PROJECT/EVENT ACTION PLAN NAME OF PROJECT/EVENT : Douglass Community Center Pays It Forward PROJECT COMPLETION DATE/EVENT DATE : November

12, 2012 EVENT HOURS: Friday 3-4 (5), Mondays 4:30-5:30 LOCATION FOR PROJECT/EVENT: Douglass Community Center Location Contact Person : Charles Burton Phone number/Email: (217)-398-2573 1) Equipment/supplies needed: Garbage bags and plastic gloves for garbage cleanup; envelopes and stationary for letters to servicemen and service women; appropriate food/ingredients for Halloween treats for seniors in senior center; a copy of Pay it Forward; pizza or appropriate food for end of project celebration Sources: The garbage cleanup will require us to acquire bags from the Douglass Center or a local store; the letters to servicemen and service women can be directed via internet organizations like anysoldier.com; the food packaging event will be coordinated with The Daily Bread. Costs: We will need to purchase ~20 garbage bags and pairs of gloves, the materials/ingredients for the Senior Halloween treats, stationary and stamps for the letters to the servicemen/women, and pizzas for the end celebration. The five of us anticipate that we should be able to cover the costs of the celebration, but if we have any additional costs, we can do some fundraisers here on campus (Note: the Douglass Center may already be able to provide some of these items, so we will be able to better estimate exact costs when they confirm how many students are partaking and what materials we can use). 2) Workers needed? How many? Schedule for workers: Depending on the number of students participating, we may need to work with a few Douglass Center employees for the garbage cleanup, senior Halloween treat, and Illini Fighting Hunger food-packaging event. 3) Publicity? If so, what are the best ways to advertise? (i.e. flyers, website, newspaper, posters, or others): The Douglass Center recruits all the students for the programs they host, so we will not have to do very much in the way of publicity. However, we will want to make some flyers to distribute or posters to put up in the Douglass Annex for the Senior Halloween Treats. Any costs associated with publicity? No Start date for publicity: We will put up posters and distribute flyers for the Senior Halloween Treats the first week we come in to the Center, and contact the staff in charge of organizing events there well ahead of time.

Other needs to accomplish the end result? We need to contact outside institutions, such as The Daily Bread, The Douglass Annex (Senior Center), and the organizations for mailing letters to the armed forces, and organize times for events.

RELATIONSHIP OF PROJECT TO: 1) Course Content: Our project is designed to show students how they can help others and give back to the community/nation/world, which reflects the idea of service learning emphasized in this course. We hope to show them, as we have been taught, that a diverse society has diverse needs, and everyone can contribute to fulfilling those needs, an idea we will introduce to the students by showing them clips from the movie Pay it Forward. The following paragraphs outline our plans for each activity and how we hope to connect back to the themes of CI 401. Trash Pickup: In order for the U.S. government to function as a democracy, citizens must assume responsibilities and duties for its functioning. Performing community service is just one way in which individuals can give back to address necessary issues that affect society. Improving environmental conditions through a neighborhood cleanup can positively impact personal and community health. Prior to the cleanup, we will stage a discussion with the students to critically analyze disposal of objects and how it impacts the community, beginning with a look at how the students themselves dispose of trash, then shifting to explore the growing concern of trash and how it is affecting the planet. We will conclude by having the students challenge the notion that simple, individual acts like picking up trash cannot possibly make a difference in this world. To really emphasize the importance of helping others, we will attempt to make contact with the Daily Illini or other local newspapers to receive some coverage about the cleanup! This would present an awesome opportunity to illuminate the good the kids are doing in the world by tying the project to the larger community and demonstrating the importance of giving back on a greater scale. Senior Halloween Treats: Baking and taking food to the elderly at the neighboring senior center will incorporate several social justice and service learning themes. At its basest level, it involves performing a service for the seniors who visit the Douglass Center and is in keeping with our overall theme of teaching the importance of service. The activity will also serve as a lesson on diversity for the students. These middle and high school children will interact with a group of peoplesenior citizenswho they may not mingle with on a daily basis outside of their own families. This interaction might expose them to new experiences and social justice concerns they have not considered. In this vein, the activity will also be used as a springboard to discuss current and past issues facing senior citizens in America both today and in the past. While the food is baking, we will discuss with the students the history of senior care in the United States, as well as the current issues facing health programs for seniors, such as Medicare. The lesson will conclude with a discussion on how we as young people can help the elderly using our resources. Letters to Servicemen/women: Servicemen and servicewomen help protect the basic human rights that our country provides us. It is because of them that we can maintain a diverse and functioning society in safety. The idea of our service project is for students to learn to give back and to stand up for what they believe in. These men and women are voluntarily providing society a great service while they openly stand up for our country and its ideals. We hope that by writing letters to these brave men and women, the students will see and respect the great sacrifice and service that that the men and women in uniform are providing.

2) UNCC/DCC/ECIRMAC Needs Assessment: Provides service-based activities for students who may not yet have an appreciation for or experience with serving others, but who may have been the beneficiaries of service themselves at some points. Students may want to give back to their community, but do not know how or have not been given the change to. It is also our hope that our project will raise awareness about societal issues and help empower students who may feel disenfranchised when it comes to their ability to make a difference in the world.

Group Project Calendar October 19, 2012 (3-4 p.m.)Go to the center and meet the students. Discuss what their ideas of giving back are. Show clips from the film Pay It Forward in order to facilitate discussion. (Kevin will find the clips and Jake facilitate a discussion on students improving their school and community to lay the foundation for the rest of the project.) October 22, 2012 (4:30-5:30 p.m.)Take students on a trash cleanup of the surrounding area (Kristen will be responsible for the trash bags and coordinating the trip). October 26, 2012 (3-5? p.m.)Prepare food for elderly at a TBD nursing home in the area (John will contact area nursing homes and select the treat to make and ensuring we have the necessary ingredients). October 29, 2012 (4:30-5:30 p.m.)Deliver the food to the nursing home with a select group of students. November 3, 2012 (Time TBD, probably between 2-3 hours)Take students on a food packaging trip with The Daily Bread at a yet-to-be-determined location (Kevin will coordinate with The Daily Bread and Jake will coordinate transportation). November 9, 2012 (3-4 p.m.)Write letters to American servicemen and women in honor of Veterans Day. Conduct a discussion of the important sacrifices of American servicemen and women. Celebrate Veterans Day and completion of project (Scott will facilitate the letter writing portion. John will provide pizza for the students to eat in celebration of the projects completion).