Caleigh Stevenson - Amos House

For my senior project, I was a part of the group of volunteers working at Amos House. I had heard of Amos House before, and associated the name with a soup kitchen in South Providence. I learned after signing up for the Amos House that there was actually many more aspects to it than I'd originally thought. It also provides social services, permanent and transitional housing, classes in literacy and micro-business, and job training programs like the Friendship Cafe and the catering program. I worked in preparing food for the catering program, in the literacy program, in social services, and with my group on a project given to us with the assignment of creating a system for organizing and distributing the many donations of clothing that the Amos House receives throughout the year. I enjoyed preparing food for the catering program, but my favorite part of what I did during my time at Amos House was working at the literacy program. I was helping a woman preparing for an upcoming test to receive her high school diploma learn writing and mathematical skills. I could see the difference our one-on-one work as volunteers made for the people we were helping, which is why this was my favorite part of our work at Amos House. My least favorite aspect of our work at Amos House was working in social services, because I did a lot of paperwork and office work and everything I did that day was much more behind-the-scenes than the other days. I preferred the work where I could see the direct results of what I was doing. The Amos House seems to function extremely well, and they clearly are able to help those who need it in all of the important ways. I left Amos House with a much better understanding of what it is as an organization, how it serves those who come to it, and how successful of an organization it is. I was very impressed by the job training programs, especially the Friendship Cafe where those who have gone through training are offered jobs. We ate at the Friendship Cafe many times during the course of the two weeks, and this program was very interesting. I also was able to see how the catering program worked from helping prepare foods, and learned that Amos House actually prepares school lunches for many different schools in Rhode Island, including Gordon, which I found very interesting. Overall, my experience at Amos House was rewarding. I would recommend this site for others next year, but I would hope that it would be slightly better organized since there wasn't always a clear idea of where volunteers were needed and what would be helpful for them to do. Despite this, I enjoyed my time at Amos House overall.

Amos House- Colleen Hegarty

          Working at Amos House was definitely an interesting experience.  My favorite part was working at the literacy class.  It was very surprising to me that the men and women, many of whom had grandchildren, would be motivated to get their high school diploma so late in life.  There were some very strong characters that had a great sense of humor in the literacy class and they were all very thankful that we were there to help them, so it was very enjoyable.  I was a little curious as to how the men and women were able to assist and support their children while they were going through school; it must have been really hard because they were probably unable to help with their children's homework.  By gaining their high school diploma, the men and women are taking steps to better their children's and grandchildren's life, which is inspirational.
          I also enjoyed the gardening project; originally, I thought the people would not appreciate the flowers because there were so many other things we could be helping in the community.  When we got there, though, the people seemed to appreciate the flowers and we worked with these two nice men, so it was a bonding experience.
         One of the assignments that I did not enjoy was the soup kitchen.  I was in charge of handing out the salad and people kept asking for more, but I had been told early not to give them more.  I also did not know how much salad to give out, so we kept running out of salad.  It was very stressful and I felt really bad, but it was good that I learnt what the soup kitchen is like and how it runs.
         Overall, it was a good service project.

Amos House- Jackie LaPlante

Working for Amos House was probably one of the most helpful things I could have chosen to do for this project. In the beginning I thought that this was just going to be the group of us working in the kitchen or even just serving the people, but we did so much more than that. I didn't even know there was a business building that had many different offices in it that handled different parts of what makes Amos House. I luckily enough received the chance to work off campus of Amos House at the Mother/Child home. I spent my time there for the first two days, this home is for women who have had an addiction problem, have been abused, or homeless. Through this house they are put into a program that gets them on their feet. It helps the women get a job and become clean of whatever problem they were having, also if they had any children this program will eventually try to help them either gain custody back or even just take care of the child properly. The next two days I worked in the business office which handled their catering for events for people at Amos House, also it handled certain areas of the Friendship Cafe which is a restaurant at the end of friendship street where most of the people who have turned around their lives through Amos House actually work. While being in the business office I had the chance to talk to some people who work in their, they explained stories about how some people who have turned around their lives are now buying houses and apartments. I also worked in the kitchen those two days serving water out to the people. One man stood there and talke to me for almost 10 minutes he was so sweet and very polite. He taught me how to poor the water without spilling it everywhere. The other night I was driving down broad street and I saw him walking with his backpack full of clothes and at the red light I stopped and waved and said hi to him. For the rest of the time at Amos House I worked in the kitchen besides for the last three days. One day we spent planting flowers for the people and then the next two days we worked on a project off campus to get donations for their 35th annual auction. This whole experience was definitely worth it, I think I chose the right place and fit for me to do the service project. It showed me how to understand and help people also to learn from them. It showed Me that it clearly doesn't matter what is on the outside but its what is on the inside

