Grace Place Project Proposal
Basic Information
Full Name: Samantha Reid
UC Email: [email protected]
College: College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning
Major: Fine Arts
Title of Project: College Hill Grace Place Meals
Expected Project Start Date: started in July 2012
Expected Project End Date: no end date; will review/reflect in April 2013
Project Information
1. Provide a brief overview/abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
I graduated from McAuley High School, which is in College Hill where I also live. The Grace Place home is located just a few houses down from the back driveway to McAuley. Grace Place is a home for women who have nowhere else to go. Women (both mothers and women without children) can stay for up to a year at Grace Place for no cost while they try and get back on their feet. Grace Place also attempts to increase awareness of what causes poverty and homelessness, use prayer to make the home a more spiritual and positive environment, and implement organic and sustainable living into the daily lives of the residents. Since Grace Place is located so close to both my house and where I graduated from, and they are doing such a great thing, my mom thought it would be nice to do something for them. I love to cook, and so I came up with the idea to bring them a home cooked meal once a month, both for the residents to enjoy a really nice meal and so they could have a night off from cooking.
I knew that this would be a kind of large cost and also a big task for one person, and so I thought it would be nice to get some of the girls who are still attending McAuley involved and be the supervisor of the project. My cousin is now a sophomore there, so I asked her to do it as well as my friend’s cousin who is a junior. I also asked another one of the girls that I knew (Abbey) who is a senior, and decided to make her “in charge” of the other girls and basically everything that is done at McAuley. I thought six girls (plus myself) would be a pretty good number, because it’s not too many to fit in a kitchen but if a person or two can’t make it one month there are still enough people to cook. I asked the three girls I already had to find some friends who might be interested in doing this project; we ended up with three seniors, one junior, and two sophomores.
Abbey and the other girls will meet one morning before school and they will plan the meal that they want to make, who is going to go shopping for the food that month and which date they want to do, depending on which day the most of them can do it is. Abbey then calls me and makes sure the date they picked works with my schedule and lets me know how many girls are coming and what they are making. Then Abbey or one of the other girls calls up at Grace Place and says when we are coming and asks how many people we should cook for. We use my kitchen because the girls can come over right after school on whichever day they make the meal, and when we take it up to Grace Place the food is still hot from the oven. We make the meal at my house and while the food is cooking clean up the kitchen, then take the food up to Grace Place. We always make sure to include with the main dish side dishes that include a fruit and vegetable, and then we make a dessert.
With this project, I want to give back to my community and I am glad to do it through an organization that does such a great thing by helping women who don’t really have anyone else to help them or support them. Also, I love to cook and I had noticed that not a lot of girls my age weren't able to actually cook a full meal. I hate seeing people constantly eat frozen meals, TV dinners, fast food or just snacks, and so I also thought that this project would help with that. It not only teaches girls something that I think is a vital skill, but generally home-cooked meals are the healthiest choice, and so I can help these girls improve their diets as well.
2. Clearly state how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work (refer to the first two pages of this document with the full description of what is expected in each of these areas).
1. Substantial Content and Quality within Leadership Theme
I believe that this project fulfills a number of the leadership learning objectives. I think the biggest one is communicating and working effectively with peers. The girls I am leading are only a couple years younger than me, and since we are using my kitchen (because of its closeness to both McAuley and Grace Place) I am with them the entire time they are making a meal. My kitchen has an island in the middle which limits the space a little bit, and so finding a way to get all of the tasks done without us getting in each other’s way is something important we have to figure out each time. Another thing we have to do is make sure that all of the tasks get done. Both of these things require us all to work together and communicate what we are doing and what still needs to be done with each other. I also have to communicate with Abbey about the date, who will be there, if we have any ingredients for the meal (basics such as oil, butter, eggs, etc.), and the tools needed. Effective communication is especially important in this project because there are different groups of people involved—the group of McAuley girls, myself, Mrs. Keith, and Joyce and the other leaders at Grace Place.
I will use a portion of my reflection after each meal to think about the books that I have read on different leadership theories and analyze how I am working as a leader, what kind of leader I am working as and whether or not I am being effective in leading this group of girls and helping to achieve the goals we have made for ourselves. The theory that I am most interested in learning about is how to be a servant leader, which I think will fit in with this project very well and be the most effective way of leading. I don’t just want to automatically assume this is the best way though, and that’s why I want to research a couple different ways and incorporate aspects from numerous theories into this project. Taking time to reflect on them will help me to figure out which actions are working the best in our group.
