I completed my Project LINK at the Illinois
Coalition for Community Services (ICCS) in Charleston, IL. Brenda
Ingle, the program Director, was happy to have me for the day to help with
follow-up calls to their clients.
My service activity reflected several concepts
we discussed in class.
a)
Disadvantaged families – this agency serves many
disadvantaged families in our community.
They provide assistance with food, clothing, transportation, temporary
food assistance and many other services.
They have a website and Facebook page with more details.
b)
Hunger and food insecurity is becoming more
prevalent in our community. The number of
clients is increasing everyday as the economy struggles to recover.
c)
Many of the clients seeking services from this
agency are living in poverty. The income
is too low to sustain their need which is why they come to this agency for
assistance. Both absolute and relative
poverty are represented in our community.
d)
Lack of healthcare was another issue identified
during my service. This issue causes
problems with acquiring proper healthcare in a timely manner. Clients struggle to find a primary care
physicians and getting medications they need to remain healthy. The call that I gave to Kathleen was a client
going without prescriptions and much needed medical treatment.
e)
Women and disadvantage was also obvious in my
service experience. I did notice that
approximately 90% of the calls I made were to women. I also observed there were a lot of single
parents. Poverty doesn't discriminate
when it comes to race and age because the clients were of different races and
young, middle-aged and elderly.
My networking before this service activity was
through my job. Brenda, the Director of
ICCS, is a member on our School’s Advisory Council. When I saw this assignment, she was the first
person to come to mind. I emailed her
and explained what was required and she was glad to have me work with
them. The office hours are Monday
through Friday from 8am to 2pm, so I requested a day off from my job to spend
the day at the agency. I networked with
the clients during the follow up calls.
After all the calls were made, I spoke with Kathleen regarding some of
the calls. She was very knowledgeable
about how to handle the many different situations the agency encounters. I enjoyed meeting and working with her. I would like to do something to continue to
be involved with ICCS. I plan to ask
Brenda what I can do to help the agency.
One way I can stay involved is by donating time, food and clothes. They have a small food pantry and provide
clothes for their clients.
The potential effect of volunteering can be very
meaningful. My heart broke for the one client that Kathleen assisted me with
and it touched me deeply. It was an
educational experience just volunteering one day and I was inspired by their efforts. The effect one person can have on a community
can be endless. It is through acts of
kindness and generosity that we can have the greatest impact in someone’s
life. Agencies like ICCS help people
when they struggle the most. The
services they provide can change the course of a life for the better. Hopefully, the clients will only need the
services temporarily until they can stabilize their circumstances. It is good to know this kind of agency is
there to help make a difference in a community. As members of this community,
we can all help make a difference by supporting these kinds of agencies. We can volunteer our time, make donations of
items needed, and reach out to those less fortunate. We don’t know what the future holds so we
must realize that we could easily be in their shoes and need services.
I was given some files and an ICCS cell phone to
call the clients. I was asked to tell
the clients we (ICCS) was following up with everyone to see how they were doing
and to invite them to two upcoming free workshops. This originally seemed like a minor task, but
I was in for a rude awakening as the day progressed.
I reviewed the flyers with the
workshop information, rehearsed my opening comments in my head and began making
calls. The first call was not answered
so that was an easy one. The second
client I called answered but hung up on me before I could even get to the
workshop information. That was a bit
discouraging since I was only beginning, but was encouraged by Kathleen that it
would be fine. So on I went to the next
file. There were some files with no
phone number listed, several numbers that were out of service, others had
mailboxes that were full and still others that just rang with no voice mail option available. The one client that
hung up on me was my only negative response.
For the most part, most people were very receptive and polite. I proceeded through the files at a decent
pace and had marked others for another call if there was no answer. I was able to get a few more responses on the
second round of calls.
There was one call in particular
that impacted me significantly during the day.
I asked the client how they were doing and they proceeded to explain
their situation in great detail. I
immediately felt inadequate and helpless but listened intently for a couple of
minutes. After hearing details that I
felt needed professional attention, I asked the client if I could refer them to
someone to help them. They agreed and I
gladly turned the call over to Kathleen.
I was in no way equipped to deal with the client’s needs and was sad to
hear about their dismal plight. Kathleen
handled the call professionally and was able to help them with referrals and
will continue to try to find other assistance to meet their needs.
The highlight of the day was a
client that I spoke with that was doing very well. They had found a job and were very happy to
hear about the free workshops. They work
12 hour days but was still going to try to attend one of the workshops just to
get the information. Brenda said that
was the goal of the agency, to be a temporary support system until the client
can become self-efficient again.
Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen for everyone they serve.
Overall, this was a great learning experience and I enjoyed it very much. Thanks Dr. Taylor for enlightening me through this project.
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