Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Summer Art Workshops began last week and I received my first opportunity to act as coordinator. The theme of my first workshop was Magical Beasts and How to Make Them. The teaching artist, Mark, has taught SAW before, which I found helpful because he was able to assist me in finding a routine. The projects in this workshop surrounded the idea of making monsters and beasts found in the Harry Potter book series.

My favorite experiences during the week were when we took the children around the museum to explore, discuss art, and find inspiration. If you are familiar with Harry Potter, you may remember the Maurader’s Map – a magical map that displays peoples’ whereabouts inside of Hogwarts. Students took a walk around the museum and created an outline of their very own Maurader’s Map of CMA. During this walk, we spent time analyzing the artwork.

It was neat to learn how to engage 4^th and 5^th grade students in gallery artwork. I found that asking questions such as, “What do you think the characters are saying to one another?” or “Or do you think that women is happy or sad and why?” got an excited response from the students. The questions help the students create a story or meaning behind a work that may otherwise be hard for them to decipher. The art that the students found most interesting or that they labeled as their “favorite” often was 3D and used mixed media.

I was further reminded that 4^th and 5^th grade age students can handle mature topics and complex emotions in paintings. One work depicted a war scene in which one man was in the act of killing another. Although obviously violent, the students could pick out the subtleties of the work such as the group of observers passively watching the scene.

Well, it’s officially the beginning of my fourth week at LeaderSpark, and you know what that means… I’m already behind on blog posts!! So consider this one your catch all for weeks 2 & 3. And I promise I’ll try to be better 🙂

Week Two was a lot, a lot, a LOT of tying up loose ends that we didn’t know we had with the Achieve Summer Work Program (to refresh your memory, this is the program we are partnering to put on with the Boys & Girls Club of Columbus). This means that I was back and forth again quite a bit, but it was really great to start building relationships with not only the people working with LeaderSpark, but also the humans working on the other half of the program from B&G Club. I’m a pretty heavily relationship focused person, so new people and strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet!

But I have to admit, the best part of Week Two was definitely on Tuesday. I stayed later that day than I usually do and went with my boss, Kay, to the Juvenile Detention Center downtown. LeaderSpark does a program with the youth there each week, and even just sitting in on the program was such a neat experience. I love being a part of this organization– these incredible people that show so much compassion and love for youth that other people have turned their backs on. I am in the right place. I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, and Tuesday really confirmed that for me.

So Week Three! What a time! I spent Week Three doing odds and ends tasks for Kay and Solomon, but one that took the majority of the week was researching and adding a resource to LeaderSpark’s website. Kay came to me with the mission of making our webpage into a resource for the community, so (per quite a bit of work that she had done before my time) I added a drop down menu on the website in which community members can find support throughout the Columbus community if they are bored, homeless, hungry, on a college-career path, a parent, and so much more. I’m really hoping that the community takes advantage of this because it’s literally a one stop shop for all kinds of support.

I just want to say one more time, too, how much I appreciate working for an organization that cares so deeply about people. Man, is that cool.

Until next week, my friends

Sam

I can’t believe I’ve only been working at the Worthington Resource Pantry for three weeks- it feels like I’ve been here for much longer! My coworkers and I have been moving full-force this past week, and I have enjoyed diving right into the non-profit world.

This week started off with another morning spent at CoHatch! I’ve mentioned CoHatch in previous posts, but it is an awesome creative space in downtown Worthington for business people in town to work and create in one place. Our executive director Jennifer, our development director Kelly, and I enjoyed a productive brainstorming session on Wednesday. We spent this time working on our future development plan and goals for this next year, focusing on the community and how to further interact with our sponsors, our neighbors, and our volunteers.

On Thursday morning we began our day with an office meeting over our morning coffee, which is my kind of meeting! The five of us, the five staff who work at the pantry together, got to sit down and reconnect with each other, and most importantly we were able to touch base with all of our different tasks, projects, and ideas! Working at a non-profit company is full of ongoing projects and it requires flexibility, creativity, and most importantly, a LOT of patience. I enjoyed listening to everyone’s ongoing projects, what they needed support with, and learning about how each part of the business is connected to every other part. It was a crazy but productive week and I can’t wait to start week #4 in the morning!

Oh, I almost forgot! We were given about 11,000 POUNDS of frozen broccoli this week!!! A truck full of broccoli stopped by with all of it after realizing the company it was headed for over-ordered! Thank goodness for friends and community who helped us out with distributing broccoli to people who need it! A special shout out to Sylvie, another fellow with Community Services, for picking some up! What a week!

