Adopt-a-Grandparent: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” –Satchel Paige

I never expected that some of my best friends in college would be over four times older than me. My participation in the Adopt-a-Grandparent program has been full of surprises, and I can honestly say that I’ve learned an unbelievable amount from the three ladies that I visit every week. Each week, I gain insight into what life was like when in the Ripon area decades ago. What I find surprising is that the local history shared by these ladies reveals both unimaginable differences and unexpected similarities to what life is like now in our community – and even on campus! For example, I have learned alternative means of overcoming deep snow while commuting to school, such as ice-skating along the ditch or riding a thrasher through the fields, but I have also learned of the constancy of the unique relationships between Ripon College students and members of the community.

More than anything else, however, I have learned the mutuality of a program such as Adopt-a-Grandparent. When the program is described, it seems that the mission of volunteers is to offer a service to older adults by providing them with company and social stimulation on a weekly basis. In actuality, however, the program benefits both older adults and volunteers. My experiences with the program have provided me with a sense of friendship, purpose, and solidarity. To be perfectly honest, I look forward to our weekly meetings just as much as my residents do. My participation in the program has brought me the opportunity to share stories, joy, and experiences with three lovely women in particular, as well as with the greater population of residents of Prairie Place. Through weekly conversations and large events, such as the Christmas party and Sweetheart Dance, I have earned a greater respect for older Americans, as well as a deeper understanding of the similarities that we all share as a part of the human experience.

                                                                                      --Andrea Slosser, Elder Empowerment Intern
                                                                                        Ripon College Office of Community Engagement


Want to Know More? RC Students Share Their Experiences: 

RC volunteer Rachell Pachniak delivers
halloween treats to the residents at Prairie Place

Rachell Pachniak
I started volunteering at Prairie Place to get philanthropy hours for my sorority; however, speaking with the residents has turned into a highlight of my week. I have learned so much about the history of Ripon from my residents, and I have begun to truly care about them. I make a point of visiting one of my residents especially every week. She looks so pleased to see me and have company. We play double solitaire or find a few words in a word search. She lets me know about her family, and as I am about to leave she makes sure I take some of the caramel popcorn or pretzels that she enjoys making. I even got a call from her son, a coach at the local high school, thanking me for spending time with his mother and claims she is always talking about "that college girl" who visits her. I can't wait to continue my time volunteering at Prairie Place next semester.

Sherri Krier
I just started as an Adopt-a-Grandparent intern at Prairie Place a couple of weeks ago. When I first saw the inside of the building, it was very comfortable and welcoming. Every Wednesday afternoon, our group of Ripon college volunteers go together to Prairie Place assisted living to visit our assigned residents. The volunteers talk to their resident and have a nice visit with them before we leave. This brings happiness to everyone involved and brightens everyone’s day. I do not yet have assigned residents, but I look forward to next week having my own group of people to visit and to look forward to seeing every week. So far I have been going to visit the residents with our coordinator, Andrea Slosser. It seems like a wonderful volunteer opportunity for anyone who loves to be around other people and has extra time on their hands to give back to their community. 

Rachel Groff visits with a friend at Prairie Place

Rachel Groff
Visiting Prairie Place has been a wonderful experience. We are able to visit with residents from different areas of Wisconsin and even some residents that have worked for our college. They have wonderful stories to share (such as knowing Harrison Ford when he went to Ripon College) and are fun to visit with.

Rachel Wedeward
I started volunteering at Prairie Place regularly this semester. I come almost every Wednesday, to meet with my residents. However, the moment that I would like to reflect on was my first time ever coming to Prairie Place. The first time I came to Prairie Place was for their Sweetheart’s Dance, celebrating Valentine’s Day. It was one of the cutest events, I think Prairie Place could have put on. They had an old big band and swing band there, and they invited families of residents to come. I thought it was really sweet that a lot of residents wanted to dance with me, even if they were wheel chair bound. A majority of the residents and parents thanked me for the taking the time to come to their dance. I thought everyone was so heart-warming, I thought the staff was excellent in planning the event, as well as their passion for the residents. Seeing everyone, from the families to the staff, made me want to continue volunteering at Prairie Place.

