Getting to Know the Advocate of the Month: Carl Powers!

Carl Powers is a stand-up guy. He has been a committed Teen Feed volunteer since 2007. Carl is an integral part of the Tuesday night advocate team, a natural leader, willing to help, articulate in his ability to spread his passion for Teen Feed and he is fu uuuny. Read more about the man, the marvel, the Advocate of the Month, Carl Powers!

How long have you been volunteering with Teen Feed?
I started volunteering in October of 2007 until the following September of 2008. I returned as an Advocate in October of 2009 and have been volunteering since.

Why/how did you get involved with Teen Feed?
I needed 50 hours of community service hours in High School and Teen Feed was listed as an option at my school. I met with Eric Wirkman, nice guy, and stuck with it. I have other friends that are involved too, Marlee Palmer (current volunteer). I took my senior year off from Teen Feed and resumed as an Advocate my freshman year of college – I wanted something to do.

What is your favorite thing about volunteering at Teen Feed?
I like the Teen Feed community – other advocates, Teen Feed staff and the clients we serve. It is a fun place to hang out and volunteer because it doesn’t feel like work. Sometimes you have to click into ‘business mode’, but it is mostly a calm place.

What do you like to do outside of volunteering?
I do stand-up and improv comedy. I am a part of the Collective Improv Club and I have done gigs at Comedy Underground. I also like to play soccer and all sports. I really like skiing. My favorite comedians are Jim Gaffigan, Eugene Mirman and Michael In Black.

What did you eat today?
A white-chocolate-chip-cranberry-cookie and lemonade from Starlife on The Oasis. (He just woke up)

What have you learned from volunteering at Teen Feed?
The best way to get to know someone is to actually talk to them and not just listening to what’s said about someone. It’s about giving people the time.

To learn more about becoming a Teen Feed Advocate, click here.

Teen Feed’s Advocate of the Month – Sarah Anderson!!

Sarah Anderson rules. She has been an Advocate with Teen Feed for six months. In addition to her outstanding contribution as a volunteer, Sarah raised $2,520 for Teen Feed as a runner in the Rock n Roll Marathon. Her final time was 4 hours and 43 minutes. Rad! Read on to learn more about Sarah and the heart she brings to Teen Feed.

Why/how did you get involved with Teen Feed?
I attended the Ben Gibbard benefit show and when Megan explained what Teen Feed is I knew it fit with what I was looking for in regards to my volunteer goals. I was drawn to the organization because I felt like I could relate to the youth because I grew up in a difficult home. I currently work a very demanding job. Teen Feed provides balance to my life.

What is your favorite thing about volunteering at Teen Feed?
I know it’s where I should be. Time flies by when I’m listening to people’s stories; seeing the hope in people’s eyes; hearing people’s honesty in interactions – you’d never hear people be that honest in a coffee shop or interact this way in another capacity. The human experience is intriguing to me.

What do you like to do outside of volunteering?
I run! I also play kickball, we’ve won two championship in my Underdog League. I also like to work on my house. The house is 111 years old, so there are a lot of quirks.

What did you eat today?
A Clif Builder’s bar (peanut butter flavor) and a cup of coffee.

What have you learned from volunteering at Teen Feed?
I have learned that providing support is the more important than expressing your own expectations for people. People change when they want. Teen Feed is integral because there are people that youth can rely on. You have ideas of how people should live their life but you can’t project your own goals. You just have to be there for them. I wish the person I am at Teen Feed could be manifested in the rest of my life.

Seven nights a week the youth that access Teen Feed can count on a hot nutritious meal thoughtfully prepared by volunteer meal teams. The dishes that meal teams offer are of delicious homemade quality. “I am impressed with the meal teams food handling, selection and general good nature that they impart to the meals,” comments Marybeth Walton as she observes a night at Teen Feed.

Marybeth is a nutrition student at Bastyr University who has chosen to focus on Teen Feed for her senior project on community nutrition program development. Her goal is to help find a way to improve upon the meals that youth receive by building on the nutritional content of the meals served. Through a community nutrition model Marybeth has been collecting relevant information about the healthcare needs of the youth we serve. Her project and expertise will address healthcare needs by creating recipes and meals that promote health and wellness.

We look forward to incorporating Marybeth’s knowledge and experience as a nutrition and dietetic student into Teen Feed’s meal program. She is currently collaborating with and gathering information from our committed and passionate meal teams. We look forward to learning more from Marybeth, utilizing the recipes she crafts and ultimately continuing to offer youth the best and most nutritious hot meals, every night of the year.

