December Event

For our December event, let's get together to celebrate our achievements from this year. Check your calendars for a Friday evening or a Saturday afternoon or evening and let me know when you are available. At this get together, we will talk about future plans and directions for The Yes We Will Volunteers. But mostly, we will just fellowship and have some fun.

If you have a restaurant suggestion, let me know.

World AIDS Day Concert Volunteer Event

On Friday, November 13th, The Yes We WIll Volunteers served as greeters at the World AIDS Day Concert that featured Frankie Beverly and Maze. Here are some photos from this event. As you can see, not only did we work hard, but we looked good doing it and we also had fun.

Pay now! Not Later!

Quick, look to your left! In the upper left hand corner!

See it? It is one of the ways you can pay your monthly dues.

If you haven't paid anything yet, then what are you waiting for? Drop me a comment if you want to know what your dues will be used for.

Listen. The "donate" button is calling you. Go ahead and heed that call!

Admit It, It Feels Good Doesn't It?

The Yes We Will Volunteers have been performing monthly community service projects since March 2009. Some of the projects have been strenuous and others less so. But the one thing they all have in common is they have also been fun.

Come on and admit, you have fun while we are doing what we do. You know you do! While sweating and grunting and pushing and pulling and sweeping and carrying, we also joke, laugh and just plain ole fellowship at times. We learned a little more about each other and we have seen each other in new ways.

Over the past few months, our members have experienced the loss of loved ones, went into surgery, endured colds and sniffles, helped kids with homework and operated a free taxi service to make sure the kids get to practice or recital or movies.

When all is said and done, we can be proud of the good work we performed. And to top it off, we also had some fun. Go ahead and admit it, it feels good, doesn't it?

Food Drive Recap, Part II

A special thanks to the following Brookland Baptist Church organizations who contributed items to our food drive for the Food Pantry.

The Sonrise Chorale
The Sanctuary Choir
The Brookland Academy
Women's Bible Study
The Young Women of Excellence
The Brookland Federal Credit Union

We even had an anonymous individual donor who contributed 122 items. (This donor had a friend who is not a member of Brookland to bring the items. This friend would not reveal who the donor was, at his request.)

September Food Drive Recap

After a month of hard work, The Yes We Will Volunteers can take pride in a great food drive. One person from the Food Pantry remarked that in her seven years with that organization, their shelves have never been as full. Because of our efforts, they have enough food items to service their clients at least until the end of the year.

Check out the "Before" photos:














Check out these "After" photos. See the difference?





Now see the cute little kids from Brooklands' Child Academy who contributed food items to this project. Awwww, isn't that sweet?

Our September Project - Food Drive

Our project for September is a food drive for Brookland's Food Pantry. This ministry helps feed needy people in our community by providing food boxes for them. They do not charge for this service and the staff of the Food Pantry is all volunteers. (Meaning, they don't get paid!!)
We will run the food drive through the end of September, but we will have two Saturdays in September when you can drop off the items you have collected from family members, friends, fellow church mates, golf partners, weight-lifting buddies and other associates. Our goal is 5,000 units or pieces. (For example, a canned food item or a box of macaroni would be 1 unit/piece each). If you have not already, please email me at mpowerkm@hotmail.com to let me know:

1. If you will be soliciting non-perishable food items from people you know
2. Which of the following Saturdays you will be able to help organize the food items that have been collected. (September 12th and/or September 26th)

Why We Do Dues?

Cute title, eh?

For our newer members, we have a voluntary $5/month component. Why do we have dues? For three main reasons:

1. For projects like a Christmas angel tree or gift giving program, this will allow us to sponsor a child or family.
2. To donate funds to some of the charitable organizations that we volunteer with
3. To send cards to members who are grieving the loss of a loved one or to help honor a member's birthday.

If the $5/month assessment is a financial burden, then please do not let that keep you from volunteering. For example, one of our members has just been laid off, so it is completely understandable if she cannot pay. But I strongly encourage all of you who can afford it, to catch up with our dues, so that we can fulfill items 1,2 and 3 listed above.

