In Wilmington, Del., a group of 11 allies focused on people with disabilities. They decorated holiday wreaths, performed scenes from A Christmas Carol, made arts and crafts and did aerobics with residents of the Mary Campbell Center, while another group held a food forum for the West End Neighborhood House community. In Milford, Del., allies brought tobacco prevention games, prizes and information to Milford High School students in cooperation with the American Lung Association and officials at the school.
At the Mary Campbell Center, which provides residency to adults and services to children and adults with disabilities, 11 Public Allies and center residents whooped and hollered, swung their arms, clapped their hands, shook their shoulders and just boogied to rock and roll during the center's aerobics session.
Public Allies were there to decorate holiday wreaths, play games, stage a scene from A Christmas Carol and help residents make holiday cards and arts and crafts, but were recruited by the center's volunteer coordinator, Vernae Winchester, to dance with residents as they did their biweekly aerobics exercise.
Julia Janes, AS '07, said her Public Allies group chose to work with the Mary Campbell Center because they wanted more one-on-one interaction with center residents. “The disabilities community isn't always considered for these projects, and Public Allies is all about serving the underserved,” she said.
Allies Antonia De Luz, AS' 07, and Kim Showell, AS '07, said they hadn't had much contact with people with physical disabilities, but the experience at the center had been so positive that they learned a lot about themselves and people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, in downtown Wilmington, another Public Allies group was partnering with young people in the West End Neighborhood House's Reflections program to coordinate a nutrition forum, focusing on topics like what food labels really mean, what organic is and its benefits, resources in the community for those who are hungry, healthful recipes and the health risks of overeating and improper diet.
As part of this Public Allies team service project, allies and Reflections students had toured the Delaware Food Bank, learning how the food bank receives its donations, how it uses its 300 volunteers each month, about its 10-week culinary program and new catering service.
“They learned about 'back packing,' where kids are given food in back packs to use over the weekend,” said Twanna Howard, CHEP '07, Public Allies project worker.
Allies had been working with Reflections since October on the nutrition forum. “Public Allies and Reflection students approached the community by making flyers then going to local beauty salons, car dealers and other local establishments inviting people to attend the forum,” Howard said.
In Dover, the Public Allies team set up displays and games in the lobby of Milford High School to show the consequences of smoking.
Kids could bowl over giant cigarettes lined up like bowling pins, answer true-or-false questions about smoking, sign certificates pledging to remain smoke free and be given words like stroke, cancer, heart disease and emphysema to be pinned on the body part most affected.
Ali Selders, Public Allies program manager, said the kids reacted well to their program. “Some of them shared personal stories about their parents smoking and people they knew who died of lung cancer,” she said.
Selders said the American Lung Association donated prizes for the day and 525 prize-drawing tickets were given out. “The school has approximately 2,000 students,” she said.
Public Allies Delaware, a division of AmeriCorps that is administered by UD's Center for Community Research and Service, is a 10-month leadership development program where people considering careers in the nonprofit sector work for agencies that serve the community.
Article by Barbara Garrison
Photo by Kevin Quinlan