- Katelyn Stickel, Teen Feed Coordinator

By Josh Horvath, Advocate

While serving as an Advocate for Teen Feed, I often ask myself how do youth find themselves homeless and trying to survive out on the streets?  I currently am a graduate student in counseling psychology at Northwest University, and view a lot of my times at Teen Feed through a psychological perspective.  I’ve learned from the staff that there are numerous reasons a youth might find themselves homeless: from struggling with the challenges of mental illness, to addictions and abusive home lives.  In my studies I have learned about Attachment Theory and the idea of the secure-base.  I have come to believe that many of our guests at Teen Feed are lacking a secure-base in their lives, and that Teen Feed truly can become a secure-base for them.

Attachment Theory explains that the secure-base is formed between an infant and a primary caregiver.  A secure-base is formed when there is mutual enjoyment and empathy shared between the primary care giver and infant.  Secure attachments also need to be continually fostered throughout childhood.  Without a secure-base in childhood, an individual sees the world as a dangerous place, they are uncomfortable in close relationships, and likely will not progress through life with hope for a better future.  In therapy a counselor for many people becomes the first secure-base in a person’s life, because they offer empathy and acceptance.  I see Teen Feed operating in much the same way as a therapist, by being the first secure-base for someone and thus a starting point of change. 

Teen Feed is consistent, and the staff and volunteers demonstrate empathy and total acceptance of every guest.  The idyllic image of healthy family life is of a family coming together, eating dinner and sharing about how their day went. During dinner the good and the bad stuff is okay to share, and mutual support is given.  This is the setting of Teen Feed meal nights, and I believe can serve as a reparative process in many of the guest’s lives.  I sometimes wonder of if this is the first time they have ever experienced eating dinner in this way.

It is an honor to be able to volunteer at Teen Feed.

by Paula Heath, Advocate

 “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened…”  Dr. Seuss

If you look at Wikipedia for the definition of “aging out,” this is what you’ll find:

“Aging out is American popular culture vernacular used to describe anytime a youth leaves a formal system of care designed to provide services below a certain age level.”

At Teen Feed, a youth ages out at the end of their 25th year; the minute they are 26, they no longer qualify for the program. Through coordination with other community programs, the staff tries to ensure that each youth has a plan and knows the resources available to them for on-going shelter, food, and medical care.

But is this aging out of Teen Feed really a Dr. Seuss occasion?

Happy birthday, goodbye, good luck, sure have enjoyed our dinner conversations. These are words that an advocate typically does not have the opportunity to say to the departing youth. He might be there on a volunteer’s Friday, but he is gone forever before the next Friday. I have found myself on several occasions asking the staff what happened to so-and-so, is everything okay. It may be that because I like human stories so much, this abrupt ending, which is not really an ending, of course, leaves me with a bit of a cliffhanger effect.

So I have wondered out loud to the staff how the youth feel about their disappearing act, their “aging out.”  Do they feel they have accomplished something, become savvier and more confident, or do they see the system just tossing them up to another program? How important was the Teen Feed meal to them, and how much will they miss it …?

I’ve only touched the surface here, I think; there’s much more to listen to and learn. Safe to say the headline appears to be that no youth wants to age out of Teen Feed. Their perspectives range from anger to resignation/practicality and may be correlated to their housing and income situations at the time.

The youth know that Teen Feed is more than a warm, complete meal every night (many often have no real meal during the rest of the day); it’s their living room, a place where they can talk with friends and form relationships. Gaining better skills for healthy relationships and lifestyles, experiencing safety and consistency – these are part and parcel of the program.

The youth with whom I spoke all know exactly when they will age out – in fact one offered the age-out years of a number of different programs. Many can have difficulty expressing their feelings and may become argumentative, disrespectful, and even angry as they near their end date. Perhaps, as one staff member pointed out, this behavior is an effort to distance themselves from the program before they know they’ll have to leave.

On the other hand, there is this: For one youth with stable housing and food stamps, it was a shrug and then, “I don’t want to leave Teen Feed, but since I will have to, I guess I’ll have to learn to cook dinner.”

All with whom I spoke said that, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being super important, Teen Feed is a 10 in their lives today. This gave me pause: Congratulations to the Teen Feed staff and volunteers of all kinds – you are making a real difference. Still, right now, the termination is abrupt, and the new life stage is not at all known — or inviting.

Be well through the holidays, everyone.

 “The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.” – John Galsworthy

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”

~William Faulkner

By Paula Heath, Advocate

Right now, you may be thinking that “grateful volunteers” should say instead… “grateful nonprofit organizations.” The truth is that I have been thinking how grateful I am for Teen Feed. And based on the attendance and enthusiasm at the Annual Celebration October 10 at Hillel, I think I’m not alone!

