Oops, kinda neglected the page for a while sorry guys :) Been real busy here at work which has been NICE. Even got a new responsibility for those times when the program staff doesn't have something for me to do!
Had an interesting return from Thanksgiving (spent in Ohio with family). It was a real neat feeling to come home to my housemates. It is amazing how used to having them around I have gotten after just a few months living with them. Also was surprised when I went to church and people knew I had been missing and were glad to have me back. Broadway UMC doesn't seem "warm" in the sense of the family I've had at my other home churches, but it was cool that they seem to value my presence all the same.
AFC had a "World of Chocolate" fundraiser last Thursday. It was awesome! I started helping in the morning so I saw it transformed from a room with a few scattered tables into a magnificant extravaganza with Christmas decorations, chocolate (from 26 different places!), and 800+ people (including a crew from the Food Network TV channel)! I can't believe how much stuff was donated. We have a staff meeting in a few minutes where we will probably hear the preliminary estimate of how many funds we raised. It will go towards are grant making program.
Hey, if the 4 of you who actually read this page ever have something you want me to talk about, just let me know! Sometimes I run out of ideas to gab about, I know that seems hard to believe...
A chance for some political action! This website was put together by a several agencies working to fight AIDS. It is a platform for AIDS care and prevention on a national and global level. It was sent to all of the canidates for US President. Reading it will give you a good idea of the issues me, and others working in AIDS care and prevention have been working on. If you agree these things are important, you can sign on as an individual endorser of the platform (anonymously or with your name). You can also choose to have an e-mail sent to the canidates letting them know you endorsed the platform. http://www.aidsvote.org/
It will be a full weekend at our house! Today Kevin's friend Ben arrives in town and will be staying with us through the weekend. Friday Leah's sister will join us. Saturday we will hit our peak when Jason's brother arrives. That will bring the total to 8 people. AHAHAHAHAHAH! In contrast yesterday evening I had the house all to myself (I skipped Bible study tsk tsk). It felt really good to have some private space and time. Everyone around the house is getting ready for trips home for the holidays. I'm heading to Jersey to visit with all the relatives there. Ended up splurging on the plane ticket rather than spending two days of my short vacation on the train, and two more sleeping off the lack of sleep while on it.
At AFC they've been keeping me fairly busy, although unfortunately, it hasn't exactly been the most exciting work. Hopefully I'll get another exicting project soon! The program I've been working on this week is the Renaisance Care Network, a group of agencies on the Southside that combined forces to increase their ability to serve clients. The Roseland area of chicago, where the agencies are located is one with few resources, a lot of persons with HIV, and a lot of persons that generally have few resources of their own. Chicago is highly segregated and the Roseland area is also over 90% African-American, one of the hardest hit population groups in the HIV epidemic. Together with AFC the agencies applied to the US department of housing and urban development for a grant to run a housing program. AFC was brought in to be a coordinator and administrator because of our experience coordinating other projects. The grant was just renewed a few weeks ago. An outside consultant is doing an evaluation, so that is generating a lot of work. Unfortunatly, the person coordinating the project at AFC left to join one of the other agencies in the network (to a higher position at their agency). My part in the project is to help put our RCN clients into the same case management database that our clients from other programs are in. This requires going back through three years of paper files. Me and LaNardia (our data entry clerk) our plugging away at it. Hopefully we'll get them all in there soon. Some of the early steps were interesting since I had to help decide what information would be put into the database, how we would find it in the files, how we would label them, etc.
Better get back to work on entering those client files...
Had a fun and relaxing week out in NJ visiting relatives. Had several celebrations, some with family I didn't know (relatives of my cousin's wife). I was worried about infecting everyone since I had been sick. Turns out it wasn't me that was the germ carrier! My 2nd cousin, Anthony, got horribly sick and then it attacked his dad and then my Aunt :( Poor Anthony was so sick his Christmas presents ended up needing a bath!
Now I'm back to work for a whole day before we are off again for two days for New Year's. Things have actually been hopping today despite all the holidays. Today I got to help gather statistics about our Safe Start program to turn in an annual progress report for our funders. Safe Start is a neat housing program that helps homeless individuals with substance abuse problems. Rather than requiring clients to be completely clean and sober before giving them housing, Safe Start trys to reduce the danger to the individual by first providing them stable housing which then allows them to receive care. Since so many individuals who are homeless have a history of substance abuse this program is very needed. Unfortunately, it is also not the easiest to run, so there are not nearly as many opportunities as there is a need. Our program funds 24 apartments scattered across the Chicago area. Here is our website about it if you want to read more: http://www.aidschicago.org/care/housing_first.php
Please pray for my housemate, Jason, and his family as they lost his Grandmother over Christmas.
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