Since there are a couple different groups of people involved with this project and many different tasks involved to make one meal, there are many different problems that could come up that I, as a leader, have to find a solution to. In this particular project, I have to make sure that Grace Place is contacted and knows when we are cooking for them and that the girls have planned a meal including fruits and vegetables. Once they are at my house and cooking, I have to make sure that all parts of the meal are cooked and are able to be transported to Grace Place when it is time to deliver the meal. I also have to make sure that all of the food gets taken to Grace Place and none of it is left behind.
Something that I am trying to help the girls understand is that you really have to plan ahead, which is why I have them meet to discuss what meal to make, what ingredients they need and who is going to go shopping. I also encourage them to look in their families’ papers for coupons to cut down on the cost so we can get a little more food for our budget. Besides deciding the meal at the meeting, they also decide the date; they have a first and second choice. Abbey picks a meeting date that almost (if not) all the girls can make it to so they can decide on a date that works for everyone. If someone can’t make a meeting, Abbey has them tell her the dates they are free. If they didn’t do this, we might pick a date that only one or two people could make it to and then the meal wouldn’t be able to be made or, if it was, it most probably wouldn’t be on time. It’s also important for them to plan ahead because if they go over budget, we have to pay out of pocket for the difference. All of these things are decisions that have to be made that could change the outcome if they are not thought about in advance.
In order to achieve these objectives, I plan to set aside time each month to communicate with Mrs. Keith, Joyce, and Abbey about the past month’s meal, as well as the upcoming one. The other 5 girls in the group have my number as well in case they need to contact me directly with a question or concern. I will check in with Abbey after the group’s meeting to plan the meal and make sure everything is in order (what they are making, how many girls will be there, who will do the shopping, the date, and if Grace Place has been contacted). When I talk to Abbey, I will make sure that they are trying to stay within their budget by looking for the best deal, utilizing discounts (Kroger cards, etc.) and trying to use coupons when they can. I also will be in the kitchen with the girls in case any problems come up and they need advice on what to do. While we are cooking, I will talk to the group about the most efficient way to cook and also about easy recipes they could make for themselves (and their families) at home.
Time
Communication with Abbey: 10 hours
I plan to communicate with Abbey either by text, phone call, or meeting in person for 1 hour each month. What we will discuss is how the girls’ meeting went, what they are planning to make for that month, who is doing the shopping, who will be there to help cook, if she is encountering and problems and if there is anything else she would like to discuss. From the time we started until my intended reflection point there will be 10 meals.
Communication with Mrs. Keith/Joyce: 5 hours
I plan to talk to Mrs. Keith and Joyce (or another Grace Place representative) about 15 minutes each per meal (½ hour total); Mrs. Keith by e-mail and Joyce when we deliver the meal. I will discuss with Mrs. Keith how the project is going and also make sure that the service hours the girls are getting for this project are being put into the system. I will talk to Joyce about how they liked the meal the week before and if they have any requests for the meal the following month.
Meals: 30 hours
So far, we have made meals in July, August, September, October and November. We will continue to have meals once a month (except in June). The girls come over once school gets out at 3:00 and cook until 5:30, then come back and clean up until around 6:00. Sometimes, if school gets out early or if we have a more extensive meal we will start earlier or stay a little later. On average each meal is 3 hours.
Reflection: 17.5 hours
After each meal, I will spend about 15 minutes writing a reflection for that month’s cooking. I will also spend about 1 hour each month working on the scrapbook, adding things from that month and another half hour on the timeline. Again, between the start date and the reflection point there will be 10 meals.
2. Connection to Academic Goals and Theories
To more effectively lead this project, I will look on Grace Place’s website and read through the main sections: Welcome/Who We Are, Structure, Those We Serve, and Catholic Worker Info. They also periodically put out a newsletter that I plan to read. By going through their website, I will better understand what Grace Place’s goal is, how they achieve this goal, who they help, and the type of person who volunteers there. Their newsletter updates people about what is going on in the house and who has come to live with them, which I think is very cool. I want to share this information with the other girls so they are also aware of what is going on at Grace Place.