This week I’d like to focus on one experience in particular. It was Tuesday and my supervisor realized she hadn’t given me the full tour of the Hoover Y grounds yet, so we set out on a walk together. There had been a huge rainstorm the night before, which made the late morning far more bearable than the previous week’s oppressive near 100 degree heat.

We walked through the open areas of the park and also explored a network of trails encompassing the grounds that I’d had no idea existed. Our conversation turned to some of the Hoover Y’s history and we discussed a visitor that we’d had the day before. An older gentleman, who was visiting Ohio from Florida, stopped by the park to see how it had changed since he worked here in the 50s and 60s. My supervisor told me that visits like that were quite common and that people involved with the YMCA of Central Ohio tend to have really deep connections to it. I had gotten a sense that the Y community was pretty tight knit when I met staff from other branches last week who had grown up going to YMCAs, which incited their passion to work there later in life. After our walk it felt very gratifying to know that I have a place in the Y community through this fellowship, which is a new experience for me because I didn’t grow up going to a local YMCA.

I’ve seen that sometimes in the nonprofit sector, because resources tend to be pretty limited, organizations and people can get competitive rather than collaborative. However, I’ve found that the Y is a really supportive and collaborative network, and I think that’s because there’s such a strong sense of community. I really appreciate how this creates such a positive work environment.

I learned a lot from a brainstorming session that I had with Lynne and Steph (from the Marketing and Communications team) about my general project idea this week. We talked about target audience, goals, and focus-and hearing them reflect on their own creative processes really opened my eyes to some “behind the scenes” aspects of communications that I had never considered before. Their questions caused me to think a lot more deeply about the campaign that I’m creating, why I’m creating it, and what I hope to accomplish with it. This re-focusing guided my work through the rest of the week and helped me to recognize the significance of each step. I created a poster board full of notes, sketches, and bullet points that lays out my ideas visually and also includes content about my overarching goals for the program. The board has already proven extremely helpful-both for myself and the times that I feel stuck in all the details, and for effectively explaining the campaign to others without forgetting to include important aspects.

This is only a tiny section of one of our storage rooms. So many supplies are needed to run this House! This particular section is full of toys that will be given to kids at Christmas time and other special events throughout the year.

I’ve also learned more about the magnitude of the House and all that it takes to run it this week. Multiple storage rooms are filled from end to end with supplies for the families and we still frequently run out of important items. (Side note: follow RMHC of Central Ohio on social media and check out our #WishListWednesday posts to see what kinds of donations are currently needed!) Yesterday, we had more than three times as many families who wanted a room as there were rooms available, and the house is frequently at maximum capacity (there are 137 rooms). There are so many ways that this organization is continuing to grow and expand, and these things are motivating to me because they demonstrate that growth and expansion is absolutely necessary, and that the House is truly making a difference in a massive number of families’ lives.

It was a beautiful night for a baseball game at Huntington Park!

Henry the therapy dog shows his excitement that it’s Friday!!

Finally, on Thursday night, I had the opportunity to go to my first Columbus Clippers game with other interns from the fellowship, and I had a blast! It was so fun to hang out and to get to know some of them on a more personal level, and I think that the passion and creativity that they all have for their projects and the organizations they are working for is so inspiring!

-Courtney Fulton

Hello again! This is my official second week as a summer Fellow and I am still loving every minute of it. Research is going well and we have received some great feedback!

This week I thought I would share why I wanted to work for Columbus Children’s Choir. Creative arts have been a huge part of my life since I was very little. I would say if it was not for the arts, I do not know how I would express myself. I did sports, science, girl scouts, etc but what always grabbed my attention and connected with me was music and art. When my parents and I found ways to be involved in music and art my life completely changed! That was constant from elementary to college. The choir was the catalyst; it provided a group where I could make friends, travel, and express myself. Choir also instilled a sense of long-term commitment for me. There are many benefits to joining a children’s choir such as learning other language forms like sign language and Latin, choral and classical music, and learning new instruments. Overall, choir provided an exquisite learning experience.

Fast forward to Columbus Children’s Choir! These kids are incredible! They remind me of my choir experience all of the time. Today, the Summer Singers program, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Columbus, concluded with a mini concert. The kids learned Greek, Zulu, American Folk music, and basic drum rhythms in FIVE days! It amazes me every day how fast we can learn languages when music is used as a learning tool! The directors collaborated by teaching drums and music to facilitate teaching rhythmic ability, musical style, and other concepts. If you all had listened to these kids, you would have thought they had been practicing for weeks! The effect music has on a person’s ability to learn surpasses our imagination.

Lastly, below are pictures from this week’s program! The kids were wonderful and had a really great time!

This Thursday, Ohio Wildlife Center held an event called the Evening Release Celebration as a fundraiser and community outreach program. We released a barred owl and two little Virginia Opossums with the company of about 40 guests.

