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Unity: Corps unity and cohesiveness is an essential part of the service year. As member form bonds of friendship and understanding outside their jobs, they develop an important support network. The Literacy AmeriCorps Program encourages this through helping to organize unity events that allow the members to meet outside their service site or training and explore the city the uniqueness of New Orleans while learn about each other. The member development committee helps to plan these events as well as create Corps unity through recognition of service, birthdays, and other team building activities. |
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Game Night/Birthday Party!
By Antoinette Spillers
As apart of our Unity Event for the month of June, our AmeriCorps member Esther Alexis allowed us to host a game night at her house, which was also the same day as her birthday. What a great way to celebrate! Personally, I was prepared to play the traditional games, such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Cranium, etc, but this game night was filled with new and challenging games. It’s good to open you mind to new things, even if they are board games. The best game of the night was Apples to Apples! If you haven’t played, I suggest you go to the nearest store and purchase it. YOU WON’T REGRET IT!
The event also included a delicious barbeque, potluck items which included Ms. Spillers’s Award Winning Spinach Dip and scrumptious red velvet cupcake made from scratch from our AmeriCorps member Jan Jugran. It was a fulfilling event, physically and mentally. Good for the STOMACH AND SOUL!
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Bogue Chitto Tubing
By Jennie Merrill
On June 19th, 2010, we went up to the Bogue Chitto River to go tubing. It was about an hour long drive, but we crammed into my tiny Ford Focus and rocked out to 90s music all the way up. We put our tubes into the river at about 11:45 and ended somewhere around 3, however we relaxed on the side of the river for awhile and watched our fellow tubers dock. While it was a relatively clear day, and most all of us avoided any major sunburn, there was thunder and lightning on both sides of us, along with some rain showers. There’s nothing like floating down a river in a potential thunderstorm. We also had to watch out for trees lurking underneath the river; they will scratch you up and take you down. It was a great time and so beautiful. It was the perfect opportunity to talk because all we were doing is floating down a river. Catherine kept telling me to “make haste” when trying to avoid the river trees…and I thought that was pretty great. We talked about books, and movies, and things we did when we were younger that we thought was trendy. All in all, it was a great time and I think we’ll definitely have to do a replay of it sometime this summer. |
Take Back the Night
By Sarah Hall
Loyola University sponsored its 14th annual “Men and Women Take Back the Night” march on October 27th, 2009. The march was open to the entire community and was intended to bring about awareness to sexual violence against women and to empower, as well as support, female survivors. The event began in front of Loyola University’s Marquette Hall, where individuals of Loyola, Tulane, and the community shared their stories and emotions regarding sexual abuse. Following the speakers there was a candlelight march, in which all participants had the opportunity to join in chants demanding the awareness and abolition of sexual violence. The event ended at >Myra Clare Rogers Memorial Chapel on Tulane’s campus, where closing ceremonies took place. An open microphone was available to all participants, giving them the opportunity to share their own personal stories, thoughts, or reflections. And in signing the “Bystander Pledge,” which states that an individual will not participate or condone sexual violence, teal “Take Back the Night” t-shirts were given to those who signed. In further efforts to support this cause, both Loyola and Tulane sold raffle tickets in order to raise money to benefit organizations like the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program at LSU Public Hospital, and Crescent House.The “Take Back the Night” march serves as an opportunity for education, awareness, and healing to victims of sexual abuse and their friends, families, and loved ones, as well as the general community. |
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Blueberry Picking
In June, members headed to Mississippi and the hospitality of Literacy Alliance Executive Director Rachel Nicolosi, who lent her camp on the Wolfe River out as a home base for the day. Members enjoyed a fun filled Saturday that began with a blueberry picking bonaza at an organic blueberry farm. They then headed to Rachel's for a delicious lunch cook by her husband Jim. We were joined by Abram Himelstein, a site supervisor, former AmeriCorps member, and the co-founder of the Neighborhood Story Project, who discussed how he used his serve year and service experience to help him reach his goal of creating the Neighborhood Story Project. The rest of the day was spent hanging out out by the creek swimming and floating!
Above members Molly Losey, Kareem Kennedy, Miriam McGinn, and Adrian McGrath get ready for some serious blueberry picking! |
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