Besides learning more about Grace Place, I also plan to read some books on being an effective leader. Some of these books include Successful Community Leadership: A Skills Guide for Volunteers and Professionals by John E. Tropman and Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, and Servant-Leadership by Larry C. Spears. I want to write a brief summary of what I gained from these readings and include them and some quotes from the authors along with the scrapbook as well. I want to do the same with the Grace Place website and newsletter; write a short blurb and include it with the other information and photos in the scrapbook.
One of the main reasons that I started this project was because I love cooking; I wanted to find a way to use that to help others. Once I heard about Grace Place and looked into it, I thought that making them a meal a month was a great idea because I would be able to use cooking to help my community. My senior year at McAuley I was a part of the LAUNCH program, which was kind of the same as this; you picked a topic you felt strongly about and designed a project around that. My cousin’s wife (a McAuley graduate) died of cancer a few years ago and her family has a walk at McAuley every year, but it wasn’t very well publicized. My project was finding various ways to raise awareness for the walk and get attendance up, including a painted mural/collage, a powerpoint, t-shirts, and new flyers. I had a lot of fun being able to be creative while being involved in something I cared about, and solving my own problems as they came up. I had the same mindset when I created this service project: doing something I love, and helping people while doing it. Since this idea was a bigger task, getting other girls seemed like a good idea and doing it through McAuley, which is both where I graduated from and close to Grace Place, seemed very logical. I’m also glad we were able to receive funding through McAuley because it made this project a lot more feasible for our group; some of the girls are younger and don’t have jobs yet, so it would have been hard on them especially to pay completely out of pocket.
I feel that this experience will really help me because I would like to use my Fine Arts degree to become a photographer. If that were to happen, I would be doing a lot of work on my own and need to know how to solve problems on my own, especially if they come up suddenly. Also, if I choose to go into a division where I take photos of people (senior portraits, weddings, family, etc) I will need to be able to communicate effectively with my clients and tell them what I need them to do while not seeming pushy or overbearing. A problem that I might run into, especially with wedding or family portraits, is getting smaller children to cooperate and so I will be able to use my skills in that aspect, too. If I have a larger job (like a wedding) and have an assistant with me, I will have to be able to quickly communicate with them if there is an important shot we need to get and also to make sure we aren’t both photographing the same things. I will need to be able to lead in that situation to make sure we get the best variety and quality to make the client happy.
3. Initiative, Independence and Creativity
Since this project didn’t exist before, it took initiative on my part to come up with the idea and how it would work, and also to arrange it with Grace Place. Because I am the supervisor for the other girls, I will have to learn how to motivate them to work, keep them focused on the task at hand, and also how to find the most efficient and fair way to work together and distribute tasks. I believe that since I have such an interest in cooking and I do it all the time (and have been for a while) I will be able to help the girls find well-balanced meals, the best deals on items to buy, and the most efficient way to prepare the meal. My mom used to sell Pampered Chef, and we have a lot of cooking supplies and gadgets because of that. Many of the girls aren’t familiar with a lot of tools in my kitchen (such as food processors, micro-cookers, etc.) that can speed up the cooking process and also do a better job, so I can show them these things and how to use them. We also want to ask Joyce and the other women at Grace Place every once in a while if there is a particular meal that they would like us to make, either for a special occasion or because it is a favorite. We want to try something new almost every month and repeat recipes as little as possible.
As we are trying to stay within our budget, coming up with well-rounded meals (main dish, fruit, vegetable, dessert) that we can get for under $30 requires some creative thinking in how we can save money and what types of food we should buy. For example, if we buy a box of pasta and don’t use all of it one month, we save it and try to come up with another meal including pasta in one of the following months. Many of the girls (including myself) are able to use their families Kroger cards, and so whenever possible we will buy Kroger brand items to save money. In addition, I am going to try to look into seeing if a food pantry would be interested in collaborating with us on this project.
If something were to come up, such as not being able to get ahold of Grace Place or delivering the meal on the date that works for us, I will have to make a decision on how to best handle the situation. Another problem I might encounter is having many of the girls be busy one month or end up getting sick on our planned day, and only one or two could make it to the meal. If that were to happen, I would have to decide if we should still make the meal with very little help, or if we should try and contact Grace Place and let them know what was going on, and reschedule the meal.
