Y Talk: Stinky Potatoes and DIY Projects by Brittany Rose

I have contemplated what to write about, but since I love this time of year I’ll stick with the theme of being thankful. Of course I’m thankful every day for my family, and being able to show patience with having an almost 2- year-old running around telling everyone including the dog what to do. But the other part is having diversity in the jobs I do at the Y.

Of course the summers are camp, camp and more camp. But during the school year I run the Adventure Based Education Program with Carlisle schools. The past two weeks we have spent our community service time at Project SHARE, a great local community organization that provides a lot of things (food, clothes, meals, etc.) for those in our area. We sorted potatoes two different days. That meant opening 50-pound bags of potatoes and hoping you didn’t have any rotten ones. If you did … believe me everyone knew it. Now of course working with middle and high school kids to keep it lively we made some stinky jokes, but for the two hours we were there those students worked their tails off, through the good ones and the bad ones.

We always go to Project SHARE, but we are never quite sure of the volunteer work we are going to be doing until we get there. This time one of the students comments after we finished working made me stop and think about the gratefulness I have in working with those kids and just my job in general. During our debrief/reflection time after working the student said, “I’m glad we did it, because if we would not have someone else would have had to, and they might’ve gotten sick.” It wasn’t a real in depth quote, but a true statement. We had fun, we laughed and at the end of the day I’m glad we were able to help finish them so daily volunteers didn’t have to do them again this year, since I’m sure someone gets that job every year. I am grateful for the willingness of those students to push through and do something great for the community and to give back to many of our friends or families that might use Project SHARE on a daily basis. I am happy to be part of a community that has many of organizations that do those small simple things for families in need—not just during the holidays, but all year long.

HAVING FUN WITH PINTEREST

Another thing I’m thankful for is Pinterest, well sort of. My little sister recently bought a house and every other day I get a text that always starts with “the other day on Pinterest I saw [insert picture]. Do you think you can make that for me?” Mainly because she doesn’t want to pay a lot, but I’m thankful for that first text that made me think about it and then just try. I did need some help from Justin and part of his workshop (so he’s not always thankful for these projects), but they’ve been fun and sort of allowed me to have the “kid inside me” feeling that I tell staff to have during the summer. It’s harder for me to find sometimes because summer comes and goes so fast, but during the last couple of months I’ve been able to enjoy and harness that feeling.

I encourage all of you to find your creative side, get that “kid inside me” feeling at least once during the holidays, by yourself or with your family—whether it’s a homemade card, volunteering at a local organization or a Pinterest DIY project for those feeling enthusiastic. Have a wonderful holiday!

-by Brittany Rose, Camping Services Director​