June 16th-June 17th

Friendship Gardens

Some of the S.I.S Interns traveled to the Urban Farm this week to help out in the garden. Friendship Gardens grow healthy food, making available to all, especially those with limited access. 

S.I.S Interns first assisted by pulling weeds around the potato plants. Later, they would put composted soil around them. They learned a lot this week about gardening and proper upkeep of vegetables.

S.I.S Interns harvested over 5 pounds of garlic that they would wash and send to Friendship Trays so it could be used in the meals they deliver daily. 

June 18th

Friendship Garden at Sedgefield Elementary

A group of the S.I.S Interns went to the Friendship Garden at Sedgefield Elementary to plant new plants in the beds. S.I.S Interns were able to use their skills learned earlier in the week to accomplish this project. 

  

S.I.S Interns planted beds of pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, watermelons, and chives.

One of our interns did some upkeep on a memorial of an elementary student that was loss this year.

July 19th

Friendship Trays

Friendship Trays generally delivers more than 600 meals daily to elderly, handicapped, and convalescing people who are unable or greatly restricted in their ability to prepare or secure meals. Meals consist of two separate containers, one with meat or fish, vegetable and such, and the other with carbohydrate, salad or fruit, and dessert. Some of the S.I.S interns assisted with the creation and process of these meals. 

S.I.S Interns had an amazing week and did a lot of hard work in the sun and in the kitchen.

Parks and Recreation

SIS spent the week with Parks and Recreation from June 9th-June 12th.

 

 

We focused on clearing areas along Tyvola Road for the city. This included areas in front of OUR OWN sports complex.

 

Brooke, our environmental studies major was a great help to us this week!

 



We also helped to clean up a playground.

 



 

SIS worked to clean out an overgrown area of the park. This is the before picture.

 

This is the after picture!

 





Pen Pal Event and Summer Project Planning

As the S.I.S. interns began to plan their final summer project today, they could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed the Pen Pal Event yesterday.

 

 

Interns traveled to the stations with the Pen Pals and got to participate in some of the activities.

 

 

The interns encouraged the relationship building between the Pen Pals. In the photo below, one of the interns had her students play rock, paper, scissors with their pen pals while they waited for the activities to begin.

 

 

A Queens' volunteer stopped by the event to hang out with the students while they ate lunch.

 

 

Everyone who was at the event had a great time learning about and playing with each other!

 

 

Today, the S.I.S. interns began brainstorming and planning for their final summer project. The final project can last three days and is soemthing that betters the city of Charlotte. The interns compose the final project themselves and will write a proposal to give to the Center for Active Citizenship.

Week 5: Pen Pal Event with Sedgefield Elementary and Park Road Montessori

S.I.S. interns hosted students from Sedgefield Elementary and Park Road Montessori on Queens' campus. The students from the two schools have been pen pals all year and today was the first day they were able to meet each other. The interns greeted the students at their buses and experienced the pen pals meeting each other for the first time. The kids were extremely excited to meet the person they had been writing letters to all year!

The students rotated around four stations on South Lawn at Queens. They played tug-of-war, charades, hula-hoop and teamwork games, and parachute games. The students stayed with their pen pals throughout all of the activities.

The day ended with a picnic and popsicles. After eating lunch together, the S.I.S. interns started a dance party with the students. Everyone was able to let loose and hang out one last time before the schools parted ways!

Week 5: Crisis Assistance Ministry and Supportive Housing Communities

 

S.I.S. interns split into two groups for the first two days of the week. The group above is at Supportive Housing Communities. They are spending a couple of days working in their garden. The time spent at Supportive Housing Communities is very special because the interns are able to work alongside the residents and get to know them on a personal level.

S.I.S. interns were able to bond with some of the residents at Supportive Housing Communities through people's gifts of music. They also spent some time helping to clean the facility.

The second group of S.I.S. interns spent time at Crisis Assitance Ministry. They sorted clothes, shoes, and other donated items into bins at the Free Store. The Free Store offers clothing, shoes, books, and household items at no charge to individuals and families in need.

Week 4: Second Harvest and Loaves & Fishes

   S.I.S. interns split up into two groups this week so they could experience two different food banks within Mecklenburg County. At the end of the week, they compared and contrasted the organizations. The interns learned that even though the organizations have different processes and different ways of getting food, the ultimate goal for both food banks is to never turn anyone away and to feed hungry people.

Delivering food from Loaves & Fishes to various food pantries

    The week taught the interns about the entire process of food banks; from collections to sorting to delivery. They also learned about the need for volunteers to simply sort food. Interns were able to sort food and learn about what makes a product good enough to give away and what products have been damaged and would not be healthy for families in need.

Moving food at Second Harvest Food Bank

Volunteering at Second Harvest

Week 3: Sedgefield Reading Celebration

   S.I.S. interns were able to be a part of the reading celebration for Sedgefield students. Students were chosen to be a part of the celebration if their reading scores are high enough and if they have improved throughout the school year. S.I.S. interns went into the classrooms and called out each student who was rewarded with the celebration and congratulated them on their high reading scores.

   S.I.S. interns played BINGO with the Sedgefield students as part of the celebration. The Center for Active Citizenship staff said that the kids were more excited during this reading party than at any other reading celebration! Interns learned the importance of getting students excited about reading and the knowledge they gained from Promising Pages the week before added to their experience with literacy at Sedgefield Elementary.