Youth Services Opportunities Project recently hosted a group of students from the college I work for. We stayed in the gym of the Church of the Epiphany for a week and volunteered around the city. Originating in NYC in 1983, they expanded to DC in 2003. They work primarily with both high school and college students. Note: This isn't a religious organization, although it does have some Quaker roots.
The YSOP staff are a great group of incredibly enthusiastic and helpful people. They were our guides/go-to people and also ran reflections/discussions each day (note: they do have special guest speakers come in for at least one reflection). It looks as though there are some Americorps vistas as well as full time employees involved. Sadly, we didn't get into in-depth conversations about their personal lives, but if you're interested in working with Americorps in their particular field, they're definitely up for any questions.
The YSOP staff sets you up with projects for the week. Each group is given bus tokens and Metro passes to cover transport because you go to a different site every day (this is covered in the program fee). Our particular group got to work with:
Elder Buddies (work with elderly in their apt/house)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/elder-buddies-washington#hrid:lCnaLE3WpbHS8l2cXPdF1g
N Street Village (dry shelter all women)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/n-street-village-washington#hrid:-dPkjuzk_BoixELXz6AeDQ
Catholic Charities NY Ave Shelter (wet shelter all men)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/catholic-charities-washington-9#hrid:zQxBUACpwOiRyygNVRuqDg
Milestone place (dry shelter)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/milestone-place-washington#hrid:KOdwOe034JtjaoorsgcwPw
On top of that, we were in charge of hosting one dinner at the church. The students made lasagna, stir fry, salad, and brownies (topped with ice cream.. and no, we didn't churn that out ourselves.. haha). I can't pick a favorite site, but I did love talking to the people that came to the dinner. Not only did they have some amazing stories, they definitely debunked a lot of our myths on the homeless population.
The feedback I got from my students was that some of the reflections weren't deep enough. Just to clarify, we were there with 3 other colleges. They usually don't have that many students.. so the discussion might have been affected by the sheer number of people and how much we got to talk during our alloted time. Reflections were in the afternoon in the parish hall after everyone got back from their sites, so we were sharing space.
Also, there were a couple places we didn't feel like we were helping enough. This could have been due to my previously stated problem with number, but there's a certain pro-active culture that volunteers need to adapt (in addition to what they're already doing.. heh). I think a lot of non-profit workers are used to taking on a lot and sometimes don't ask for help slash they don't want to overburden volunteers or leave a bad taste in their mouth causing them not to come back. Point being.. speak up. Tell the work site leaders that you want to work!
Speaking of work.. it included.. painting, reorganizing/sorting (closets, clothes, apartments), sweeping, mopping, and general cleaning. Some of the other groups did some yard work and cooking. So.. you'll definitely get dirty at some point! Most of the sites offered an extensive orientation and in many instances we got to have a Q&A with the volunteer coordinators/case workers. Although, one place just had us dive right into cleaning.
Honestly.. even as an adviser who's been doing volunteer work forever.. this was a truly incredible, one of a kind experience. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Homelessness is a problem that doesn't exactly have a fancy ad campaign running.. or a celebrity backing it. It's about the community. YSOP did a great job of showing us that there is so much more than serving food at soup kitchens. There's some nitty gritty stuff that goes along with shelters and helping out others. Not to mention other issues like homeless prevention (that we got to tackle with Elder Buddies) that never really get discussed. The one-on-ones that the students had with both homeless people and the formerly homeless were great. They definitely had the students viewing homelessness in a different light.
Check out www.ysop.org for more details! read more