home-stretch

Two-thirds of the way through our second SPIKE! I can't say it has been an easy one. I feel like I have spent the last month fighting for work, but not against anyone. It has been tough to work with a start-up. Our sponsors are very very nice and welcoming, but keeping 10 people busy for 40 hours a week was a bit of a stretch for this organization. We have finished surveying in the three target communities outlined for us in the beginning of the project. The week before Thanksgiving we went into our third area, GP, or "the hood" as everyone around here warned us. Things went really well in all the neighborhoods we surveyed. Hopefully the information we have obtained will help the board achieve their goal of starting a government subsidized HRSA health center in LeFlore County.

Although I greatly enjoy the community here, I am looking forward to finishing up surveying. It is definitely not something I hope to see in my future. Luckily, we have been met with mostly kind individuals. I am just running low on steam for trudging door to door in the cold and trying to get people to give us accurate information about their family's health status, health insurance and financial situation. I also am ready to change out of my green shirt and step away from being a team leader for a while. This project has tested me- trying to keep ten people busy at work all week doing a job no one really likes to do and without any outside supervision. The last few weeks I have been working with our sponsor, Unit Leader and projects department to find a second non-profit to pair with for the remainder of the project to beef up our hours. We have paired with the Boys and Girls Club in Greenwood. We will continue surveying everyday from 10am-3pm and then we will head over to the Boys and Girls Club to tutor and mentor the kids for a couple hours. We are down to our last couple weeks now.

I am looking forward to a nice long winter break at home! Thanksgiving was a bit of a teaser- I got to pretend for a couple days to be myself. I can't wait to relax in the living room by the fire for two weeks!

Miss and love you all!

Casey