Here’s the first agency in conjunction with this whole continuing the ‘process’ campaign that I’d like you to meet. It’s the Woodlands Foundation. They’re doing a lot of really great things for people with disabilities in the North Hills.

PayPal me or e-mail me (or just read here) to find out how to donate. I’m accepting donations until December 20.

Let’s show Pittsburgh Cares that Pittsburgh cares!

The Woodlands Foundation:
Summer camp with an extra special twist

The agenda for a day of summer camp sounds pretty standard: Swimming, building birdhouses, music instruction, with maybe a little basketball thrown in just for fun.

But summer camp is anything but normal for campers at the Woodlands Foundation, which hosts both youth and adult campers with special needs ranging from chronic illness to mental or physical disabilities.

The Foundation also hosts weekend retreats, social gatherings, and wellness and fitness activities throughout the year.

“A lot of times, there’s not a lot of activities out there for people in wheelchairs,” said Jill Antosz, the Foundation’s manager of staffing and volunteers. “Some of the younger campers attend a typical school and don’t get to see other kids with disabilities. It’s nice for them to get together so they can see that they’re not alone.”

Antosz said the facility, located in the Wexford area, hosts age-specific weeklong summer camp opportunities for kids, youth, and adults, aimed at a wide variety of interests. For some of the older youth, the camp hosts a sports camp, a creative arts camp, and a music camp, each of which enroll 48 campers per week. The adults can learn independent living skills or attend a sports camp of their own.

“We like to bring in local talent to our camps,” Antosz said. “Some of our music instructors are from local colleges. We had a concert with a professional violinist at one of our music camps. And our sports camp is named after (former Pittsburgh Pirate great) Bill Mazeroski.”

While most of the camp’s staff is paid, due to the extent of the personal and hygiene needs of the campers, the volunteers that help out really have an opportunity to make an impact.

“A lot of our sports camp volunteers become referees,” Antosz said. “Some are in there pushing wheelchairs across the grass. Or they might be helping them when playing baseball, catching the ball and handing it to the camper who can then throw it to second base. Music camp volunteers help keep the beat or assist in playing the tambourine.”

And while it isn’t cheap for a family to send a special-needs camper to camp – Antosz said the average cost is $200 per week per camper – the Foundation offers assistance, takes sponsorships from area businesses, and does everything in its power to help campers enjoy a week of fun.

“We never turn families away,” Antosz said. “Obviously our operations cost is more than 200 dollars per week, but we try to not put a financial burden on the families. … The kids and adults love it. They make new friends and meet new people every summer. It’s their little home away from home.”

]]> http://cornerpress.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/process-part-one/feed/ 0 carla swank Woodlands Foundation http://cornerpress.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/continuing-the-process/ http://cornerpress.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/continuing-the-process/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:36:17 +0000 Carla http://cornerpress.wordpress.com/?p=393 ]]> Last December, I was really excited to have been elected as the Signature Event chairperson for Pittsburgh Young Professionals.

The task that was put before me was to organize a gala-type event to raise money for both a Pittsburgh-area nonprofit and the PYP scholarship fund.

I was excited because planning an event that could help others was something I really wanted to do. Last year, PYP planned a gala event in just six weeks, and it ended up raising more money than we could have anticipated.

And I had a whole year to put mine together. It was going to be fabulous.

I made a connection with Pittsburgh Cares way back in February, which is a fantastic organization that helps connect volunteers with nonprofit organizations in the Pittsburgh area. They agreed to be our partners in the event. My excitement grew.

I got to know more about the organization and some of the nonprofits they work with. Pittsburgh Cares selected five agencies that they partner with (The Woodlands Foundation, South Hills Interfaith Ministries, Global Links, The Bradley Center, and GTECH) to be our event partners, and the proceeds from the event would be earmarked for those five agencies for very specific needs.

