Wednesday, January 13: College Preparedness

Although most of the stress of applying for college this year is out of the way, this College Preparedness workshop will take things up a level. Application deadlines for financial aid are drawing near and we are bringing in the experts to help you through all of the specific details. This workshop will help to best prepare you for finding grants, scholarships, work study, and student loans that will make paying for college easy as A-B-C.

Wednesday, January 27: Ecological Risk Assessment

There are so many warnings out there about what you should and should not put in your body and use in your home. This workshop helps make sense of it all. Come to figure out how to live your healthiest possible life without spending a ton of money.

Wednesday, February 3: Winter Survival in Any Situation

Living in the outdoors with minimal equipment is a skill and an art. It is particularly challenging when the outside temperatures reach winter lows. The winter survival workshop will show you some old tricks of the trade for surviving outside in cold temperatures and how to make primitive fires.

Wednesday, February 10: Best Friend Ever

High school is temporary, but the friendships you make can be forever. How do you make relationship last? Learn how to be the best friend you can be in this interactive workshop.

【推荐3】Volunteers for The Orangutan Project

Are you interested in working with a group of friendly people to help save orangutans and rainforests? Join us at The Orangutan Project (TOP)! We’re looking for volunteers from different backgrounds to help us.

About volunteers

Fundraising (募捐) and events volunteers are important in helping us to raise funds we need to save orangutans and their rainforest homes.You will report to and be supposed by a Regional Representative and you’ll work with other like-minded. Your main job is to encourage people to donate to orangutan care. You’ll also help people understand the threats facing orangutans.You can also get involved in helping to plan our fundraising.

About you

You’re a great communicator and you like getting out and about community. You have time to work at markets and festivals, and you want to make a difference by volunteering with an environmental charity.You enjoy working on a team.

Experience

Experience in events, fundraising or customer service would be useful but you’ll also receive training in these skills.

Additional requirements

You must have the right to volunteer in Australia and need to have a Working with Children Check.

Time required

You’ll need to volunteer for a minimum (最少量) of 6 hours per month, including some weekends and evenings.

Training

Training on the threats facing orangutans, what TOP does, and how we work will be provided. Depending on your interests, we can also provide training planning in event planning and team management.

【推荐1】The email request came into Ekiben restaurant in Baltimore late on a Thursday afternoon in March: tempura broccoli (天妇罗西兰花) topped with fresh herbs and diced onion. The man who sent the email didn’t actually want the food itself. He was writing for his mother-in-law, who liked the dish. He went on to explain that she was now in the final stages of lung cancer (肺癌) at her home in Vermont and that he was hoping to get the recipe (食谱) to make it for her there.

Steve Chu, one of the restaurant’s co-owners, read the email and quickly replied with a suggestion. “Thanks for asking for help,” he wrote. “We’d like to meet you in Vermont and make it fresh for you.”

Brandon Jones, the son in-law, was stunned. “I emailed back, saying, ‘You do know that this is Vermont we’re talking about, right?’” says Brandon. “But Steve said, ‘No problem. You tell us the date, time, and location and we’ll be there.’”

For the past six years, every time Brandon’s mother in-law visited Baltimore, the first place she wanted to go was Ekiben so she could order that one dish.

Chu, with his team, drove on Saturday to the apartment where Brandon’s mother-in-law lived. After boxing everything up, they knocked on their customer’s door.

“As soon as she opened the door, she recognized the smell,” Brandon says. “It smelled amazing.” Rina Jones, Brandon’s wife, says her mother also recognized Chu and his co-workers. “My mom kept saying, ‘I don’t understand. You drove all the way up here to cook for me?’ She was so happy and touched. She couldn’t believe it.”

The Joneses invited Chu and his team to join them for dinner, but they needed to get back to Baltimore. “It was an honor to help make the family’s wishes come true,” Chu says. “This is about her, not us. There was a lot of good energy in doing this.”

【推荐2】Life can change in the blink of an eye. For Bridgette Ponson, one of those moments took place in the parking lot at her workplace, Layton Christian Academy. While she was in the parking lot, her 2-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl in tow, a car hit them. This left the mother and her kids trapped beneath the car. Thankfully, the woman driver wasn’t driving very fast. At that moment, she was blinded by the sun. However, she got out of the car to help as soon as possible. Plus, she wasn’t the only one who stopped what they were doing to save Bridgette and her kids.

Soon, Chris Crowder, CEO of the school, became aware of the accident. Without delay, he united a group of students to help. “It was split second,” Chris recalled. “I immediately just ran into the building because I knew I had to get a lot of people to lift this car. The students just heard me shout. All students from different countries just ran out and lifted it up.”

Still, this wasn’t an easy task. The car was heavy. But the whole group of students worked together to lift the car enough for Bridgette and her kids to get free. Finally, one kid was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital while Bridgette and the other kid were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Although Bridgette took the brunt of the injuries, all three of them were expected to make complete recoveries within a few days. The heroic students who helped out certainly got their well-deserved praise.

“I’m very proud of our kids. They ran out without hesitation, and they just knew what to do without even being told what to do. I’m even surprised by the driver who was behind the wheel. She immediately ran to help,” said Chris.

【推荐3】Ian McKenna was in third grade when he learned that many kids at his school weren’t getting enough to eat at home. He wanted to help, but local volunteer organizations turned him away, saying he was too young. So he decided to find his own solution. For years, he had been gardening with his mother, and they often sent their vegetables to the neighbors. “I’m good at gardening,” said McKenna. “Why not plant a garden at school so that kids in need can take food home?”

McKenna persuaded his school to set aside space for a garden; then he asked the community for donations of seeds and equipment. Other students donated their time. Within months, McKenna’s garden was producing lettuces, tomatoes and cucumbers for students and their families. Now, several years later, McKenna’s Giving Garden project has expanded to five area schools in addition to his own backyard garden. For most of his gardening activities, McKenna wears the same T-shirt in different colors, with his personal motto on it: BE A GOOD HUMAN. To him, that means helping in any way you can, no matter what your age.

“Even a smile might change someone’s life,” he said. “It lets them know that they are important. It can make their day.”

When COVID-19 hit the U. S., McKenna redoubled his efforts, cooking up to 100 meals to distribute (分发) them to the hungry on the weekends. When social distancing meant that volunteers couldn’t work on their community garden, he started offering online classes and a gardening hotline so families could grow at home. While gardening is his core focus, McKenna says he is always looking for new ways to help the hungry.