Louise - Changing Natures

By louisemac

#IWill #DayEight

A great day in Miami, taking an even deeper dive into several different types of volunteerism and service.

Our morning started on the 38th floor of the Wells Fargo offices, where we were hosted by Patrick Morris, their Community Affairs Officer. An amazing discussion with Josh, Janis, Carola and Mercedes - all from Miami Dade College, focussing specifically on service-learning. They were all fabulous, but Mercedes just shone like a supernova - sharing her incredible story and really helping us dig deeper into the issues of inequality that have dominated our thinking.

Then onto the Veteran's Administration Hospital, where part of their volunteer programme is for young people aged 15-18. Interesting to hear about their approach from their Volunteer Chief Mernie Williams and his colleagues, but an absolute privilege and joy to meet this incredible woman, Georgie Carter. Her Marine Corps son Bruce died in the Vietnam War, and ever since she has fundraised and volunteered for veterans. Bruce posthumously won the Medal of Honor, which she wears with love and pride, and she herself has been recognised numerous times at the highest level. The department at the VA Hospital is named in his honour.

We rounded off the day at the William Butler Centre for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development at the University of Miami. Joint assistant directors Lindsey Woods and Brittany Brewster, talked us through their service opportunities for students and their approach to engagement. One definite takeaway is they had a wonderful "Spectrum of Service" framework, which visually immediately helped us see different parts of the volunteering/service continuum in more context.

That's the end of all of our formal meetings, seminars and discussion. Tomorrow it's "synthesis day" where we try to make some sense of all we've seen, heard and learnt, before heading out to help out in repairing a street mural. Paintbrush at the ready!

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