My own volunteer history has included two hospitals, trail repairs and cleanups, big sisters, and for the past 15 months, Teen Feed. And of all the organizations, Teen Feed has made me feel the most valued. So I have looked back to see what they’ve done, that’s touched me personally, in the way of thanks:

• a snail mail card for no reason except to say thank you

• a personal and a general thank you at every meal I attend

• e-mail reminders, reach outs for extra volunteerism at special events relating to teen feed

• warm hugs from the staff

• contagious and unwavering enthusiasm, kindness and positivity

• events just for us, like the Annual Picnic and Annual Celebration

This year was my first Annual Celebration. Smoothly run, thoughtfully assembled, and appropriately modest in presentation. Simple handwritten charts on the walls and table centerpieces that cost nothing but brainpower and staff creativity. Because we were at Hillel, the food had to be kosher and it was delicious, generous, and varied – Leah’s is the greatest! Each speaker was humble, sincere and gracious, and each honoree likewise was modest and happy.

So I’d like to say thank you to Teen Feed for the Annual Celebration – a demonstration of your commitment to your volunteers – and for all the other tangible and intangible ways you make me feel rewarded and a part of something good in exchange for just 2 hours of my time every week.

By Paula Heath, Advocate

Teen Feed staff asked me to give them my Advocate’s point of view on the Board-approved Vision statement. It is a little bit of a cheat for me to do this, because I have spent a lot of time around corporate vision, mission, and values development throughout my career. While it takes an enormous amount of collective work to create them, it is worth it – these are valuable statements for any organization to incorporate into their culture and the way they do business.

The Teen Feed Mission has also been approved by the Board of Directors. The Mission says what we do:

• Teen Feed works with the community to offer support to meet basic needs, build strong relationships, and ally with homeless youth as they meet their future off the streets.

Before getting to the Vision, which says what it will look like when we execute our Mission, let me quickly share a few guidelines often used when developing a vision statement.

• While it used to be a description of the state and functions of the organization after it had implemented its strategic plan, now it’s more of a motivational tool to inspire and motivate.
• For an organization that benefits the community, the vision should describe the future it wants to create for the well-defined community it wants to impact.
• It should be short, simple, and powerful, and use active not passive words…easily remembered, and deliverable in a quick elevator ride.
• Ideally it gives a mental picture of the vision.
• Focus on the most important facets of the overall vision.

Here is the Teen Feed Vision:

Every youth:
­* strengthens and is strengthened by their community,
* loves and is proud of the person they are,
* is passionate and experiences growth,
* is safe, and
* works toward justice and experiences peace.
Every youth sees their whole life experience as valuable.

I like it in many ways – each chosen ideal (strength, love, pride, passion, growth, safety, justice, peace) is admirable. However, all may not be achievable by every youth. It’s possibly challenging to remember them all.

 So, here are three suggested stand-alone Vision statements – which carry the weight of the above Vision’s intent, but allow for some of the sub-points to be brought in to flesh it out, as needed.

1. Every [street] youth strengthens and is strengthened by their community.
2. Every [street] youth sees their whole life experience as valuable.
3. Teen Feed’s vision is that every street Youth can realize their full strength, value and potential for themselves and their community.

[Director’s Note:  Thank you Paula for providing great input on the heart of what we do!  To the next 25 years!  -megan]

- By Paula Heath, Teen Feed Advocate

Life is slippery. Here, take my hand. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

As an Advocate with Teen Feed, our role sounds pretty simple: establish a safe zone for conversation from 7-8 pm; elicit information, whenever possible, about the Youth’s present situation that can be used by Staff to help them meet their goals and improve their circumstances. Note that our role is not to become a Youth’s new BFF. That is deliberate – and a good thing. But it’s not for everyone: it takes the right fit, and some understanding of the core principles of social work.

Teen Feed is here to ‘restore and enhance’ the Youth’s ‘capacity for social functioning.’₁  We Advocates, who are not social workers, use our own life’s knowledge of people, attained through personal experience, to learn about the Youth’s condition and life objectives. During a one-hour meal in a bustling atmosphere. When conveyed to case workers at the end of each meal, this type of information can expedite assistance for the Youth toward their goals.

But a challenge can come into view if attachments form. When a Youth and an Advocate become too attached, it can be counterproductive and unhealthy for both, so boundaries and reminders of Social Work professional ethics are important. Admittedly, it can be hard to see the ‘line’ which should not be crossed. For example, for both Advocates and Staff, we can’t help to create success for the Youth without building rapport and gaining their trust…Two qualities Wiki uses to define friendship are trust and mutual understanding. Is it unhealthy to be friends, then?