Concerning our dues, Miss Stacia Davis has graciously agreed to serve as our "money person". (No, that doesn't mean she will pay all of the money!!). She will keep the records and write any checks as needed.

Thanks to everyone who has gone out and worked the various projects. Please consider honoring the financial part of our commitment to the Yes We Will Volunteers as well.

Carolina Boys Home - Another Successful Project

On Saturday, August 8th, six members of the Yes We Will Volunteers cleaned out a storage shed at the Carolina Boys Home. I taught the crew a valuable lesson on how not to be late!!

Seriously, thanks to everyone who came out. This was probably our most strenuous project so far, but we also had fun. Check out the photos and stay tuned for our next volunteer project. Compared to this last one, it will be a piece of cake.

Directions to Carolina Boys Home

Here are the directions from 3 different starting points. As a frame of reference, Carolina Boys Home is a couple of streets off of North Main Street just past Columbia Junior College of Business. Their full address is 1303 Sycamore Avenue, Columbia, SC 29203. You will be looking for a white two-story house. There are no signs with their name on it. Feel free to call me at 477-6636 if you have any questions or you get lost. (I promise I won't laugh at you!!)

From Downtown (Starting at the Public Library on Assembly St.)

• Take Assembly St. heading toward Elmwood St. (You should be heading away from the Capital building)
• Make a right onto Elmwood (at the light with McDonalds on the left and Subway on the right)
• Make a right onto Main Street at the light (Go approximately 2.4 miles) (Stay on Main Street until you see Columbia Junior College of Business, then start looking for Fuller St.)
  
• Make a left at Fuller Street (Go .1 mile)
• Make a right at Sycamore Ave.
  

From Northeast Columbia

• Take I-20 West (Go 4.5 miles)
• Take exit 70 for US 321/Fairfield Rd Toward Winnsboro (.2 miles)
• Keep right at the fork, follow signs for Seminary/Columbia and merge onto Fairfield Rd/US 321 (Go 1.8 miles)
• Turn right onto Fuller Ave (Go .1 miles)
• Turn right at Sycamore Ave.

From St. Andrews/Irmo

• Take I-26E Ramp to Columbia (Go .8 miles)
• Take exit 107B to merge onto I-20E toward Florence (Go 4.3 miles)
• Take exit 68 for SC-215/Monticello Rd (Go .3 miles)
• Turn right at Monticello Rd/SC-215 (Signs for Monticello Rd) (Go .1 miles)
• Turn left at Timrod Street (Go .4 miles)
• Turn left at Sycamore Ave.
  

Update on St. Peter's Feed The Homeless Project

On Saturday, July 18th, the Yes We Will Volunteers helped to serve meals to the homeless at St. Peters Catholic Church on Assembly Street. Approximately 330 homeless people were fed. In addition to some volunteers from St. Peters, several other churches also were represented among the volunteers. The Yes We Will volunteers was the only group not directly representing a church.

While it was hard work, this was a great opportunity to interact with some people who are facing all kinds of challenges. In spite of their struggles, many of them displayed great humor and expressed much appreciation. Those of us who are faring relatively better could learn a thing or two from our homeless friends about keeping a positive attitude and being grateful.

This was definitely a great volunteer project. The more community service opportunities like this that we participate in, the more all of us will benefit.

August Volunteer Activity

On Saturday, August 8, we will be volunteering at Carolina Boys Home. We will be cleaning out a shed starting at 9:00 AM and we should be finished around noon or 1:00 PM at the latest.

Carolina Boys Home is one of the few African-American owned charitable service organizations in South Carolina. They house up to 8 boys between the ages of 13 and 19 years of age and provide them with rehabilitative services on a group and individualized basis. Many of these boys are "at-risk" who are having behavioral disorders and/or acting-out behaviors. The mission of Carolina Boys Home is to help these boys to become responsible, self-sufficient adults.