Eric Seiler 

When I first decided to volunteer with the adopt-a-grandparent program I did not know what to expect. I'm not the most talkative person so I feared that a lack of conversation was imminent. After my first visit I learned that I really didn't have anything to worry about. All of my residents were, and still are, incredibly social and never seem to run out of things to say! It always makes me smile when they tell me how much they appreciate "those college kids" that come in to visit them. You can tell how much they enjoy our company and that our visits are a highlight of their week. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the adopt-a-grandparent program is having the residents tell you about their lives. It truly is an eye-opening experience hearing about what they had to overcome in and what they still hope to do in their lives. I never anticipated how much fun this program could be, and I am incredibly grateful that I took advantage of this opportunity to meet some of the most interesting and caring people I now know.

Want to Participate? 
If you're interesting in taking part in the Adopt-a-Grandparent program or finding out more about how you can get involved in your community, contact Andrea Slosser at slossera@ripon.edu or the Office of Community Engagement at oce@ripon.edu.

What is Health Literacy?

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions regarding their health.[1]

Levels of health literacy are dependent on individual and systematic variables:

· Communication skills of lay persons and professionals
· Lay and professional knowledge on health topics
· Culture
· Demands of the healthcare and public health systems
· Demands of the situation and context

Health literacy affects people’s ability to navigate the healthcare system, share personal information, and understand mathematical concepts such as probability and risk. It affects one’s understanding of proper dosages and health risks of lifestyle choices and medications. Adults with low levels of health literacy can affect their children’s health and future literacy skills.

Numerical literacy is at the heart of health literacy skills. For example, calculating cholesterol and blood sugar levels, measuring medications and understanding nutrition labels require basic math skills. Ask yourself this, could you choose the best health care plan if you could not conceptualize nor make critical decisions about choosing between plans? Prescription and drug coverage requires calculating premiums, copays, and deductibles. Having advanced numeracal skills will promote higher levels of health literacy.

Beyond the basic mathematical aspects of health literacy, health literacy requires greater knowledge on health topics. People with limited health literacy often lack knowledge and information about the body as well as the nature and causes of disease. Without this knowledge, the relationships between diet, exercise and one’s lifestyle choices are misunderstood or ignored.

Health literacy is not an issue of the marginalized or the illiterate. Health literacy is an issue for everyone that uses modern medicine, has a health insurance plan, visits a doctor or depends on either an alternative or mainstream health care system.

THE FACTS are PLAIN and SIMPLE: HIGHER levels of HEALTH LITERACY can SAVE LIVES. According to the Partnership for Clear Health Communication, literacy skills are the strongest predictor of health status, more than age, income, employment status, level of education or racial/ethnic groups.

LISTEN 

Listen to this podcast on Health Literacy by Helen Osborne available at: http://www.healthliteracyoutloud.com/2009/10/01/hlol-23-why-health-literacy-matters-a-podcast-with-many-voices/

GET INVOLVED 

Health Literacy Wisconsin is a division of Wisconsin Literacy, a nonprofit coalition representing a membership of 62 community-based literacy agencies. They raise awareness of the importance of health literacy skills and foster two-way communications between health care consumers and health care providers. Visit their website at http://www.healthliteracywisconsin.org/ to learn more about what is being done in Wisconsin to advance health literacy, how you can become involved, and have your questions answered.

Blog Post Prepared by OCE Literacy Intern Casey Riesing.

 [1] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2000. Healthy People 2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Originally developed for Ratzan SC, Parker RM. 2000. Introduction. In National Library of Medicine Current Bibliographies in Medicine: Health Literacy. Selden CR, Zorn M, Ratzan SC, Parker RM, Editors. NLM Pub. No. CBM 2000-1. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

March is Poverty Awareness Month at Ripon College

In honor of Poverty Awareness Month, the Ripon College OCE invites you to spend a little time each week familiarizing yourself with the facts. We've made it easy for you! Below you will find many different ways to take part in Poverty Awareness Month. 

