Johns Hopkins Circle K

Circle K Agenda
October 15th, 2008

1. Happy Change (for Six Cents Initiative)
2. Member of September- Jessica Zha!
3. Check out our new website! http://the.jhu.edu/circlek

4. Projects
Every Week:
• Keswick Multi-Care Center Bingo and Social Hour Fridays 1:45-4pm
Keswick Multi-Care Center is a nursing home that is walking distance from campus. We will assist residents in wheelchairs from their rooms to the auditorium for Bingo, help some play Bingo at 2:30 pm, and help with their Social Hour after Bingo. The residents love visitors and extra attention, so this is a great way to help brighten someone’s day at the end of the week. Email Neeta at nshroff1@jhu.edu if you’re interested!
•Study Buddy Program Mondays 6-7pm
This program needs students who can tutor children (elementary and up) one-on-one at the Hampden Family Center. Tutors will get paired with a student, and will be expected to commit their Mondays from 6-7. The volunteers can use the campus shuttle to reach Hampden after 5 pm. Contact Ash Raina at hfcvolunteer@gmail.com if you’re interested.

Single Service:
•Make a Difference Day Baltimore Sat 9am-12:30pm
This Saturday is a very special community service day because it is Baltimore’s City Fall Clean Up day. There will be a project in the Remington Community in which the mayor will inaugurate. We will be meeting at levering at 9am to walk over and doing community service until about 12:30. It will be followed by lunch and an eclectic music showcase. The students are welcome to stay for the lunch and music showcase or leave after the service. If you are interested, email Sarah Valverde at svalverde@jhu.edu.
•Project Prevent Health Fair Sat, Oct 18 11a.m.-3 p.m.
Volunteers are needed to help with the annual Project Prevent Health Fair, located near the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus. The health fair will be held on Saturday, October 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but we will need volunteers before and after the event for cleanup. Contact Pooja Singal at jhu.projectprevent@gmail.com for more info.
• Children’s House Cooking Sunday, October 19th from 5-8pm
Enjoy cooking? Eating? Both? Cook for children and their families at the Johns Hopkins Children’s House! We are looking for quick and easy (yet very good) recipes. Past dinners have included tacos, crepes, cream puffs, quiche. Email Dipa at dpatel18@jhu.edu for more info. We will meet at the bus stop outside Charles Commons at 4:55!
•Operation Aware Mapping Day Oct 21-24 9AM-12PM
Students Sharing Coalition, an organization that encourages Baltimore students to take a more active role in their community through community service, is looking for chaperones to lead groups of 5-10 students on their Operation Aware Mapping Day. This will consist of exploring the communities with the students while encouraging them to ask questions and reflect on the impact of service to the community. E-mail Angela at angeli@jhu.edu for more information or to sign up.
•Breastival Oct 26th 11-4pm
Breastival is a Breast Cancer Awareness event co-hosted by CAC and aKDPhi. The purpose of the event is to inform the Hopkins population and community about Breast Cancer Awareness. You would just be either running games or standing behind education booths and asking people simple questions and stamping their free food passes. This event needs a leader! Email Jessica at jez@jhu.edu if you’re interested.
•Ready, Set, Design Oct 26th 9am-1:30pm
This is a mentoring event where female college students work with middle school girls to show them that science and engineering are fun and that girls can be just as good at engineering activities. We need female students (some engineering experience is helpful but certainly not required) to work with the girls to teach them about the scientific method and help them build models. We also need guys to work in the machine shop (cutting up foam board to build models, etc). Please email Neeta at nshroff1@jhu.edu if you’re interested.
• Keswick Center Halloween Costume Friday, Oct 31 2pm
Every year the residents and staff at Keswick dress up and have a Halloween Costume Competition. Since we’re unbiased on the issue (unless your Grandma happens to live there), they would like to invite us to judge their costumes and pick the winners. Fun activity for the day of Halloween! We’ll give you an extra half volunteer hour if you come wearing a Halloween costume! Contact Neeta at nshroff1@jhu.edu to sign up.

