fairtrade.

Today during our table discussion we got on the topic of how lonely the real world can be. One of our friends graduated last year and he's having a rough go at adjusting to Seminary. It's sad that the real world is lonely compared to our life in college in community. Why do we create such a wonderful community for 4 years and then change into this place of lonely pairings and distance? So, we've decided to start a Brethren Commune when we get older! It would be a place of such awesome. =)


Today we worked on:

Hoot Gord Container

Katie's Notes: These were so wonderful and unique! We loved opening these and seeing all the different shapes that they came in! The gords are all so different - from short squat owls to owls with skinny necks and round bodies. We worked on these until closing time and we still had some left over, so we worked on these Tuesday, too. The people who made these Owls also made the Parrot Flutes that we worked on.

Peru: Manos Amigas S.A.
Manos Amigas is a fair trade organization that works with small artisan organizations throughout Peru. By supporting artisans through training and finding markets for their products, they help to preserve the variety of handcraft traditions of Peru. Manos Amigas, which means "hands of friendship", gives twenty percent of its profits of help fund social welfare projects, like school scholarships, uniforms, and a feeding program for poor children.


Cross Pins
- I couldn't find the exact cross pin that we worked on, but here is a link to cross necklaces and pins.


Sparkling Winter Dove

Katie's Notes: These were very beautiful! I was more on the tape and packaging end of this assembly line. Like I mentioned earlier this project alone took 468 sheets of bubble wrap! I wish in the Chapel today for BSM and we have one of these in the Chapel! =)

Bangladesh: CORR-The Jute Works
CORR – The Jute Works (CJW) was started in 1973 by CARITAS/Bangladesh, a Catholic service organization, to help rural women provide supplemental income for their families. CJW continues to bring about qualitative changes in women’s lives by providing them with opportunity for economic viability and social progress. At present, 3,515 artisans, who are members of 140 artisan groups, are supported by CJW’s work.

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