End of the first week

Today marked the end of the first week at my new job and I have to say that it is an amazing place to be working. This week has been so incredibly busy, but a good busy. Today I finished prepping for the poverty simulation that we're putting on in Ludington Michigan, which actually takes a lot of preparation because you have to make sure each simulation packet contains a specific array of materials, then you have to prep not only the "families" but also the "services". Then you have to prepare folders that contain information about what my organization is about and how poverty is effecting the community. So there is a lot of things that go into planning one of these simulations.

Not only did I have to prep for this simulation but also I did some outreach so that I can hopefully schedule some new simulations in the future. My personal goal is to schedule ten in county simulations and five out of county simulations. That would bring in approximately  $17,000 for the organization, which would be a great start. Plus I'm trying to reach out in the community because I want to build the relationships with other organizations as well as companies and people in the community which can help me in the future. I obviously didn't get into non profit for the money, but I do need to think about my future as well, so the more connections that I make it more likely that I will be able to join another non profit if our proposals don't get passed by the board. I'm taking this career very seriously and I don't want to slow down at all because I want to be recognized for my accomplishments and I want to make some sort of dent in my community that can make a difference.

Another thing that make my day quite nice today was that I researched my health insurance that is given to me by the Americorps VISTA and was happy to find out that my doctor takes my insurance. This is quite amazing because of the fact that I didn't really want to find a new doctor since I have a great relationship with my doctor and he understands me. Also further researching it I learned that my insurance covers preventative care as well as doctor visits for being sick. The only downside is that it doesn't cover pre-existing  conditions, which means it won't cover mental health treatment. That's a bummer, but hopefully the other form of insurance that I applied for will come through. A definite bonus about my insurance is that I won't have to pay for my prescriptions at all, and that in itself is a good thing.

As we can see, there are pros and cons to being in the VISTAS but so far Im not even really feeling like I'm a part of the VISTAS, I feel more like I'm a part of my NGO and that makes me feel amazing. I can't wait to see what happens in week two.