The safest rule of thumb is to think in terms of ‘professional closeness’ when you walk into Teen Feed. Remember the importance of objectivity and clear thinking to success, and the productivity possible in the absence of potentially damaging irrational emotions. And use Staff members as the best source for any questions in the areas of exchanging emails, friending on Facebook, and meeting out of program (Note that all of these examples could be outside the ethical boundaries).

A friend in need is a friend indeed – Proverb

₁http://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/general/profession.asp

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” –J. R. R. Tolkien

 By Paula Heath, Teen Feed Advocate

Today was July 3. The menu was bacon cheeseburgers with mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup, corn, and chocolate chip cookies. Last Saturday night, the menu was a full Thanksgiving dinner with real turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and yam casserole with marshmallow topping. Oh, and the most amazing pumpkin bread.

Teen Feed serves meals to between 40 and 70 homeless youth, aged 13 to 25, seven nights a week. There is sufficient food for everyone to have seconds. There are 50 food teams, so how on earth does all that food come together? It’s actually a very orchestrated process, with written instructions, to-do’s, and an assigned food team leader. Briefly, each food team is responsible for their menu, food purchasing, preparation, serving, and cleanup, including taking out the garbage and transporting leftovers to the shelter. On meal night, they will each spend about 3 1/2 hours at the site.

I have been an admiring observer of the food teams on the nights I volunteer as an advocate for about a year now. Here is what I would like you to know about them.

Without exception, each member of the team is focused on getting the job done well and on time because they know how much the youth depend on the 7 PM start. (Many youth will not have had either breakfast or lunch.) Everyone has a role. They’re chopping or shredding or assembling or cleaning up as they go. It’s noisy; the industrial dishwasher is almost always running, so the laughter is loud, and instructions are shouted out. Creating a tasty meal is important to the team because, simply, no one wants to disappoint. Each will serve a portion of the meal, so they will come face-to-face with their “customer.”

They serve from behind a table or counter, smiling, making polite queries about which menu item or how much, and then passing the plate to the next food team member, who repeats the process for their station, as the young men and women move slowly down the line. There is no slopping food onto the plate; precisely the opposite: care is taken not to spill, and to be respectful and pleasant. There is a bubbly murmur of voices, reminding me of the sound after a soccer game when the teams pass each other for a congratulatory high five and all say together: “good game good game good game.”

The team knows that food creates a comfortable, homey environment – even if the guests are “homeless.” And they take this responsibility seriously. Given this responsibility, the time commitment, the physical work, and the importance of genuine interaction with this population, who are these foodie volunteers?

They are your neighbors; members of your church; students from your local high school or college; new US citizens; young working people; retirees; entire families; affinity groups; and folks who work together at local businesses.

Why did they choose this program and this type of volunteerism? They hope to provide some comfort and happiness to those in need, with something they’ve made themselves. And, I think they intuitively know the truth behind the Latvian proverb: “A smiling face is half the meal. “

• “Where thou art, that is home.” – Emily Dickenson
• “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”                        – Maya Angelou

What’s in those backpacks, anyway?

By Paula Heath, Teen Feed Advocate

At Teen Feed, every night, those of us volunteers who greet and sign in the youth for dinner must ask each whether they have, in their packs, any weapons to leave with us while they are ‘in program,’ eating their meal with the group. The most serious item I’ve seen was a Swiss army knife. I have heard from others about a cardboard sword; numchucks; an over-long pole. But these are peaceful young people.

Homeless youth almost always have a backpack with them as they walk by on the sidewalks of the U District, or play at anonymity in a sunny spot in the park. There are daypacks, external frame backpacks for longer-term needs, messenger bags, duffels and even a diaper bag for those with babies. No two bags are alike, of course. Some were once school-kid day packs – colorful, or with bold patterns like hounds tooth checks, and not really roomy enough to carry your whole life.

Others are major backpacks: external-frame; extended-trip packs with 5500 cubic inches of volume; 30+ inches high. You can definitely see the entirety of your possessions fitting inside.

When you have no permanent base that you can call  home, you have to have with you not just the important physical-needs stuff (tooth and body care; condoms; matches; ID; bus passes; cat or dog food if you have a pet) – but also, the stuff that’s important to sustain your soul and spirit.

Clothes, undergarments, and sleeping bags could take up most of the space. But you’d allow plenty of room for favorite DVDs and paperbacks, personal journals, and precious batteries. Some, who enjoy making their own clothing, will have a collection of fabric scraps for future patchwork garments.

So, what’s in a backpack are personal items, symbols of simple human need (the practical) and emotions, hopes and dreams (the spiritually satisfying). In other words, the same things you would keep – and treasure – in your purse, family album, briefcase or home.

“In the end we’re all just people.” – Elisabeth Moore, a Teen Feed Advocate