4. Reflection & Dissemination
For my reflection and dissemination, I decided to do a timeline and a scrapbook. The timeline will start with a short explanation of what Grace Place is, what we do and our goals. It will then list the dates that we brought the residents of Grace Place dinner, what we made and who was there to cook. I think this will be beneficial because we can use it to see if we are making a good variety of healthy meals, and also we can use it to keep track of the meals we have made so we don’t repeat (or if we do, it’s not right in a row).
The scrapbook is going to be a collection of photos that we have taken, again with a short explanation at the beginning. I will intersperse the pictures with reflections from both myself and the other girls about our experience. I will try and write about a page after each meal and reflect on how the girls worked with each other, how I feel I performed as a leader, what we learned and about the overall experience. The girls’ will mainly just be about their experience and how they felt about it, and will not be as in-depth as mine.
At this time I am not entirely sure who will view the scrapbook, but I plan to contact Mrs. Keith at McAuley to see if she would like to use either of these things or any of the photos in Key Club presentations, or if she would like for me to come in and talk about it to some of the students. I also want to try and make a digital copy of the scrapbook that I can put online, and see if Joyce would like that or any of our reflections to put on Grace Place’s website. This project will also be documented in my Learning Portfolio, along with the reflective essay component.
5. Advisor (list the person’s name, title, and contact information)
There are a couple advisors for this project. Joyce is the head of Grace Place, but she has some other homes she supervises and so she is not always there. If she isn’t, the next person who is there when we drop off the food is Tory King. The other advisor is Gina Keith, who is the head of the Service and Justice League at McAuley.
6. Budget (if applicable)
There is no budget for this project, since we receive funding through the Key Club at McAuley. The process is that one (or a group) of the girls goes out and buys the food, then turns in the receipt to the office at McAuley. They fill out a petty cash form and give that, along with the receipt, to the office and are reimbursed for up to $30.00. For meals in November and December we have decided to spend a little more since it is the holiday season, and we are okay if we go over the $30.00 “limit” and have to pay some money out of pocket. We also have some tin pans that we collected and use to deliver the food, then after a meal someone stops by Grace Place to collect them so we can use them again the following month.
Full Name: Samantha Reid
UC Email: [email protected]
College: College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning
Major: Fine Arts
Title of Project: College Hill Grace Place Meals
Expected Project Start Date: started in July 2012
Expected Project End Date: no end date; will review/reflect in April 2013
Project Information
1. Provide a brief overview/abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
I graduated from McAuley High School, which is in College Hill where I also live. The Grace Place home is located just a few houses down from the back driveway to McAuley. Grace Place is a home for women who have nowhere else to go. Women (both mothers and women without children) can stay for up to a year at Grace Place for no cost while they try and get back on their feet. Grace Place also attempts to increase awareness of what causes poverty and homelessness, use prayer to make the home a more spiritual and positive environment, and implement organic and sustainable living into the daily lives of the residents. Since Grace Place is located so close to both my house and where I graduated from, and they are doing such a great thing, my mom thought it would be nice to do something for them. I love to cook, and so I came up with the idea to bring them a home cooked meal once a month, both for the residents to enjoy a really nice meal and so they could have a night off from cooking.
I knew that this would be a kind of large cost and also a big task for one person, and so I thought it would be nice to get some of the girls who are still attending McAuley involved and be the supervisor of the project. My cousin is now a sophomore there, so I asked her to do it as well as my friend’s cousin who is a junior. I also asked another one of the girls that I knew (Abbey) who is a senior, and decided to make her “in charge” of the other girls and basically everything that is done at McAuley. I thought six girls (plus myself) would be a pretty good number, because it’s not too many to fit in a kitchen but if a person or two can’t make it one month there are still enough people to cook. I asked the three girls I already had to find some friends who might be interested in doing this project; we ended up with three seniors, one junior, and two sophomores.
Abbey and the other girls will meet one morning before school and they will plan the meal that they want to make, who is going to go shopping for the food that month and which date they want to do, depending on which day the most of them can do it is. Abbey then calls me and makes sure the date they picked works with my schedule and lets me know how many girls are coming and what they are making. Then Abbey or one of the other girls calls up at Grace Place and says when we are coming and asks how many people we should cook for. We use my kitchen because the girls can come over right after school on whichever day they make the meal, and when we take it up to Grace Place the food is still hot from the oven. We make the meal at my house and while the food is cooking clean up the kitchen, then take the food up to Grace Place. We always make sure to include with the main dish side dishes that include a fruit and vegetable, and then we make a dessert.