I got to know these five agencies quite well. I believe in each and every one of their efforts. And I even spent a day volunteering at one of them, again realizing how much good is really happening in and around Pittsburgh.

The gala event was planned for October 16 at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and we named it “The Pittsburgh Process.”

We had a ton of support from the community, including guest bartenders like PittGirl (erm, Ginny) and Jim Lokay and Bill Peduto. We had great donations from a multitude of area businesses for our silent auction and food offerings. The Pittsburgh Glass Center was generous enough to donate its entire building to us for the event, free of charge … and it was a fabulous space, at that. DJ Mike Mason offered his services for the evening, also free of charge.

It looked like everything was coming together.

It was a whirlwind night and I was exhausted afterwards, despite having the support of an awesome event committee of five fantastic young women, all of whom went above and beyond the call of duty time and time again. I am being very literal when I say that the event would not have happened without them.

I was congratulated afterwards on the event’s success.

The problem was, however, that no matter how well the event came off, it wasn’t really a success. The goal of the event was to raise money. And well, due to certain situations and politics and consistent frustrations and lack of support that I’d rather not get into right now, we didn’t raise very much money at all.

And so, in my eyes, “The Pittsburgh Process” was not and never will be considered a success, no matter how much fun was had. The point of the night wasn’t fun. The point of the night was to raise money and awareness for some good causes that deserve our attention and support.

That’s where I need your help.

Technically, I’m the chairperson of the committee and the event until December 31. That means there’s still time to fix this … raise some money and make a nice donation to the fantastic folks at Pittsburgh Cares.

The Pittsburgh social media community is fantastic. And I know we’ve been raising a lot of money lately, helping Burgh Baby with the wildly successful Christmas Crazy campaign (which I just donated $15 to today, after I thought I had done it last week but realized the payment never went through) and Abby’s organization of the upcoming food drive and Steelers tailgate party on December 6.

I know it’s a lot asking for you to come through again. But Pittsburgh Cares is an organization that deserves to know that, well, Pittsburgh DOES care.

So … I will collect donations, no matter how large or small, until December 20. You can either send them to my PayPal account (choose Personal, then Gift), actually give me the donation in person, or e-mail me and ask for my snail mail address and mail it to me by check.

My e-mail is carla.swank@gmail com. That’s also the e-mail my PayPal is linked up with.

I will continually update our progress here … as well as tell you a little bit about each of the five partner agencies that I got to know so well. I interviewed someone from each of the agencies prior to the event and wrote a short article about each, so our PYP membership could get to know them better before the event. I feel like the words I wrote fell on deaf ears, so I’m going to reprint them here, one at at a time for the next week or so. Once you get to know these places, you’ll understand why I’m so passionate about finishing the job I was appointed to do. (And … if someone wants to help me set up a better way to collect donations via PayPal, please get in touch with me!)

If you are unable to financially contribute (and that’s OK!), consider signing up at the Pittsburgh Cares Web site to volunteer at one of these agencies’ locations. Signing up to volunteer is simple … and free.

But I would love nothing more than on December 30 to be able to walk into the Pittsburgh Cares’ offices and hand them a check, showing them that Pittsburgh really does care.

Because time and time again, the Pittsburgh social media community has definitely proven that it does. And that’s why I love you guys.

Ten years ago this week, I moved in to what was then Robert Morris College to begin a week of camp with what was then known as the C-Jam Blues Band.

I carried my stuff, with the help of my parents, into my second-floor room in Monroe and barely had time to get settled before scurrying off to meet my new bandmates.

Mike was one of the first people I met. I seem to remember meeting him out in the parking lot near our respective dorms as we were lugging things up the stairs. That might not be accurate though. But, no matter how we met, to this day, Mike is still one of my very best friends.

At rehearsal, I met another soon-to-be friend, Patti, who would turn out to be my roommate for the next three years.

In the next upcoming weeks, I met so many more people that I couldn’t even try to list them all here. I met fellow students, some in the band but most at the Academic Media Center (TV station), who became confidants, career changers, and mentors … and some who were all three.