The shed we will be cleaning is used for housing donated items and office files. Below are some photos to give you an idea of what we will doing on August 8th. Please contact me as soon as possible to volunteer for this event. (mpowerkm@hotmail.com)

Show Some Love

How many times in the past week have you heard the phrase, "Show some love"? It is very possible that you may hear it at your job, at home, during a local or national news tv program or even at church. We hear it, but do we do it?

In this simple post, my suggestion is you show some love by being willing to serve others. Genuine service of others means you put their interests above yours. Love is relatively easy when it comes to our lovers, spouses, family and friends. But as Christians, we are required to show love toward those outside of our social circles and even to our enemies.

Community service is one way we can show some love and I hope you will answer the call to love everyone. The Yes We Will Volunteers is one such opportunity for you to show some love.

July Volunteer Opportunity

The Yes We Will Volunteers will be volunteering at St. Peter's Catholic Church on Saturday, July 18 starting at 10:00 AM through 1:00 PM. St. Peter's is located on Assembly St. across the street from the main public library.

We will be helping to serve meals to homeless people. They already have people to cook and prepare the food, so we will essentially serve as "waiters and waitresses". I need about 10 people for this project.

Below are a few photos I took of this past Saturday's meals for the homeless at St. Peter's to give you an idea of what we will be doing.

If you wish to participate on July 18th, please contact me as soon as possible. mpowerkm@hotmail.com.

KEVIN

The Dangers of Being Good

We live in a world of polarization and it is of our own doing. It is not enough that we place labels on ourselves and each other, but we make things worse when we place values on those labels. For example, I may not only see myself as an African-American male, but I judge my label to be “good”. Furthermore, I may imply that those who do not fit my label are “bad”.

Once we place a value on the various labels we assign to ourselves and others, we sow the seeds for inhuman treatment, prejudices and other harmful thoughts and actions. It is not enough for some to disagree on the topic of abortions, but because the other side is “bad”, it is okay to bomb their offices or shoot the doctor. Unfortunately, if one views being a Jew or African-American as “bad”, then it is okay to injure or kill them. Another example is if a person who has been shot 41 times by a police officer is seen as “bad”; then the shooting is ruled as justified. Additionally, if the wife of the police officer or his fellow keepers of the law testify that he is a “good” cop; then again the criminal charges against him can be dropped.

So, in a nutshell, the danger of being good has to do with how we use our subjective notions of who is good and who is bad to shape our behavior, relationships and actions. Once we have self-righteously appointed ourselves as “good” and others as “bad”, that opens the door for racism, sexism, ageism, discrimination based on one’s weight, bombings, military invasions, marital infidelity and other destructive behavior.

It is my hope that eventually we will mature beyond our selfish tainted views of morality and free ourselves from the dangers of being good.

Will Hate Win Out?

According to the Southern Law Poverty Center, the number of hate groups has increased dramatically over the last few years. It seems ironic that as we celebrate the election of the first African-American president and other notable achievements by other African-Americans and other people of color, the stubborn resistance of hate groups to these positive changes is increasing. In light of the murder of the security guard that occurred yesterday in Washington, DC and the murder of the late-term abortion doctor recently, it can seem like things are getting worse.

These are sensational, but still tragic cases. What about in our own lives? How tolerant are we of people who do not look like us, think like us, vote like us or pray like us? Is there a person at work or at our church or at the gym that we cannot stand? We may feel our dislike of someone may be justified, but aren't we expected to strive for a higher standard of love? The kind of love that is applied to enemies as well as friends, is more willing to lead to forgiveness than punishment and inspires us to consistent occurrences of self-sacrifice for the betterment of others.

Yes, we need to rebuke those who kill and bring harm to others. But let's not leave our attention on only "them". We too must be accountable for the seemingly minor episodes of hate that we express towards the IRS, the bill collectors, our no-good for nothing ex-husband or wife, our mean boss, our greedy banker, our lying car mechanics and so on. It is those daily expressions of malice toward these and other people that puts into question whether or not hate will win in the end.

Gleammns Head Start Project

At the Gleammns Head Start site just off St. Andrews Road, we washed the exterior of 6 buses. Below are some photos with captions.