MOVE Meeting

This Saturday, I found myself with a slew of activities to keep myself busy, which after a week of activity, was exactly what I needed! But honestly, my day yesterday, though busy, was a great one overall, and I wouldn't have changed anything about it.
I unfortunately woke up early, which as anyone who knows me knows, is not something I enjoy doing when I do not have to. However, I woke up early(relatively speaking, it was 8:45), because I had to go to a MOVE core team meeting. These meetings happen once a semester, and the point is to give the leaders of various programs, such as myself, an opportunity to learn about different service opportunities in the community, and to provide some sort of development as both and current and future leaders. Yesterday, we learned about ANEW place, a place that provides temporary housing for the homeless in the Burlington community, as well as many other services. The big takeaway for this presentation was a new social media campaign that ANEW is attempting to create, and that is giving a story to the homeless in our community. The speaker emphasized that what she finds most engaging about her line of work, are the stories of the individuals she comes into contact with. Not only how they got where they are, but where they want to go, and when they are able to leave ANEW and go off on their own, the story of how they got to that point. It is an attempt to illuminate the fact that the homeless are people just like the rest of us, and that the stigma applied is not always fair.
This idea of combating stigma carried throughout the meeting, as in the breakout session I attended, we looked at pictures of individuals, and then read a short paragraph written by that individual which answered the question, "Who are you?" The idea being, that just by looking at someone, you can't always tell what is going on with them. Extending beyond the concept of what struggles they may be facing, which is the usual point to be made, but really the person as a whole. What their dreams are, who they care about, what they're afraid of, what their favorite things are, what they dislike, what makes that person who they are. We were challenged to answer the question ourselves, and I found myself struggling with what to put down. How does one define themselves in a paragraph, and accurately describe everything that makes them who they are? I ended up writing about how I relate to others, and what I value in myself and in the world. However, what was important was that it got me thinking.
This semester has been challenging for the Afterschool Games Core Team, as we have hit a great deal of road blocks in carrying out our program, and it is currently not running. As the only returning member of the team, the two new members look to me for guidance, and one in particular is questioning if he should have been chosen as a leader in the first place. However, I know that he is a great team leader, not only as he is a close friend, but because the three previous members, myself and the two that left, were very impressed with what he had to bring to the table. I let him know that, and it seemed to put him in a better mood. I know that we have been struggling, and that personally I wish I could have done more to prevent these issues, and to have the program running. However, we are not giving, and though this semester saw some challenges, we are fighting to be ready for next semester, and to start off much more strongly than if we had begun when we initially wanted to. It may be tough, but everyone is up for the challenge, and we will improve this program.