Poverty Awareness Month 

3/1-3/10 Poverty Topics: Access to Education and Literacy

3/18-3/24 Poverty Topics: Hunger and Homelessness 

3/25-3/31 Poverty Topics: Health Care and Financial Literacy 

________________________________________________________________________________

How can I be involved this month? 

Educate Yourself on the Issues 

• Hunger in Ripon
• Housing and Poverty in Ripon 
• Take a Quiz: How much do you really know about poverty? 
• US Census Beaureau: Poverty
• Poverty in America 

     Books
TIP: Check Lane Library and the Ripon Public Library for a copy of these books...

•      Understanding Poverty (2002) by Sheldon H. Danziger and Robert H. Haverman
•      The Working Poor: Invisible in America (2005) by David K. Shipler
•      Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich)
•      The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck

     Articles

• "Relatively Deprived" by John Cassidy (The New Yorker, April 3, 2006)
• "Overcoming the Silence of Generational Poverty" by Donna M. Beegle (Talking Points, Oct/Nov 2003)
• "Free Lunch" by Mike Nichols  (Wisconsin Interest)
• "Poverty is Poison" (The New York Times. By Paul Krugman. February 18, 2008) 
• "The Sting of Poverty" (The Boston Globe. By Drake Bennett. March 30, 2008)

Advocate 

• Contact members of Congress and let them know that programs addressing Poverty issues (hunger, homelessness, mental health, education, etc.) are important and need to be protected. Look up how to contact your legislators by clicking here!

• Find hunger specific guidance on contacting your elected officials by clicking here. 

• Join Voices Against Hunger: Do you have 5 minutes each month you could donate to help fight hunger? Voices Against Hunger is the quick and impactful way you can influence effective anti-hunger public policy!

• Learn more about becoming an advocate for literacy programs by visiting ProLiteracy's web page or contacting your local library. 

Raise Awareness 

• Strut your stuff: Be a proud Ripon Red Hawk and raise awareness for Poverty issues by wearing red every Wednesday this month. See if you can get others to join you!

• Talk about poverty issues. There are some pretty hot button conversations going on in congress that affect everyone's financial futures. What's your take? 

• Do you have personal experiences of dealing with poverty? We would love to hear your story! Share your story with friends, family and fellow students, staff and faculty if you feel comfortable doing so. Need assistance figuring out the best way to share your experiences? Contact the OCE at oce@ripon.edu and we can help you figure out how! 

Address a Need in the Community at the Ground Level

• Action Starts with Conviction Grants are designed to provide monetary support to student led/community supported projects that connect members of the City of Ripon and Ripon College communities to bring about positive, ethical social change in the larger Ripon Area. The Action Starts with Conviction grants are one way that the Office of Community Engagement seeks to empower the Ripon College community to collaborate with others to ask compelling questions, demonstrate integrity in every belief and action, and serve the community in pursuit of contributing to the common good. Applications are being accepted NOW so CLICK HERE to get started!

Volunteer!

Take a stand against poverty in the Ripon Area by addressing the underlying social justice issues through service! 

1. Education/Literacy

Ripon Public Library 

Interested in helping out at the Ripon Public Library? Here are just a few events to whet your appetite: more opportunities will become available as the year goes on. Contact Sarah Brown at browns@ripon.edu  to learn more or to express your interest! General Volunteer Looking for a highly rewarding volunteer experience? The Ripon Public Library is looking for volunteers to assist them in the day to day operations of a busy library in a close knit community. Duties may include shelf reading/tidying, sweeping, watering plants, weeding out old and unused materials from the shelves and withdrawing them from the library, assisting with children’s/teen programming, setting up for the semi-annual book sale, and various other tasks as assigned by the librarians. For more information about the Library’s current needs, contact the Ripon Public Library at 920-748-6160.

STRIPES Tutoring Program

WANTED: A handy and helpful assistant for the STRIPES tutoring program. Assistant will help the coordinator of STRIPES manage and organize tutors and tutees, and plan meetings. Spend your time working for a good cause while also learning professional skills! 

