Comfort on Difficult Days

I officially made it through my first week of work at Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolina, my first professional job. It was a whirlwind of a week as I met everyone in the office, met some awesome volunteers, some interesting clients, and began to take over the food pantry. Just to give everyone a quick idea of my job, I am the client services assistant at AAS-C in Raleigh. My primary responsibility is to run the food pantry at which clients can shop up to twice per month for both perishables and non-perishables including fresh fruits, vegetables, and bread. I am responsible for going to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina once a week to gather up new food, as well as order fresh produce from a local distributor. On top of my pantry duties, I will be helping with intakes, updates, and financials. I will work directly with clients to see what resources they need, how they are living, and how HIV/AIDS is affecting their lives.


Most of the week was spent in training sessions, both at AAS-C learning how to do intakes and updates and at the Food Bank doing safe food handling training (after all of the years I have spent in the food industry). My supervisor, Miss Jeanette, is a fantastic woman who I am sure is going to teach me so much. She already has a great deal of respect for me, which I truly appreciate. She is a woman full of joy and faith, and her personality really radiates. The funniest thing, though, is that she loves to go off on tangents. Her thought process can often times be very difficult to follow because she'll be explaining the intake paperwork to you one minute, be talking about her family the next, then all of a sudden be talking about the intake paperwork again. I am slowly catching on to her way of explaining things, but I sense she won't care if I ask her the same question 5 times.


I really enjoyed spending time in the pantry this week and getting acquainted with how everything is set up, what kind of foods are usually stocked in there, and learning how to keep track of food distributed, etc. On Wednesdays, which is Food Bank day, I work with three awesome volunteers who are also clients. The previous JV left me a note telling me not to let them walk all over me or convince me to get certain food items just for them, so I was a little apprehensive in meeting them. But I made a joke right at the beginning about how things were gonna run my way, and then we laughed all afternoon. They are fantastic guys, and I'm so excited to get to work with them. They have great senses of humor and love football...how does it get any better than that?!


Though most of the week was filled with positive experiences, I did have my share of difficult times throughout my first week at work. On my very first day, I had to call back a woman who's boyfriend was sick again, causing them serious financial hardship. They will be evicted any day now, if they haven't already been. Unfortunately, she had already used up all the money in her pot at AAS-C and there was nothing we could do to help her. This was all on my first day, and I had to handle the phone call on my own. I know that there are going to be many times over this year when I cannot help, especially financially, and that is a little scary. HIV has a domino effect on people living with the virus - If someone doesn't live in a stable housing situation and is out on the streets, they will probably stop adhering to their treatment or don't even have the money to afford their meds. As that happens, nothing is fighting the HIV and they will probably get more and more sick.


Thursday and Friday mostly consisted of going through inactive files - those clients who have not been to AAS-C in over a year. It was my job to go through the files and get rid of any who hadn't been to the agency in over 7 years. As I was flipping through the papers, reading about the lives of others, I realized that we had no idea what had happened to these clients - if they'd moved, if they had gotten a good job and no longer needed our financial assistance, if they are incarcerated or if maybe they'd died. Each time I threw a file into the box to be shredded, I felt like I was throwing a person away without getting to know them, without even knowing where they were now. It was as though I was saying, "Goodbye. You are now forgotten forever." I am still struggling to wrap my head around this one and wondering if there is another way to approach these inactive files or if we can take the time to find out what happened to these clients.


Through the difficult times though, I always knew that there would be true comfort when I arrived home at the end of the day to my four community-mates. Each of them has also had challenging experiences in just one week of work. We spend our nights sitting around the dinner table discussing, offering advice, giving support, but mostly reminding each other why we are doing what we're doing. It is a truly unbelievable feeling to come to four people who understand you in a different way then many others who you love. Samii, Maryann, Kate, and Hanna are amazing young ladies and I am so excited for the coming year alongside each of them. I know I am going to learn so much from each of their experiences, as well as my own.


Here's to us remembering that we each have people who love and support us. We each have people who can provide us with comfort on those difficult days. We are lucky.

Southern Hospitality

After a long, but unbelievable, 5 days at the Bellarmine Retreat Center in Waynesboro, PA, five strangers left in two cars for Raleigh, NC, a place they would quickly come to call home. Our house is truly beautiful, aside from the cockroach here and there, with a huge porch that is being completely redone this week. We are really lucky to have been placed in this house, a house that has already become home to us all.