I had good times and bad times … and some of those times that you simply can’t explain when you’re the producer of a live weekly sports highlight TV show. There were production meetings and brownies and the occasional throwing of things in the control room or the occasional breaking of chairs in the offline editing room.

There were incredibly late Sunday nights / Monday mornings at Kinkos working on the school’s sports newsletter.

There was laughter and tears … and the overflowing of a dishwasher with lots of sudsy bubbles after the other roommate unknowingly poured regular dish soap into the dispenser before running it.

There was learning the hard way that when you wash a red shirt with your favorite jeans, you end up with pink jeans.

There were more late-night pizza calls to Hometown than I care to remember.

There was sledding down the North Athletic Complex hill … and the day we all got stuck in our apartment because the snow slid off the roof and blocked the doorway.

There was September 11. There was a documentary about it. There were countless road trips and hours of footage and days upon days upon days of editing as we all tried to cope with what had just happened.

The college grew up and changed into a university, and we all struggled with how funny it sounded to say RMU instead of RMC.

We grew up. We changed. And we all struggled with what that really meant and what life in the so-called “real world” was all about.

A lot of people would argue that they’d do anything to go back to their high school days. Not me. I’d do anything to go back to my college/university days. It was the best time of my life. It was the worst time of my life.

And I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Even ten years later.

I miss being a full-time journalist.

There. I said it.

___

I was sitting at home last night absolutely glued to the TV as the tragic events were unfolding at the LA Fitness center in Collier Township.

The interviews were heartbreaking. The chaos and uncertainty were tangible. Even some of the TV reporters and anchors, who are usually stoic (or at least good actors at being stoic), were struggling to hold themselves together.

And while I was very thankful that I wasn’t still a reporter in the business and dispatched to a scene like that, I will admit that I missed being a part of a breaking news scenario.

I don’t mean that in a morbid way. Covering senseless events like last night’s shooting was always incredibly difficult and part of the reason, honestly, that I left the business in the first place.

As I was watching, I immediately flashed back to some of my more difficult reporting moments. Walking through Ground Zero just one month after Sept. 11, 2001. Watching a woman being extracted from her vehicle in a horrific accident, airlifted from the scene from a helicopter that landed right on the highway. Horrible things that I hope I never, ever see again.

But during my days as a copy editor and page designer, it was tragedies or breaking news events like this that pulled those of us manning the fort in the newsroom together as a team. During the first round of massive flooding in the region in 2004, people who weren’t even scheduled to work that night came in to lend a helping hand, reading stories, assisting in writing headlines, answering phones, and/or proofreading pages. We rallied together as a team, trying to make sense of a crazy situation, helping anyone else in the room that needed help.

And true, while putting together written words and photos about a horrible situation may seem trivial, for me at least it seemed to provide a sense of trying to help. It may not have been much, but if my efforts could help describe what happened in a way to help others make sense of the situation in their own minds, then I felt like my efforts had been worthwhile.

It’s also why my night-side newsroom colleagues are still some of my very best friends. We went through a lot together, not nearly as tragic as last night’s happenings, but a lot of chaotic moments. We witnessed each other’s frustration, confusion, and occasional tossing of the stylus.

Last night was frustrating for me. I wanted to help. I wanted to make sense of the situation. But all I could do was watch it on TV. And pray.

___

The other problem with being a former full-time journalist is my incessant need to channel flip in breaking news situations.

I got home last night after the extended coverage was well underway. And while it’s not usually my custom to offer public commentary, there were a couple of things that really jumped out and struck me and are worth noting.

* After multiple channel flips, I ended up watching a lot of coverage from WTAE. And while reporters who feign emotion in situations like this usually come across as contrived, I can honestly say that the surprise and the concern shown by reporter Shannon Perine on the scene seemed extremely genuine. For once it was nice to see a reporter not only be concerned, but show that concern on TV. Thanks, Shannon, for showing your human side.

