My week with Volunteer Odyssey gave me two things I desperately needed after months and months of job hunting: perspective and renewal. Through my experiences it became so clear to me how blessed I am. It becomes so easy to lose hope during the post-grad unemployment grind but through my
On the final day of my volunteer week I went to the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality. The Dorothy Day House provides temporary housing for homeless families. On any given night there are over 200 homeless families in Memphis. Typically, when a family becomes homeless, the men in the family
On Saturday, I worked on a project for Hospitality Hub. Hospitality Hub is a service for homeless people that works to connect them to resources needed to transition out of homelessness. The Downtown Churches Association, of Memphis, opened hospitality Hub in 2007. The desire of DCS was to create a
I have been to the Memphis Botanic Gardens once before. I knew it was spacious, but I had no idea how enormous it really is. It is a 96-acre property containing 28 different distinctive gardens. I did not know that volunteers, primarily, maintain the gardens. There is a small staff
Today, was the day I was most excited about when I received my volunteer schedule. I volunteered in the Nutrition Kitchen, at the Church Health Center Wellness Center. I had heard of the Church Health Center. Most of the Church Health Center is located on Peabody Ave in Midtown. But,
I have been unemployed for the past seven months, I understand cutting back and spending less, because of this life change. In the past seven months my husband and I have eaten out less and tightened our spending. One prospect I have fortunately never been faced with is the inability
When I received the schedule for my Volunteer Odyssey week I immediately got a nervous knot in my stomach when I saw SRVS (pronounced serves). SRVS is the Shelby Residential and Vocational Services; they help adults with disabilities to be more independent. SRVS accomplishes this through classroom activities as well
I was very anxious to begin my Volunteer Odyssey journey. I was especially nervous about working at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Soup Kitchen. I had never interacted with the homeless before, and I was not sure what to expect. I arrived at St. Mary’s bright and early on a clear
Earlier this year, I moved to Midtown with my husband. Neither of us are from Memphis and had grown up hearing about the city only in the “Breaking News” stories. Since making the move were quick to embrace the Grit & Grind of Memphis. Many of the reasons I love