VOICE Buffalo's Public Meeting

Sunday afternoon I went to VOICE Buffalo's annual public meeting. VOICE Buffalo is a faith-based community organization that is working on projects many projects in the community. I wanted to do a write-up about the meeting, but my thoughts don't seem to be coming together on it, but I wanted to write something...

I am interested in safe neighborhoods, education, public transportation, transitioning former inmates (particularly youth) back into the community, and extending the millionaires tax cut; however, I work with National Fuel Gas every day so that's what I found most interesting.

One of the things they talked about was the “National Fuel Campaign For Fairness” with the National Fuel Accountability Coalition. I've recently had a small a run-in with NFG and I have lots of clients who have big problems with NFG, so this was something I was quite interested in. At the meeting, I learned that the CEO of NFG (David Smith, in case you care) makes about $3,500 an hour. Yeah, an hour. That's double what I make in a month. Last winter, NFG ran over 2,000 adds on TV in the Buffalo area about their winterization efforts even though last year they didn't spend a single dollar of their profits on winterization. NFG's winterization efforts are funded through donations they ask for in their customer's bills. I don't have a bill yet, but I did receive something asking for money for different programs they have (also, they spelled my name “Maty,” so that's one more black mark against them in my book).

Think of all the winterization NFG could do with just one hour a week of their CEO's pay check. Of course, that wouldn't really be to their benefit since it would lower heating costs for the customers who had their homes winterized. On Tuesday, I went to a utilities workshop for work that was sponsored by NFG. The representative from NFG who spoke talked about how little profit they actually make because of how much they help people who have trouble paying their bills (I don't see this happening much at all--what I see is NFG cooperating with non-profits like Catholic Charities and government-funded programs to pay the bills for the clients and sometimes forgiving a small amount of the bill as long as most of it is paid for by the programs). I know that a lot of their profits come from places other than customers, but they can't be doing too poorly if their CEO makes about 7.1 million a year.

Back to the VOICE Buffalo meeting—VOICE is working to organizing meetings with community representatives and National Fuel. Recently, they have also successfully pressured NFG into increasing their winterization efforts by 50% (and this includes using some of their own money).

Some other things I learned at the VOICE Buffalo meeting:

--Buffalo's High School graduation rate is 50% and for black males the graduation rate is only 25%. This is embarrassing for Buffalo and if the Millionaires tax is cut, funding for schools will be cut by 20%, which certainly will mean nothing good for those percentages.

--Eliminating the Millionaires tax would decrease funding to Medicaid by 25%

My favorite quote of the meeting was “love is the only force capable of turning enemies into friends.”

I learned a lot at the meeting and it certainly made me want to get more involved in my community to help creative positive change; however, they didn't offer any volunteer opportunities except one that took place during the day on a week while I'm at work. They did give the opportunity to donate money, but I don't have a whole lot of that.

End Domestic Violence

As you may know, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and tomorrow, Wednesday October 19th, is the day to wear violet to end domestic violence. But, don't just wear it--talk about it, to to a speak-out, go to Take Back the Night, stop victim blaming, stop thinking about DV as "just another women's issue," and hold criminals responsible. Change the culture.

Needs vs. Wants

One of the things we did early on in CCSC was separating our "needs" from our "wants." In American culture things that are really "wants" are often perceived as "needs." These needs and wants can be material things or they can be other things like having free time or being in a romantic relationship. Differentiating between needs and wants helps when living on a small budget, and it also helps keep life simple. Sometimes when something stays on the "wants" list long enough, I decide I don't really want it that much after all.

There are a lot of things that I need and a lot of things that I want right now as I move into an apartment, start my new job, and shop for a car. Most of the things I'm worried about right now are material things because these are more basic than having my emotional needs met (basic Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) . So, I made a list of "needs" and "wants" (both lists are pretty long) and then I put the needs into two categories: things I need right away and things I need, but can wait a little while. This is helping me to prioritize since I have very little money right now and, even though I have a job, I won't have a pay check for a while and even once I start getting paid, I won't be paid much.

A year ago I would have made a list with needs and wants all mixed up together and I might have gotten things in the order of how much I thought about them. For example, I really really want a haircut because my hair is driving me crazy, but I don't actually need one, so I'll wait until September or October once I get everything on my "needs" list. Although it's annoying to live with bad hair, it's more important that I get things like a bed, rain boots, and a sturdy umbrella that can handle the Buffalo wind (the wind broke two cheap ones last year).

It's interesting that one of the first things we talked about in CCSC is one of the first things I'm using post-CCSC to keep with the Simplicity pillar in my life.

Life Update

I am happy (and relieved) to report that I have been hired at Catholic Charities as a Case Worker. I'll work with individuals and families who are at a high risk for becoming homeless. I'm very thankful for everyone who helped me get this job and all the positive thoughts, advice, and prayers I've been getting from family and friends.

I start work on Monday—which is good because I need the money and bad because I have so much to do. Even though I have a lot to do, I wanted to write an update.

As promised, my year of service changed me. Probably the most obvious/measurable way that I've changed is how I've changed my plans: I decided not to go to graduate school right away (I applied to five schools, got into three, and was offered a Graduate Teaching Assistantship that would have covered all tuition costs and provided a stipend). There were a lot of reasons I decided not to go to graduate school—one of which was that the school where I was offered the GTA was in Kansas—but probably the biggest reason is that I want to continue to serve the poor and vulnerable for a year or two or maybe even more. I still see myself getting a MFA one day, but it might not be for a while.

For a few years I've seen the connection between my faith/spirituality and social justice/service. This year I've grown in my faith, expanded and deepened my spirituality, gotten to know myself better, and learned more about the systems of poverty and injustice. Now, I cannot separate spirituality and social justice. I think if I stopped serving others and engaging in different aspects of social justice my spirituality would be empty and weak. I'm certainly not a perfectly just person, but I want to do my best to make the world a more just place. I've enjoyed putting my faith into action and doing that is largely why my faith has grown so much this past year (it's also grown because I've taken the time to explore my spirituality and reflect).

The work I will be doing is more charity (it is Catholic Charities, after all), but I'll be continuing to serve those in need. I also plan on seeking opportunities to work for social justice both within my work and outside of work.

I'm excited about my future and nervous about paying rent, student loans, buying a car, and all the other financial and logistical things I have to figure out that I haven't done (or done much of) before. That said, I'm happy to have this to report: so far, so good.

The End.... sort of

My year as a Catholic Charities Service Corps Volunteer has officially been over for one week. I'm still living in the house with one of my community members for another few days.

Tomorrow, I'm picking up one of the new CCSCVs for the 2011-2012 year and driving her to orientation. I'm excited, but that might be a little bit of a strange experience since it was only one year ago that I was going to orientation.

I'm planning to write more later about wrapping up the year and my future plans (working...I hope) and staying in Buffalo (if I find a job within the next month).

For now, all I'll say is that CCSC is defiantly the best thing I've ever done in my life (I know, it hasn't been that long yet, but still...). Also, as promised at orientation, I'm forever changed by this experience and I'm certainly changed in a good way.

But, for now, I say "goodbye" to CCSC.