* It’s true that I tend to watch KDKA. And while I wasn’t crazy about their coverage last night, I will say this. KDKA’s staff was the only group last night that appeared to be functioning as a team. Sending your weather and sports staffs to hospitals to cover situations like this isn’t ideal. It’s better to have an experienced reporter in those types of things. And while Jeff Verszyla’s live shots weren’t stellar, and Bob Pompeani’s cell phone was having issues, I give both of them a ton of credit for getting thrown into an uncomfortable position but helping the station as a whole. Likewise, morning traffic reporter Jim Lokay did a fine job manning a post for a live shot this morning as well. It’s this kind of teamwork and ad libbing that I so desperately miss.

___

So, yes. I miss being a full-time journalist. I miss the camaraderie, the bonding together when times get tough and rallying as a team in crisis situations.

But I don’t miss stories like last night, which serve as a reminder as to how fragile and short life really is. Tell those you love how much you love them.

My thoughts and prayers will continue to surround those who have been affected by this tragedy.

** Photo courtesy Robertas Pezas, dreamstime.com.

I left work the other day, en route to my local travel agency to pick up a walking map of New York City. I’m headed there on Saturday for the first time in about seven years or so. I’m taking my Mom with me, and I’m super excited about the trip. While we’ve each done our fair share of respective research on all the sights and sounds we want to take in on our excursion (it’s my sixth trip to the Big Apple or so, but it’s my Mom’s first), I thought having a walking map in hand during the trip would be a good idea.

So, off I went. Except I never got there.

My car died on the way. That was more than 24 hours ago. I still don’t have my car. Or a map. And I leave for NYC in about 30 hours.

As I mentioned several days back, I finally earned that ever-so-elusive master’s degree a couple of weeks ago. The last semester wasn’t fun. It was a lot of writing, a whole heck of a lot of reading, and a lot of juggling multiple schedules to get all the homework and assignments turned in on time. But, I made it.

And, as weird as it may seem, with as stressful as the whole process was, I actually enjoyed the grad school experience. I loved researching in an emerging academic field. I loved writing my capstone article, which I’m still tweaking in hopes of getting it published later this year.

So while it was very rewarding to walk across that stage and have that blue and gold hood draped over my shoulders, it also left me in a place that I haven’t been in a long time.

I have my degree. It’s all done. So, now what?

It’s been a very strange several days. I feel somewhat empty inside, or at least somewhat confused. What’s next? Is there a next? Should I just take a break? Should I move forward? But where’s forward?

The even more confusing part? I can’t answer any of those questions. So, while I’m still going about my daily routine, albeit a bit differently for the next several days without a car, I’m constantly questioning what the big picture really has in store.

All I want is a map. Really.

(Photo courtesy smaginnis11565′s Flickr photostream.)

It’s been quite a journey.

Thousands of pages read. Hundreds of pages written.

But on Saturday, the day finally arrives. I’ll receive my master’s degree. Grad school is officially over.

Which can only mean one thing.

I’m back on the blog.

It feels good to be home. I missed you all.

And yes, the first update will be to eliminate the snow from the header. I promise.

More to come next week …

(Photo courtesy Robert Morris University.)

Snow is fun. But this … umm … stuff … isn’t. It left the roads a mess.

The road crews tried to stay ahead of it. I know … because I heard the plows pass my bedroom window multiple times in the middle of the night. They woke me up a couple of times, which was a good thing. Turns out, the power had gone out.

As I walked outside to take pictures this afternoon, I heard a deadening thump, looked up, and saw the driver of the SUV safely parked at the stop sign about a block away get out of his vehicle to talk things over with the driver of the other SUV who slid into him trying to stop. Looked like it was a minor thing. Par for the course for the day.

But, you do have to admit, if you didn’t have to drive anywhere today, it was kind of pretty out there.