Upon our arrival in Raleigh, we were welcomed by a former JV with groceries and dinner. The following day, he brought us all around the city on a little tour and that night, we were graced with a potluck dinner at our house with colleagues from our new jobs, support people, and more former JVs. We have been more than welcomed with more than open arms. I cannot even express how amazing it feels to come to a new city and have over 20 people come to my house the second night with food to fill the fridge, conversation that lasts for hours, and hugs that are full of love. It has been a whirlwind so far.


We spent Thursday and Friday visiting our five placements. We had the opportunity to see where each of us will be working, to interact with each other's colleagues, and learn about each of the five agencies. Check them out for yourselves:
Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolina : http://www.aas-c.org
Disability Rights North Carolina: http://www.disabilityrightsnc.org
Urban Ministries of Wake County: http://www.urbanmin.org
Pan-Lutheran Ministries Families Together: http://www.plmft.org
Legal Aid North Carolina - Farmworkers' Unit: http://www.legalaidnc.org/public/learn/statewide_projects/fwu/default.htm
It was really great to be able to see where everyone will be working and having the chance to get an idea of what we will each be doing.


The past 24 hours or so have been some of my favorite so far. Last night, we went to The Nazareth House - a Catholic Worker house - for dinner with Scott, Roberta, and Anne, our support team for the year. Scott and Roberta opened Nazareth House about 5 years ago and have opened their doors to homeless men and women who need a place to stay after visiting the hospital, as well as to families of those on death row. The North Carolina Central Prison is less than a mile from our house and is home to the 159 inmates who are on death row. I know we will be learning a lot more about the death penalty this year, as it is practically on our doorstep. I am very interested to see how my opinions about the death penalty are either strengthened or changed based on all that I will learn this year. 


We have a great support team and had great conversations last night - ranging from discussion about the death penalty, the current controversies surrounding the Wake County School Board and their current initiative to basically re segregate the schools in the county (look it up!), spirituality, and then some. I am so excited to learn about more social justice issues, besides HIV/AIDS, this year and to have rich conversations with those who are directly involved in such issues. It is going to be a fantastic year as I learn and grow and my life takes shape!


Today, we went to Sunday morning mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham, NC, a primarily African-American parish run by the Jesuits. Fr. Ray, the priest there, is our Jesuit liaison and another member of our support team. When we stepped out of the car, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but mostly thought I was walking into your typical Sunday Catholic mass - boy was I wrong! There was a fantastic gospel choir that shared some beautiful music with the congregation. Fr. Ray's homily was really captivating, and the congregation was so welcoming. At the beginning of mass, all visitors are asked to stand up and introduce themselves, which the five of us did. When mass was finished, a handful of people came up to us asking us about our work, wishing us luck, and telling us to come back, that we were more than welcome in their community. 


I have never felt so welcome in a place as I feel here in Raleigh. Everyone we have met has been nothing but helpful, kind, and accepting of our presence. In just 5 days, I feel like I belong here. Southern hospitality...it is a blessed thing. I feel very blessed, lucky, and grateful for all that I have experienced so far, all of the people that I have met (both those in Raleigh and those doing JVC all over the East Coast), and for the southern hospitality that people always talk about. They aren't kidding about it!

And So Begins the Next Adventure...

In less than 12 hours, I will set off on the latest chapter of my life. I am very excited about this adventure and looking forward to meeting my four housemates. Here's a little info on JVC and my placement with AAS-C.

The Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) is a program that combines work for social justice among the materially poor and oppressed, community building, prayer and simplicity. Jesuit Volunteers serve full-time in non-profit organizations and schools, working in direct service, advocacy, and community organizing. I have been interested in this program for two years now, as it combines the things that are most important to me - service for and with others and faith.


My position at Alliance of AIDS Services is one that I am looking forward to, as my passion for the fight against HIV/AIDS can truly be put into practice. I am truly thrilled and blessed to be placed with such a dedicated organization that inspires its community to fight for the rights of people living with HIV while also educating their neighbors so that the AIDS epidemic can be brought to an end.
 
Tomorrow, I set off for Waynesboro, PA and the Bellarmine Retreat Center where I will meet the other 90+ JVs who will be serving on the East Coast. We will be in PA for orientation for 5 days. It is here that I get to meet my four housemates about whom you will hear more later in the month. We will depart for Raleigh, NC (our new home) on August 17th (Mom's bday).
 
I truly feel blessed to be a part of this program and am looking forward to the next year more than I can explain. Thank you all for your love and support as I take off for 12 months. I love you all dearly and am very grateful to have you in my life!! :)
 
Always,
Brittney