Year Update

The sanctuary at Divine Redeemer, our host church for the year.

It's been about a month and a half now since the San Antonio YAVs came together in a yellow house to begin a year of service. What have we been doing since then?

• Activities. Almost every weekend is booked with things to do around the historical, barrio, ritzy, rural, and urban sections of San Antonio. So far we've gone to a farmer's market, a mission, the downtown Mercado, an accordion festival, the Alamo, two hipster cafes, church lunches, a bike repair shop, an art museum, gay pride in Austin, a fro-yo joint, a Masonic temple, a local Native American fair, a community garden, and yoga at the Mennonite church. We have taken road trips and bus rides and a camping trip. We have been sunned on and rained on and nearly gotten stuck in the mud. We're working on slowing down a little because we're starting to exhaust ourselves.

• Working. Our work weeks are four days long and various hours in duration, depending on the placement site. Some of us are piled with duties, like Matt and Abby, who work with refugees and teenagers, respectively. Others are busy as the job calls for, like Tori and Mallory, who process food stamp cases or mind babies. Julius and Rogelio both work while attending school, although Rogelio has been on medical leave for several weeks. I have been occupied updating spreadsheets, copying receipts, and hauling materials as San Anto moves into a roomier facility and kicks off its after-school programming. 

What can I tell you about work at San Anto so far? Since my first report, not too much has changed in the Caroline's duties department - my job as Programs Assistant is pretty much to take on tasks that lighten Sam and Kaycie's workload, all of which keeps San Anto running smoothly. Sometimes I do a bit of manual labor, like sweeping up before important company visit the office. It many not seem like much, and sometimes Sam and Kaycie have everything covered, so I noodle around awkwardly on the web until something comes up - but we're slowly working on delegating more regular tasks for me to do, like daily mail intake and prepping deposits.

For the most part, I feel content with what I do at San Anto, because it makes things easier for my co-workers with their overwhelming to-do lists. I also feel grateful to have landed a work placement at which I'm surrounded by art and creative, motivated people. They have a mission - to improve their community through art - and their work makes a difference. I tend to think about improving the world in grandiose terms - how do we end hunger? what would solve homelessness? what is the most vital problem we need to work on, and how do we solve it right now? - but it's also the smaller things that matter. I am only beginning to understand the impact of an organization like this for the people whom it serves. What do you do without an outlet for creativity? Without a safe place to practice new skills after school? Without mentors who encourage you to study hard and go to college? How much of a "small thing" is it really when it affects the course of a life?

I don't know what the Westside would look like without San Anto, but I can imagine it would be a little worse off without the creative and positive force it embodies. I'm beginning to see that it isn't only the drastic issues that count.

(They're still important though. Seriously. Find a cause that matters to you and work on it.)

Once in a while there's even room for arts and crafts during my work day. The week before our annual Huevos Rancheros Gala I was given the chance to touch up the crowns worn by King and Queen Huevo.

Before: sad

After: peppy!

It was an honor to make a small contribution to important symbols of the gala. But back to the house.

Artemis; eater of kibbles, meower at doors, sneaker into houses

• Cat ownership. I caught this guy in our herb garden one day, so I gave him some tuna. Mallory saw him later and gave him some milk. Under Texas law, you feed an animal, it's legally yours - and he kept hanging around anyway, so now we have this cat Artemis. He can't come inside because Abby is allergic, but he makes a mad dash for the interior whenever anyone so much as leaves the door open a crack. The grey stripe on his head makes him look like a punk. He meows a lot and enjoys attacking our shoes, but otherwise is a pretty nice guy. (A nice guy who needs a bath, once we get all of his shots taken care of.)

• Fundraising: This is where I get classy and petition you for dollas, but I hope to convince you that it is for a good cause. The YAV individual fundraising deadline is fast approaching - to have $3,000 by January 1st - and as you can see in my blog profile, I'm not quite there yet! The YAV money goes directly towards supporting us as volunteers: food, utilities, and community-building activities. Furthermore, our host organization DOOR is in danger of a budget shortfall this year, meaning we might have to dip into next year's budget to make ends meet for this year. If that happens, it will take away from the volunteers next year! I would like to avoid both results, so if you'd like to support me, my fellows, and the program, please donate to:

DOOR

430 W 9th Ave

Denver, CO 80204

YAV and DOOR work in tandem in San Antonio, so by sending money straight to DOOR, you're supporting me directly. Just be sure to note whom you are supporting (Caroline Tonarely) so that they can keep track of fundraising totals. Thank you!

Of course, we've been putting our heads together as to how to raise funds as a house. This Sunday we're holding a chili lunch at church, and on the horizon we'd like to hold a garage sale, a talent show, and other activities to support ourselves and DOOR. I'm looking forward to them.

• Arguing: Yeah, this.

It isn't surprising to me that we have disagreements. That is pretty much a thing that happens when disparate people get together for an extended period of time. Our house is not particularly bad. We get annoyed with each other, and we have different comfort zones, but we make an effort to understand one another and make ourselves clear.

I think there's value to understanding yourself, because that affects your perspective on the world and how you interact with others. For that reason I appreciate scenarios that help me to understand myself better, and living in a YAV house is shedding light on a lot of things. Living with other people turns a mirror on yourself in much the same way as visiting another county does, only it's somewhat more personal. Not everything I'm becoming aware of is all that great. When I'm hungry or tired, I get grumpy and snippy. When I feel stressed out and anxious, I only care about myself. People who hug others too easily make me angry because it looks like they're disrespecting personal space. People who engage in nervous chatter annoy me because they remind me of myself in high school. I get frustrated when others buy crappy food, waste money, watch stupid TV shows, and talk about trivial nonsense instead of the best way to help the migrants at the detention center. I think about how their jobs are in many ways more stressful than mine. I think about how I'm hard on myself and I get hard on other people. I think about how sometimes I'd rather watch cartoons than study Spanish grammar. I think about how I wish the world would stop turning so I wouldn't always feel pressured to do something good every minute. I think about how I need to look at my actions.

There are a lot of things in every person. They say that God can be found in each one of us. My goal this year is to better get to know the people around me, but I have to stop trying to read every book in the world and wanting to draw every picture I think of first. Which is more valuable? To know people or do things? Some say you can't have a social life and be productive at the same time. I think there's room for both, but I get really frantic about doing things to the extent that I neglect cultivating relationships. 

I still don't know.

Talk to you later,

Caro