The two opossums were none too eager to be released, they moseyed around for a solid 7 minutes before they wandered back into the wild. These opossums were brought to us when their mother was hit by a car so they had been raised in our wildlife hospital from early stages and were finally ready to hit the ground running– or slowly waddling.

Next, we released a barred owl that had been hit by a car in the winter and had been nursed back to health by our trained veterinary technicians. This release was exhilarating to watch. One of our handlers opened the carrier and out swooped this magnificent bird of prey, climbing upwards into the sky with a roughly four foot wingspan.

Our audience was wowed and quite frankly so was I. Moments such as these exemplify the hard work that I observe everyday from our animal caretakers to our administrative staff coming full circle in releasing a wild creature back to it’s home, healthy and magnificent. The evening continued with live music and animal-lovers mingling with hor d’oeuvrs and drinks in our reclaimed 1891 wooden Bonner barn. The weather was pleasant and I appreciated the genuine passion and light evident in the eyes of the guests around me. Good people doing something good. While events can be strenuous in terms of set up and tear down, I drove home at 10 pm that night exhausted and content. Forty more people just got to witness a miracle of healing, recovery and life. Maybe that’s not much but if even half of our efforts are manifested in donations, volunteerism or conservation efforts, it was well worth the while. 

It can be easy to get frustrated and beat down by the 24 hour news cycle of negativity and contention in the human race. But these small victories of pure human energy are the precious fuel that the non-profit sector continues to thrive upon. 

Olivia Adkins

(Kelsie Fields, Westerville Symphony)

Because we are such a small, community based nonprofit, we rely strongly on our board, partners, and community members. In particular, small business and shops that help us promote our events, give donations, and more. Because of this, at least once a week, my boss and I take a little walk around downtown to familiarize me with the local businesses. This will be important not only for direct fundraising efforts, but also for context. Understanding the neighborhood and demographics of Westerville allows us to more creatively and effectively reach our target audiences.

Westerville is more charming than I knew before starting work here. Flower-lined streets provide the perfect path for a lunch-break walk, and Otterbein’s campus is a hidden gem in and of itself. This week on our walk, we came across a local farmers’ market! In fact, it is a recurring market that takes place right down the street every fourth Friday of the month!

This week, we also concentrated on some professional development, and I attended a few webinars about nonprofit technology. I also updated some of our sponsor and donation documents in preparation for the fundraiser next month. I also used this week to do a bit of planning–who to reach out to, where to distribute flyers, and other necessary parts of planning a large fundraiser. There are many small but important details that go into event planning, and it’s important to stay organized in order to keep it all together!

And just like all other nonprofits–we had meetings! Because we have a partnership with Otterbein University, we communicate with them frequently regarding music, event space, and more.

And I’m sure others will write about this as well, but yesterday, we all attended the Clippers game! What’s more Columbus than that?! The other fellows are genuine and smart, and I’m thankful to be a part of such a great group!

Kelsie

Hello again! As week 3 wraps up, I believe I have met just about every regular staff or volunteer here, seen all of the nooks and crannies of the building, and even can recognize the daily attendees at the bird feeder outside my office window.  I am thankful that “settling in” here does not feel heavy, mundane, or quite like settling at all. Settling in here means that I now feel confident to give guests a tour of the building, answer the phone in my office, and build strong relationships with my coworkers. I really love the people that I work with, they are “big picture” type of people who also are incredibly talented at fine tuning details. The educators that put on camps and programs for children make it look so seamless. The pictures I take of their games and crafts fail to capture the hours of work that go into ensuring that the kids have a blast while learning about nature.  The staff at the Audubon Center also do a wonderful job of giving the kids time and space to reflect on the sights and smells of nature, as can see below.

On Thursday, we had a “Summer Solstice Shindig” to and celebrated the longest day of the year with free yoga, scavenger hunts, crafts, and s’mores. After hours of setup and preparation, the first hour passed and two people came in. We were a bit disheartened but within the next few hours, we had around twelve people enjoying the crafts and learning about the Summer Solstice. I am thankful that the staff here did not see the event as a failure because the numbers were not as expected. Instead, they recognized that the families that did come stayed the rest of the night and were incredibly engaged throughout. I learned a valuable lesson that success is not always quantitative, but found in the quality of programming and intentionality of the staff and volunteers.

The night ended with the ceremonial changing of the birds. The summer bird, the Baltimore Oriole, is now proudly displayed above the front desk!

The Grange Insurance Audubon Center has been a wonderful place to settle into and truly invest my time and talents to helping spread the word about Columbus’ backyard!

I look forward to meeting with the other fellows next week to hear all about what they have been up to at their sites.

Peace and trees,

Tori