With this project, I want to give back to my community and I am glad to do it through an organization that does such a great thing by helping women who don’t really have anyone else to help them or support them. Also, I love to cook and I had noticed that not a lot of girls my age weren't able to actually cook a full meal. I hate seeing people constantly eat frozen meals, TV dinners, fast food or just snacks, and so I also thought that this project would help with that. It not only teaches girls something that I think is a vital skill, but generally home-cooked meals are the healthiest choice, and so I can help these girls improve their diets as well.
2. Clearly state how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work (refer to the first two pages of this document with the full description of what is expected in each of these areas).
1. Substantial Content and Quality within Leadership Theme
I believe that this project fulfills a number of the leadership learning objectives. I think the biggest one is communicating and working effectively with peers. The girls I am leading are only a couple years younger than me, and since we are using my kitchen (because of its closeness to both McAuley and Grace Place) I am with them the entire time they are making a meal. My kitchen has an island in the middle which limits the space a little bit, and so finding a way to get all of the tasks done without us getting in each other’s way is something important we have to figure out each time. Another thing we have to do is make sure that all of the tasks get done. Both of these things require us all to work together and communicate what we are doing and what still needs to be done with each other. I also have to communicate with Abbey about the date, who will be there, if we have any ingredients for the meal (basics such as oil, butter, eggs, etc.), and the tools needed. Effective communication is especially important in this project because there are different groups of people involved—the group of McAuley girls, myself, Mrs. Keith, and Joyce and the other leaders at Grace Place.
I will use a portion of my reflection after each meal to think about the books that I have read on different leadership theories and analyze how I am working as a leader, what kind of leader I am working as and whether or not I am being effective in leading this group of girls and helping to achieve the goals we have made for ourselves. The theory that I am most interested in learning about is how to be a servant leader, which I think will fit in with this project very well and be the most effective way of leading. I don’t just want to automatically assume this is the best way though, and that’s why I want to research a couple different ways and incorporate aspects from numerous theories into this project. Taking time to reflect on them will help me to figure out which actions are working the best in our group.
Since there are a couple different groups of people involved with this project and many different tasks involved to make one meal, there are many different problems that could come up that I, as a leader, have to find a solution to. In this particular project, I have to make sure that Grace Place is contacted and knows when we are cooking for them and that the girls have planned a meal including fruits and vegetables. Once they are at my house and cooking, I have to make sure that all parts of the meal are cooked and are able to be transported to Grace Place when it is time to deliver the meal. I also have to make sure that all of the food gets taken to Grace Place and none of it is left behind.
Something that I am trying to help the girls understand is that you really have to plan ahead, which is why I have them meet to discuss what meal to make, what ingredients they need and who is going to go shopping. I also encourage them to look in their families’ papers for coupons to cut down on the cost so we can get a little more food for our budget. Besides deciding the meal at the meeting, they also decide the date; they have a first and second choice. Abbey picks a meeting date that almost (if not) all the girls can make it to so they can decide on a date that works for everyone. If someone can’t make a meeting, Abbey has them tell her the dates they are free. If they didn’t do this, we might pick a date that only one or two people could make it to and then the meal wouldn’t be able to be made or, if it was, it most probably wouldn’t be on time. It’s also important for them to plan ahead because if they go over budget, we have to pay out of pocket for the difference. All of these things are decisions that have to be made that could change the outcome if they are not thought about in advance.
In order to achieve these objectives, I plan to set aside time each month to communicate with Mrs. Keith, Joyce, and Abbey about the past month’s meal, as well as the upcoming one. The other 5 girls in the group have my number as well in case they need to contact me directly with a question or concern. I will check in with Abbey after the group’s meeting to plan the meal and make sure everything is in order (what they are making, how many girls will be there, who will do the shopping, the date, and if Grace Place has been contacted). When I talk to Abbey, I will make sure that they are trying to stay within their budget by looking for the best deal, utilizing discounts (Kroger cards, etc.) and trying to use coupons when they can. I also will be in the kitchen with the girls in case any problems come up and they need advice on what to do. While we are cooking, I will talk to the group about the most efficient way to cook and also about easy recipes they could make for themselves (and their families) at home.
