Anyway, this month has been busy with service, particularly at COD day. Our big event, Martin Luther King Day, is coming up Jan. 18th and things are finally starting to fall into place. We have finalized the schedule for the day as well as locations of events. From 12-4pm, volunteers will help build food storage bins and raised garden beds for food pantries. They will also help conduct food drives at grocery stores all over the cape. The food that is collected will be given to the Cape Cod Hunger Network, which is a nonprofit that will help disperse the food equally to food pantries on Cape Cod. There are a surprising number of food pantries on the cape and hunger is a big issue right now in this area. Although it may seem like Cape Cod is full of wealthy people (and much of it is), there are towns like Hyannis that have low income areas and a large homeless population. So hopefully MLK day will make a small difference. In the afternoon from 4:30-6 we are hosting a community dinner at a church in Dennis. A chef has volunteered to cook the meal hopefully it will be a good chance for volunteers and members of the community (who use food pantries) to come together and enjoy a meal. Now we just need to recruit about 100 volunteers for the event and do more publicity! It's getting exciting.
At my IP I have been learning how to use a GPS system and have been going out to different Town of Chatham conservation properties to mark the property bounds. I have also been working with my service partner to mark trails on properties with the GPS. Once all the info is put into a computer it can be transferred into GIS (a computer mapping system) so trail maps can be created. I have also been putting up property signs and trail markers on different properties. In terms of the Chatham Recycles group (the other part of my IP), we are planning a Book Swap event next March. It is the first time the group has done this event so there is a lot of planning that needs to take place. It will be a free book/media swap for the public and will probably take place at the Chatham community center. Hopefully we will be working with the library and other groups.
As far as group service goes, we have had a lot of WetFests, which I always love. The most recent booth I ran was about global warming and sea level rise, which I enjoy teaching the kids about. We get to do cool experiments to see how water reacts when it is warmed. A few weeks ago we had a WetFest on friday and then went straight to volunteering at a Christmas party for an organization called Children's Cove. The organization provides services to children who have been victims of sexual or physical abuse and families of those children. We helped out at the event with different activities like ornament making, bag decorating, and present-wrapping. While it was sad to see the children and realize why they were there, it was enjoyable to interact with the kids because they were cheerful and nice and seemed to be having a lot of fun. Another group service project was at the site of a future community garden in Provincetown. Working at this site was our first group service project in september, so it was nice to go back and work there. We finished constructing large compost bins and also dug out giant roots of japanese knotweed (an invasive species). One of the most intense projects recently was beach grass planting at the National seashore. The grass helps to slow erosion caused by both nature and beach-loving tourists. It was a freezing cold day and quite windy but we passed the hours singing songs and it was a good project.
Because it has been getting cold here there have been some animal strandings that have occured in Cape Cod Bay. Last week some of us in Wellfleet helped the Audubon nature center and Harwich Conservation Trust scan some beaches to look for stranded sea turtles. Sometimes when the water gets too cold, turtles will wash up on shore and will die overnight. Luckily we didn't find any, although I heard that the organizations found about 10 or so another night. In addition to turtles, there have been dolphin strandings on the cape. Last weekend there were three dolphin strandings that our house responded to, and I helped with on for about 5 hours. We were called at 10am and the five of us who went were some of the only volunteers helping the two employees of IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare). There was a Common dolphin stranded on the beach and we helped move it to a trailer and then waited for the members of IFAW to run tests to check its health. While we were waiting they got a call for another stranding, so we went and got that dolphin as well. Unfortunately both dolphins were very weak and couldn't be released back into the ocean. It was sad but definitely a interesting and meaningful experience.
Our house has been buzzing with holiday spirit and this morning we had our very own Wellfleetian Christmas. We opened our stockings, exchanged Secret Santa gifts (I got a Muppets movie!) and also did a white elephant gift exchange. There were a lot of strange gifts, and highlights include: a bag of beef jerky, two large rocks, and a Mr. Potato Head toy. Afterwards we cooked a yummy brunch and watched a movie.
There is a big storm heading towards the Cape and we have been on high alert in case it gets dangerous/we get snowed in. The Red Cross is opening 4 emergency shelters on the Cape and about half of our house has recently been sent out to volunteer at those shelters. We will be switching out tomorrow if the storm is still bad. For those of us still here, we have been preparing in case the power goes out. Since the water also shuts off when the power goes out, we filled up containers with water to use for drinking and flushing the toilet. We also stocked up on firewood for the potentially cold night ahead. We are crossing our fingers that the power will stay on but at least we are ready!
Here are a few pics from the past month:
a lovely stroll in the woods by our house
Beach grass planting in P-town
A cloudy day at the beach
Dan with our house mascot, a creepy doll named Annie
Looking for sea turtles!
Community garden in P-town
Two of the four finished compost bins! With doors and everything!
What's up with the silent leg over the doorway (Dan and creepy doll photo)?
ReplyDeleteHaha well the leg fell off the doll and therefore needed to be put on display. It was labeled the "silent leg" to use at house meetings when one person is talking. Strangely we haven't used it...
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