Children's Friend and Service - Paige

For my senior service project I spent my time at Children's Friend and Service. I spent a majority of the time at the Vincent A. Cianci Head Start School located in Providence. I was there from 8:30 until 12:00. While there I was able to assist with their meal times, which happened twice, I would help with activities, as well as play with the children. Each classroom had about 18 students, I was placed in the same room as Catherine, room 4. Our class was learning about the Solar System so Catherine and I decided to do an activity with the kids to help better their understanding. We had them build Solar System mobiles where they had to tape each planet onto a hanger in proper order. Along with helping learn more about the Solar System it also helped with basic functions such as cutting and taping. The second week we went to the zoo which was fun because it was nice to see all the excitement on the kid's faces. I highly enjoyed my time at the Cianci school and would gladly go back.
From 12:00 to 2:30 I, along with the other members of the group at Children's Friend and Service planned a donation drive for the School. During this drive we were able to collect toothbrushes and toothpaste, because brushing teeth is an important part of the students day. We were also able to collect toys and books from numerous stores located around Providence.

My Senior Project at the Attorney General's Office

My senior project took place at the Attorney General's office. I researched, developed and created a pamphlet that will be distributed to 5,000 high school students per year over the next three years. The three topics covered in the pamphlet are; steroid use, dating violence and bullying. Since two of these topics (steroid use and dating violence) were pretty new to me I spent the first few days doing a great deal of research particularly in the area of the legal consequences associated with these topics.
I had the opportunity to spend time with our new Attorney General and connected with him on a personal level since he was leaving for Israel and we had plenty to chat about. Being in the busy downtown business environment was really exciting. I've always had a fascination with the show "lock up" so I was really thrilled to sit in on two murder trials and hear the behind the scene conversations that take place during a trial. I also felt like I have been living in a bubble. It was almost scary to realize that so much crime  takes place right here practically in our backyard. I was able to experience what it would feel like to be a lawyer or someone working in a high power office.  Luckily I attended meetings and court hearings so I left the office practically every day and I learned a lot about the many roles of the AG.
Although the work it self was serious , there was a young vibrant feel to the office. Everyone was friendly  and relatively laid back. My supervisor said I have an open invitation to return for a summer internship and although I don't think I will be able to go back this summer, I definitely plan to stay connected to the AG's office.

Cianci Head Start School - Giuliana

I spent my senior service project working with the Children’s Friend and Service organization. My project consisted of two smaller pieces, both relating to the school I worked with, the Cianci Head Start School in Providence. The first portion of my project involved me spending the morning at the school working as a teacher’s aid in a classroom of approximately 18 students, aged three to five. Though I finished my days exhausted from all of the playing I did with the children, this was one of my favorite parts of the project. It was in this time that I was able to bond and establish relationships with the very open, friendly, and welcoming children and teachers. At first, I felt as though my services in the classroom, playing with the children and helping clean, was not helpful or necessary. However, my opinion of my role completely changed during the second week when the children’s faces would light up every time I entered the classroom, when they would ask me if I would be returning the next day, and when they would apparently talk about me at their homes. I couldn’t believe how just being a presence, a helping hand, or someone to talk to could make such a difference in these children’s lives.

For the second portion of my project, I worked with my team on a donation drive for the Cianci School. I had spent a week in the classroom at this point and had noticed that the rooms were lacking in basic learning materials necessary for development, such as books and art supplies. This is what encouraged my team and I to do a donation drive. We wrote up proposal letters for local toys and bookstores in Providence asking them if they would be interested in making any donations. Aside from the donations for the school, we wanted to give individual presents to the children we worked with. After gathering many generous donations and spreading the word of our cause we were able to present the school with our gifts. Only one administrator knew of our donation drive so it was a surprise for all of the children and teachers. This was also one of my favorite parts of the project – seeing the reactions. This taught me that all of the hard work that was put in was worth it, because it was for a cause I believed in and one that was very appreciative of it. 

Amos House- EB

Working at Amos House was a really wonderful experience. My two first days consisted of doing some minor household chores at the Mother-Child Reunification House, an organization run by the Amos House for homeless, substance abusing and/or battered mothers looking to turn their lives around by staying in this house, find jobs, and ultimately be able to reunite with their child(ren). The next day I worked in the Development Office where I made a spreadsheet listing regional and nationwide conferences on homelessness, addiction/mental disorders, and housing centers. By doing this Amos House will be able to branch out and talk with other soup kitchens and social service organizations in order to get their name out and learn more on how to help their community. The rest of my days at Amos House I worked organizing a clothing project and planting flowers around the outside of the soup kitchen and neighboring houses run by Amos House. Another amazing feature of Amos House is their Friendship Cafe, a restaurant run by Amos House that employs some of the women from the Mother-Child house and from the Job Developing center in Amos. I ate there at least three times during my service project and met a woman who is also living at the Mother-Child center. Along with this woman I formed bonds with the husband and wife team who run the soup kitchen at Amos House and two of staff that are housed and work there. Amos House is truly a warm and friendly place to be with a nurturing and safe environment where all are welcome. I really enjoyed working there and would recommend it to everyone.