Time
Communication with Abbey: 10 hours
I plan to communicate with Abbey either by text, phone call, or meeting in person for 1 hour each month. What we will discuss is how the girls’ meeting went, what they are planning to make for that month, who is doing the shopping, who will be there to help cook, if she is encountering and problems and if there is anything else she would like to discuss. From the time we started until my intended reflection point there will be 10 meals.
Communication with Mrs. Keith/Joyce: 5 hours
I plan to talk to Mrs. Keith and Joyce (or another Grace Place representative) about 15 minutes each per meal (½ hour total); Mrs. Keith by e-mail and Joyce when we deliver the meal. I will discuss with Mrs. Keith how the project is going and also make sure that the service hours the girls are getting for this project are being put into the system. I will talk to Joyce about how they liked the meal the week before and if they have any requests for the meal the following month.
Meals: 30 hours
So far, we have made meals in July, August, September, October and November. We will continue to have meals once a month (except in June). The girls come over once school gets out at 3:00 and cook until 5:30, then come back and clean up until around 6:00. Sometimes, if school gets out early or if we have a more extensive meal we will start earlier or stay a little later. On average each meal is 3 hours.
Reflection: 17.5 hours
After each meal, I will spend about 15 minutes writing a reflection for that month’s cooking. I will also spend about 1 hour each month working on the scrapbook, adding things from that month and another half hour on the timeline. Again, between the start date and the reflection point there will be 10 meals.
2. Connection to Academic Goals and Theories
To more effectively lead this project, I will look on Grace Place’s website and read through the main sections: Welcome/Who We Are, Structure, Those We Serve, and Catholic Worker Info. They also periodically put out a newsletter that I plan to read. By going through their website, I will better understand what Grace Place’s goal is, how they achieve this goal, who they help, and the type of person who volunteers there. Their newsletter updates people about what is going on in the house and who has come to live with them, which I think is very cool. I want to share this information with the other girls so they are also aware of what is going on at Grace Place.
Besides learning more about Grace Place, I also plan to read some books on being an effective leader. Some of these books include Successful Community Leadership: A Skills Guide for Volunteers and Professionals by John E. Tropman and Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, and Servant-Leadership by Larry C. Spears. I want to write a brief summary of what I gained from these readings and include them and some quotes from the authors along with the scrapbook as well. I want to do the same with the Grace Place website and newsletter; write a short blurb and include it with the other information and photos in the scrapbook.
One of the main reasons that I started this project was because I love cooking; I wanted to find a way to use that to help others. Once I heard about Grace Place and looked into it, I thought that making them a meal a month was a great idea because I would be able to use cooking to help my community. My senior year at McAuley I was a part of the LAUNCH program, which was kind of the same as this; you picked a topic you felt strongly about and designed a project around that. My cousin’s wife (a McAuley graduate) died of cancer a few years ago and her family has a walk at McAuley every year, but it wasn’t very well publicized. My project was finding various ways to raise awareness for the walk and get attendance up, including a painted mural/collage, a powerpoint, t-shirts, and new flyers. I had a lot of fun being able to be creative while being involved in something I cared about, and solving my own problems as they came up. I had the same mindset when I created this service project: doing something I love, and helping people while doing it. Since this idea was a bigger task, getting other girls seemed like a good idea and doing it through McAuley, which is both where I graduated from and close to Grace Place, seemed very logical. I’m also glad we were able to receive funding through McAuley because it made this project a lot more feasible for our group; some of the girls are younger and don’t have jobs yet, so it would have been hard on them especially to pay completely out of pocket.
I feel that this experience will really help me because I would like to use my Fine Arts degree to become a photographer. If that were to happen, I would be doing a lot of work on my own and need to know how to solve problems on my own, especially if they come up suddenly. Also, if I choose to go into a division where I take photos of people (senior portraits, weddings, family, etc) I will need to be able to communicate effectively with my clients and tell them what I need them to do while not seeming pushy or overbearing. A problem that I might run into, especially with wedding or family portraits, is getting smaller children to cooperate and so I will be able to use my skills in that aspect, too. If I have a larger job (like a wedding) and have an assistant with me, I will have to be able to quickly communicate with them if there is an important shot we need to get and also to make sure we aren’t both photographing the same things. I will need to be able to lead in that situation to make sure we get the best variety and quality to make the client happy.
