Sunday, April 12, 2009

GOT-YA Gazette Issue 1

Please check out our first issue of the GOT-YA Gazette, from March. You can download it here!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

WYS on YouTube!

Recent Photos

A photographer from Meadville Lombard, Brian Ashby, came recently to take some photographs at WYS. Below are a couple of them!


1. Ian and Cecelia leading the kids in making crepes!


2. Pouring the batter.


3. Clean up!


4. Kyle and I sharing ideas for the newsletter.

The Second Return of WYS!

Greetings!

If you hadn't noticed, this blog has been inactive since December. I was not at Woodlawn Youth Solutions for a good chunk of December and all of January due to the semester break, though programming did happen thanks to our wonderful new intern Cecelia (more on her in a moment). Since returning at the beginning of March, I have been working to establish a new blog but have found a great deal of complications in that, and since I believe it is more important that we are maintaining our online presence than I am in establishing a snazzy new website, we will be resuming the updates here. Thank you for your patience in this!

And now for some updates!

As I mentioned above, I have been joined by wonderful new interns Cecelia and Ian, a classmate of mine at Meadville Lombard. They have been taking a more active role in programmatic implementation, where my focus has shifted more toward the developmental and foundational work. I am very glad to have them with us -- as are the kids!

I will update this again soon with some information on the activities of January and February, as well as content from our newly established newsletter. Thanks again for sticking with us as we broaden our focus to include many new and exciting things!

Chris

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Apron Decorating

Today we decorated aprons for our future cooking events!

First we discussed nutrition and the food pyramid:















Then got to decorating:













































One of the seven finished aprons:




















Thanks to Amanda for all the help!

Until next time,
Chris

Making (and Eating) Pumpkin Soup!

Here are some pictures from when we used the pumpkins from our carving activity to make pumpkin soup!

Getting set up:




















Going over the recipe:















Chopping up onions while observing kitchen safety:















Cooking the pumpkin and onions:




















Making vegetable bouillon to add to the soup:















Stirring the pot:















Cleaning up after:




















Making Thanksgiving-themed place-mats:















Getting creative:




















Eating the soup the next day:















Sharing food at the table:















We had a great time making the soup! I'll post the recipe soon so you can try it for yourself.

Until then,
Chris

Monday, November 17, 2008

Election Cookie Activity #1 Photos

Here are some photos from the first election-themed event, where we made cookies that we brought to a nursing home in the community the next day. Sorry for the delay!

























































Monday, November 10, 2008

November / December Events!

Hello all!

I hope this message finds you well as the air turns cold and we anticipate snowfall. Please check out what we've got coming up at Woodlawn Youth Solutions below:

UPCOMING EVENTS AT WYS!
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER

Monday, November 17 -- Soup Making

We will be making pumpkin soup with the leftover pumpkin we froze after carving in October. Dorothy and Chris will help the youth of the program learn to make it for the next day's party.

Tuesday, November 18 -- Thanksgiving Party!

We will eat and serve the soup we made the day prior with bread and beverages. Community members welcome / volunteers needed!

Monday, November 24 / Tuesday, November 25 -- No activities planned


Chris will be in Minnesota for the holidays, so there are no events planned.

Monday, December 1 -- Nutrition Speaker

There will be a speaker on nutrition and healthy eating. We will be working with the food pyramid and doing coloring activities.

Tuesday, December 2 -- Food Pyramid Apron Making!

Everyone can design an apron to be kept at Christ Way for future cooking activities. We will use blank white aprons and decorate them with paint and markers, incorporating what we learned the day before about nutrition and the food pyramid. We are still seeking donations of inexpensive white re-usable cloth aprons and decoration materials such as permanent markers and puff paint... if you know of any resources for acquiring such items, please let me know. I'm following a few leads of my own.
Community members welcome / volunteers needed!

Monday, December 8 -- Gingerbread Cookie Decorating

We will be decorating gingerbread people cookies in anticipation of the next day's party.
Community members welcome / volunteers needed! Also, if you know of anyone interested in donating supplies for this, please let me know!

Tuesday, December 9 -- Holiday Party!

We will be eating gingerbread cookies, making hot cider and cocoa, singing carols with a musician from the community, and discussing the holidays. Please join us and, again, if you know of anyone interested in assisting or donating resources, please let me know!



Please note: There will be no WYS activities between December 9th and February 1st, as Chris will be at home for semester break and taking J-Term courses.

Again, we are always seeking resources and assistance with these projects, so please let me know if you are interested in helping in any way. We've appreciated your help with past events -- they wouldn't have been possible without you! -- and would love to see you involved again.

Many thanks, and warm wishes!
Chris

ps. Please pass this on if you feel so called, and don't forget to track our progress right here at this blog!