Sunday, February 24, 2013

My Grandmother

Volunteering represents a way of life for so many members of our community and a wonderful way to extend support, skills, and knowledge to others. You may have your own personal experiences as a volunteer; still others may have been impacted by the work of a volunteer who has dedicated time to benefit the lives of others.

In this Blog Assignment, you will develop a profile of a volunteer, in which you describe the work of someone who has impacted the lives of other through volunteerism. This may be a very personal blog, where you share your own work or the efforts of someone close to you, or you may describe the volunteer efforts of someone whom you do not know personally but whom you greatly admire.

By Saturday, post a "Profile of a Volunteer" post in your blog using the following guidelines:

  • Create a space on your blog entitled "Profile of a Volunteer."
  • Describe the volunteer efforts of the person you have elected to profile.
  • Identify how you feel this person's work has positively impacted others.
  • Describe what you feel is a vital "take-away" message relative to this work in terms of your own volunteer efforts and advocacy work in fostering the well-being of children and families.

This post is about my grandmother. The most giving women I know. She is 83 years old and constantly puts herself before others. She has always been someone who gives and does not expect anything in return. All summer leading up to winter she knits hats and scarves. She has arthritis in her hands, and is in so much pain, but she still knits. Then when she is all done, she donates them to local churches and retirement homes. Through her own pain, she takes the time each year to do this. To some this may not be a big deal, she is not feeding hungry children or volunteering at the homeless shelter, but to me it shows an act of selflessness. While I am taking a hour or two before I go to bed to fiddle with my iPhone or watch TV, she is knitting for others.

What I take away from this is that my grandmother is a person who even at 83 is taking the time to think about the needs of others. Even if she can only make 20 hats and scarves, she still does it. I think she will do this till her hand literally make her stop. She is a great woman, and I am afraid that our future is going to see less and less of people like this.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Using Social Media to Get Connected


 

 
 

I am personally use social media every day. Mostly facebook, but I am just now starting to get into twitter. I keep facebook as a social means for me, to connect with distant family, and friends. Although I do use it for a little networking, I try to like and friend many of the childcare agency’s in my area. I am just starting to use twitter, I was unsure about it at first, but now I use it to network and advocate. I often “retweet” issues that I view important in child education. That is a nice feature of twitter, and a great way to advocate using social media.

On twitter I follow many different organizations and influential people in the early childhood field. Many of the organizations that I follow are actually really outspoken on twitter, and post constantly. They also post about some of the main issues right now in early childhood education and ask people for their own thoughts on these issues. I like that they do this, because it allows others to see the issue from a different perspective.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Advocacy Message


 

I went to the Ad Councils website watched a bunch of different ads. I connected the most with the ads that made me feel something, and honestly made me a little emotional. This ad on bully made me tear up. As a new mother I am terrified of my son starting school, I am most afraid of this happening to him. What I like about this ad is how it displays the message of teaching you children to help someone who is getting bullied. I want to instill this in my son.


I also liked this ad on childhood obesity, there is a bunch of different ads in this series.  They are actually really cute, and funny. I think that children would enjoy these ads as well as parents.  Childhood obesity it a major issue right now, and we need to encourage children to eat healthy and be active.


The last ad that I chose was one on early learning. I love this ad, because as an ECE teacher and mother I can relate to this.


Some children do not have the opportunity to learn like this, so it is important to raise awareness.