3. Initiative, Independence and Creativity
Since this project didn’t exist before, it took initiative on my part to come up with the idea and how it would work, and also to arrange it with Grace Place. Because I am the supervisor for the other girls, I will have to learn how to motivate them to work, keep them focused on the task at hand, and also how to find the most efficient and fair way to work together and distribute tasks. I believe that since I have such an interest in cooking and I do it all the time (and have been for a while) I will be able to help the girls find well-balanced meals, the best deals on items to buy, and the most efficient way to prepare the meal. My mom used to sell Pampered Chef, and we have a lot of cooking supplies and gadgets because of that. Many of the girls aren’t familiar with a lot of tools in my kitchen (such as food processors, micro-cookers, etc.) that can speed up the cooking process and also do a better job, so I can show them these things and how to use them. We also want to ask Joyce and the other women at Grace Place every once in a while if there is a particular meal that they would like us to make, either for a special occasion or because it is a favorite. We want to try something new almost every month and repeat recipes as little as possible.
As we are trying to stay within our budget, coming up with well-rounded meals (main dish, fruit, vegetable, dessert) that we can get for under $30 requires some creative thinking in how we can save money and what types of food we should buy. For example, if we buy a box of pasta and don’t use all of it one month, we save it and try to come up with another meal including pasta in one of the following months. Many of the girls (including myself) are able to use their families Kroger cards, and so whenever possible we will buy Kroger brand items to save money. In addition, I am going to try to look into seeing if a food pantry would be interested in collaborating with us on this project.
If something were to come up, such as not being able to get ahold of Grace Place or delivering the meal on the date that works for us, I will have to make a decision on how to best handle the situation. Another problem I might encounter is having many of the girls be busy one month or end up getting sick on our planned day, and only one or two could make it to the meal. If that were to happen, I would have to decide if we should still make the meal with very little help, or if we should try and contact Grace Place and let them know what was going on, and reschedule the meal.
4. Reflection & Dissemination
For my reflection and dissemination, I decided to do a timeline and a scrapbook. The timeline will start with a short explanation of what Grace Place is, what we do and our goals. It will then list the dates that we brought the residents of Grace Place dinner, what we made and who was there to cook. I think this will be beneficial because we can use it to see if we are making a good variety of healthy meals, and also we can use it to keep track of the meals we have made so we don’t repeat (or if we do, it’s not right in a row).
The scrapbook is going to be a collection of photos that we have taken, again with a short explanation at the beginning. I will intersperse the pictures with reflections from both myself and the other girls about our experience. I will try and write about a page after each meal and reflect on how the girls worked with each other, how I feel I performed as a leader, what we learned and about the overall experience. The girls’ will mainly just be about their experience and how they felt about it, and will not be as in-depth as mine.
At this time I am not entirely sure who will view the scrapbook, but I plan to contact Mrs. Keith at McAuley to see if she would like to use either of these things or any of the photos in Key Club presentations, or if she would like for me to come in and talk about it to some of the students. I also want to try and make a digital copy of the scrapbook that I can put online, and see if Joyce would like that or any of our reflections to put on Grace Place’s website. This project will also be documented in my Learning Portfolio, along with the reflective essay component.
5. Advisor (list the person’s name, title, and contact information)
There are a couple advisors for this project. Joyce is the head of Grace Place, but she has some other homes she supervises and so she is not always there. If she isn’t, the next person who is there when we drop off the food is Tory King. The other advisor is Gina Keith, who is the head of the Service and Justice League at McAuley.
6. Budget (if applicable)
There is no budget for this project, since we receive funding through the Key Club at McAuley. The process is that one (or a group) of the girls goes out and buys the food, then turns in the receipt to the office at McAuley. They fill out a petty cash form and give that, along with the receipt, to the office and are reimbursed for up to $30.00. For meals in November and December we have decided to spend a little more since it is the holiday season, and we are okay if we go over the $30.00 “limit” and have to pay some money out of pocket. We also have some tin pans that we collected and use to deliver the food, then after a meal someone stops by Grace Place to collect them so we can use them again the following month.