5. Van Certification
There are still a few van certification dates left. To be eligible, you just have to have a current driver’s license. Having van drivers for events is really important, so please sign up if you can! Just go to the Office of Student Involvement in Levering by where the Hop Stop used to be to sign up.
Thursday, 10/16, 1 – 5
Friday, 10/17, 12 – 4

6. Save the Date
Relay for Life Registration by Oct 31st
UDCKI Annual District Hayride Fri Nov 7th 6:30-11pm
Jones Falls Watershed Association Project Sat, Nov 8, 9:30am–12:00pm
Chesapeake Bay Restoration Project Sat Nov 15th 9am-1pm

7. Sign Up for Events
_______________________________________________
CircleK mailing list
CircleK@acm.jhu.edu
http://lists.acm.jhu.edu/mailman/listinfo/circlek

Congratulations to our member of the month, Jessica Zha!
She has 11.5 volunteer hours in the month of September.

We went to the Johns Hopkins Children’s House, a place built for families of children being treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, this past Sunday. There, we held an arts and crafts session for the children staying there.

From 3:30pm-4:30pm, only one child came to do arts and crafts. Last year, there were frequently more, but recently, less children have been there. Perhaps we should advertise in advance, or move to a different day.

“She doesn’t remember much anymore”

Anyways, to keep everything confidential (these are people being treated in the hospital after all), lets call the little girl we worked with this week Jane. She is perhaps 4 or 5 years old, and very interesting due to her limited responses. We made “3D portraits” this week, which is what we call portraits of people created by gluing 3D shapes to construction paper. Jane spent most of the time going “mmhmm,” “mm mm,” and “mmMMmm”, meaning yes, no, and I don’t know. Once in a while, she gave one word responses questions such as “What is this?” - “nose.” She was fun to work with, and very cute as her mom and we took her through each of the body parts.

The one disturbing and revealing thing said during the session, however, was “She doesn’t remember much anymore.” We were afraid to question further, and were content in just being able to bring distraction and joy even for a brief moment to someone’s probably not-so-fun recent events.

I ended up making a tissue-paper piece I call “The Path of Flight,” after folding a piece of tissue randomly, and noticing that it took the shape of a bird. Not only is it fun to create works of art out of elementary supplies, but is is also a great feeling to help a child forgot his or her ailments for a moment of time.

Circle K had the wonderful opportunity of volunteering at the Baltimore Book Festival, an annual event that promotes literature and the arts. Our group was in charge of the children’s crafts “corridor”– an army of tents filled with fun stalls for decorating pumpkins, creating books, designing bookmarks, and making paper masks. There was also a spelling bee exhibit hosted by yours truly. The children’s activities allowed us to directly interact and have fun with the kids and their families. All of the kids were adorable and made our volunteering experience truly rewarding! =)

Check out their webiste for more details:

http://www.baltimorebookfestival.com/

Welcome to our new Circle K website! This site was created to not only provide everyone information about our organization and our activities, but to encourage community and participation as well. As you might be able to see, there are many exciting areas such as our Member of the Month section, Our top volunteers tally, and our weekly agenda. New sections will be added throughout. Have fun browsing around, and if you have any suggestions or questions, please email me at JoeTsao@jhu.edu.

Our weekly meetings are in Mattin 162 on Wednesdays at 6:30pm.

-Your Webmaster and Single Service Chair,

Joe Tsao

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This is our agenda from the meeting tonight. Please sign up for events by emailing us!

Circle K Agenda
October 8th, 2008

Weekly Projects
• Children’s House Arts and Crafts This Sunday 3-5pm! (Usually 5-7pm)
Have fun doing arts and crafts with children staying at the Johns Hopkins Children’s House! These children have traveled from all over to be treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and would enjoy something separate from hospital life. From paper-bag hand-puppets to bubbles, we work with whatever we’re given. Just don’t Jack Pollock each other. Email Joe at Joetsao@jhu.edu if you’re interested, or just show up at the Charles Commons JHMI shuttle stop at 4:55 (2:55 this week).
• Keswick Multi-Care Center Bingo and Social Hour Fridays 1:45-4pm
Keswick Multi-Care Center is a nursing home that is walking distance from campus. We will assist residents in wheelchairs from their rooms to the auditorium for Bingo, help some play Bingo at 2:30 pm, and help with their Social Hour after Bingo. The residents love visitors and extra attention, so this is a great way to help brighten someone’s day at the end of the week. Email Neeta at nshroff1@jhu.edu if you’re interested!