RHD-RI: Olivia Davis Wilson

For my senior project I worked with Allie at RHD. RHD, which stands for resources for human development, is a non-profit organization started by one man who wanted to give people with disabilities a place to, not only get the supervision and services they need, but also to express themselves without putting any restraints on their creativity. The school services section of RHD is designed for students with IEPs (individual education plans) in the public school system. They use the state funding these students receive until they are 21 to help them complete their requirements to graduate. These students have either a mental or emotional disability so do not do well in a typical classroom setting; that's where RHD comes in. In this program, one of their requirements to graduate is to get job experience in an unpaid position that interests them. A large portion of the work Allie and I did was to drive to various local businesses and see if they would be interested hosting a RHD student so that they may receive the credits needed for them to graduate. This experience taught me a lot about pitching a proposal to someone with a short amount of time before they lose interest. It also taught me how to gauge the business' interest in the proposal because we had to predict whether or not the company would call back. The most rewarding experience was seeing the reaction the clients had to us. They were all so ready to welcome us to the RHD family. Everyone was so friendly and we were able to bond with a few clients that I will be sure to visit in the future. Because my Dad is the founder of the school services program at RHD, I know I will still have the opportunity to be involved with this company in the future and can go back and visit whenever I want to. That fact gives this project a whole new meaning because, for me, this project will not only last 9 days but will continue to be present in my life in the future.

CFAS-Cianci Head Start Center (Valerie)

For my senior project I have been working at the at the Vincent A. Cianci Head Start Center, which is run by Children's Friend and Service, a nonprofit organization located in Providence. Once there we were split up into groups of two and three and worked in classrooms of 17-18 children, aged 3 to 5.  We played with the children building with blocks, doing puzzles, playing house, doing art projects, etc.  We also helped the teachers at lunch time making sure everyone was eating, and we also cleaned after each meal.  These are children that are from low income households, so it is important that they eat two meals at school.  I really liked that we were able to establish some meaningful relationships.  We got to establish relationships with the children, teachers, and parents. We got to see what the teachers have to go through every day in the classroom. We had a visible effect on the lives of the children, as we found out because the director of the school told us that the parents have said the children have been talking about us a lot at home.  The children liked having us there, as they would always ask us if we were coming back tomorrow and seemed excited when we came in every day. The teachers usually found it helpful to have some extra hands around because the children are sometimes hard to control, especially with only two teachers.  This was very important especially on our trip to the zoo.  It was so exciting to see how excited the children were about the zoo.  Such simple things make these children’s faces light up.

During the afternoons on the second week we organized a drive around providence.  We went to local businesses asking for book, toy, and toilet tree donations.  We got about 60 tooth brushes, 200 tubes of tooth paste, toys, and hopefully some books to follow soon.

On our last day we gave each child a tooth brush, tooth paste, a pencil, and a treat.  This was my favorite part because the children loved it, hugged us and did not want us to leave.

RHD-RI : Allie

For my senior project, I worked at RHD-RI with Olivia.  RHD stands for Resources for Human Development, and it has two major sections: school services and adults with disabilities.  I mostly worked in school services, so I was seeing high school students, up to age 21, who had mental or emotional disabilities.  


Our daily duties included helping teach classes, such as jewelry making, creative movement, and astronomy, doing office work, such as copying and putting together packets, spending time with the clients, and running errands.  During the second week, we went outside of RHD and visited local businesses to see if they were interested in having RHD students work as interns for them, which was a very different experience.


My favorite thing about RHD was spending time with and meeting the clients there.  Everyone is very friendly and always wants to be introduced and shake hands, which I thought was very nice.  Olivia and I met a few people there who were our favorites, including Dave.  He loves motorcycles and art, and even invited us to his birthday party later this year.  Another person who I enjoyed meeting was Bobby, who was in school services.  He and I share an interest; creative writing, although his favorite is poetry.  He liked to share his writing with us, and is planning on entering some of his poems in a contest.


Overall, I really enjoyed my time at RHD.  I'd be interested in going back to volunteer in the future, and I highly suggest it to future seniors looking for an independent project site.