As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, a number of non-profit organizations exist in Orange County and they often work as partners for the benefit of the less fortunate, whatever that may mean in context. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by this due to the nature of their line of work, but this week we had the opportunity to see firsthand their cooperation efforts. On Monday we had the opportunity to volunteer at Project Hope Alliance of Orange County, a privately funded organization aimed to end the cycle of homelessness, particularly for children and families. They aim to fight homelessness today and tomorrow, first by offering housing and guidance towards financial independence and then by providing children with the opportunities they need to be successful in their academic careers. Up close and personal, our contribution to the organization looked like organizing the on-site food pantry for case workers. The pantry needed to be rearranged and labeled with expiration dates for easy access and legibility because when a family is in need it is generally urgent they receive help fast. Working in the pantry, I realized a number of our camp girls may have received the help of Project Hope in the past, or are receiving help now. I realized the girls in our camp are from generally low-income families, which the majority of can’t pay the full tuition to attend camp by themselves. I wonder if the nonprofits in the area are able to reach the entire homeless population, or if just a select number reap the benefits of the organizations, often overlapping. I am not sure if either of these are true, but I hope they can help as many people as possible.
Later in the week, we as a group taught our fellow Eureka! Staff members how to build the circuit in our flashlight curriculum, covering the basics of circuitry. Through this we practiced facilitation, a few days before camp starts. This week included moving day, our final step of preparation towards camp. Most of our time was spent at the Girls Inc. office at the latter end of the week and for the final day we acquired all of our materials for every week of STEM curriculum. The entire staff helped move all of the materials to OCC during the hottest part of the day, hitting 109 at some point. It hasn’t yet strike me how close camp is, but it’ll certainly be here soon.