Single Service:
• Children’s House Cooking Sunday, October 19th from 5-8pm
Enjoy cooking? Eating? Both? Cook for children and their families at the Johns Hopkins Children’s House! We are looking for quick and easy (yet very good) recipes. Past dinners have included tacos, crepes, cream puffs, quiche. Email Joetsao@jhu.edu for more info. We will meet at the bus stop outside Charles Commons at 4:55!
•Civitas Mentoring Meeting Thursday Oct 9 9pm Remson 101
The Principal and Director of Instruction of Baltimore Civitas School will present opportunities for student employment and volunteering with Civitas. Civitas, in its inaugural year, operates with the vision that all careers are forms of public service and provides Baltimore 6th-12th graders with the opportunity to apprentice with Hopkins students involved in civic service and research. Join us to learn about how you can make a difference in the future of Baltimore’s youth. If interested and unable to attend please contact Aaron Soto-Karlin at asotoka1@jhu.edu.
• Ice-cream Party at the Hope Lodge Tuesday, Oct 14 6-8pm
The Hope Lodge is a residential facility downtown where cancer patients from all over the country undergoing treatment in Baltimore can stay for free. Come make ice-cream sundaes, hang out with them and brighten up their day. Seats are limited so email Yogeeta at ymanglani@gmail.com as soon as possible!
• Keswick Center Halloween Costume Judging Friday, Oct 31 2pm
Every year the residents and staff at Keswick dress up and have a Halloween Costume Competition. Since we’re unbiased on the issue (unless your Grandma happens to live there), they would like to invite us to judge their costumes and pick the winners. Fun activity for the day of Halloween! We’ll give you an extra half volunteer hour if you come wearing a Halloween costume! Contact Neeta at nshroff1@jhu.edu to sign up!
•Chesapeake Bay Restoration Project Sat Nov 15th 9am-1pm
Join the Conservation Department of the National Aquarium in Baltimore for a day restoring the Chesapeake Bay! The Conservation Department is currently recruiting volunteers to participate in a debris cleanup of the urban Fort McHenry Wetland (Baltimore City). Other activities include general trail maintenance of the Fort and butterfly garden/raingarden maintenance. Space is limited and registration is needed, sign up today! Contact Joe at joetsao@jhu.edu for more info.

Van Certification
Here are the upcoming dates for van certification. To be eligible, you just have to have a current driver’s license. Having van drivers for events is really important, so please sign up if you can! Just go to the Office of Student Involvement in Levering by where the Hop Stop used to be to sign up.
Thursday, 10/9, 12 – 4
Tuesday, 10/14, 11 – 3
Thursday, 10/16, 1 – 5
Friday, 10/17, 12 – 4

Save the Date
UDCKI Annual District Hayride Fri Nov 7th 6:30-11pm
Jones Falls Watershed Association Project Sat, Nov 8, 9:30am–12:00pm

People Cleaning Fort McHenry

We helped the National Aquarium clean up the Fort McHenry marsh south of the inner harbor.

It was a long day that started off with catching the MTA at 8:30 in the morning. Following our stop at the inner harbor, I had underestimated the distance we were to walk to get to Fort McHenry. It was a total of three miles! The town we walked through seemed interesting though, as it presented many little quirky shops, and a few historic sites. Once we arrived, we immediately got to work.

The view down the harbor from the marsh was beautiful, a different scene from that of most places in Baltimore. The trash that we were picking up, however, wasn’t. It was amazing how much trash gets thrown in the inner harbor, and then gets sucked up by the coasts. From foam cups to crack pipes, we found a little bit of everything. Even the fishing nets were utilized.

We took the MTA from Fort McHenry back to the inner harbor, and stopped briefly to get some ice cream. I had a root beer float with the best soft drink on earth - A&W root beer. We caught the college-town shuttle back, and I took a nap for most of the rest of the day (had stayed up late the night before). Overall, it was a great event, and we hope to do it again in November. This time… with a Hopkins Van.

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