Ripon Middle School: Recess Mentors

Middle School is looking for college students to help at recess either once a week, once a month or just once in awhile FOR ONLY ABOUT 45 MINUTES a time. If you have a group of friends, a class or a club that would like to go with you that’s great! The more the merrier—you don’t have to go alone!  If you are interested please contact Sarah Brown (browns@ripon.edu ) and she will get you in touch with the Middle School.  Besides…who doesn’t want to play four square or touch football or basketball and be a 13 year old again—even if just for a little bit!

      2.  Hunger/Homelessness/Access to resources 

Community Thrift Store and Food Pantry

The Ripon Community Thrift Store and Food Pantry is looking for volunteers! Currently there are three main areas of need:

• Thrift Store: Serve customers, keep the store neat and clean and organized. 
• Sorting Room: Receive, sort, clean and organize donations.
• Food Pantry: Serve food pantry customers on Mondays, clean and organized pantry.

 Please note that volunteers may be asked to pitch in wherever necessary, and that all positions require considerable time on your feet and some light lifting, at times up to 30 lbs. The Thrift Store and Sorting Room is open Tuesday thru Friday: 10:00am-5:00pm and Saturday: 10:00am-3:00pm. The Food Pantry is open Mondays: 10:00am-3:00pm. 

Volunteer applications are available from the Office of Community Engagement (located on the top floor of the Harwood Memorial Union) and will need to be filled out before you can start volunteering.  Contact the OCE at browns@ripon.edu with questions. 

Habitat for Humanity Fond Du Lac 

The ReStore could not exist without the help of volunteers. Please continue joining our team of enthusiastic, hardworking volunteers in an effort to benefit our local Habitat for Humanity. Great opportunities exist in many areas, including: customer service, cashiering, stocking shelves, preparing donations for display, picking up donations, deconstructing buildings, office support, etc. For more information please contact Sarah Brown at browns@ripon.edu or call 748-8318. 

Habitat for Humanity Oshkosh ReStore 

Ripon College students – are you looking to boost your academic transcript? Volunteer at the Oshkosh ReStore! The ReStore is a building supply resale store that recycles donated materials from the community while funding future Habitat for Humanity homes in Oshkosh. It could not exist without the help of volunteers. Please consider joining our team of enthusiastic, hard-working volunteers to make a difference for families in Oshkosh while investing in your own future. Want to volunteer? Contact Katie LaViolette (Ripon College ’11): (920) 230.3535 or klaviolette@habitatoshkosh.org  

Got a great idea about how to address Poverty or another social justice issue? I'd love to hear about it! Questions? Contact the OCE at oce@ripon.edu or call 920-748-8318.  

Alternative Fall Break Trip (2009)

Cody Jolin ('11), Timothy Sinkovits ('13), and Erfan Taifi ('12)
 dig a trench to house Growing Power's newest Aquaponics system. 

“I gleaned for worms, re-composted seed beds, harvested pea sprouts, hauled stuff all around, built a bio-filter, mucked, lots of different things. I liked building the bio-filter--it may have been difficult but it was so rewarding seeing the work that I'd accomplished from start-to-finish,” said a Ripon College student who recently participated in the Office of Community Engagement’s 2009 Alternative Fall Break Trip to Growing Power, a non-profit urban farm and educational site in Milwaukee WI.

Nyi Nyi Aung ('12) herds goats at Growing Power.

Students attending had the opportunity to face a myriad of new experiences on this trip. Not all of them were pleasant or easy to handle: issues such as homelessness, food security, circumstantial poverty, generational poverty, resource availability, and the mental and physical ramifications of a long day of physical labor are among only a few of the issues observed, experienced, and discussed on a daily basis over the course of the trip. With true Ripon College fortitude, most of the students were able to turn these difficult experiences into positive life lessons.

“Lodging at the church was hard because it was cold and sleeping on the ground wasn't very comfortable… It gave us a sense of what it might feel like to be homeless…It made me appreciate what I have, and I think we should definitely do it again,” one student remarked.

The view from inside one of the Growing Power greenhouses.

All 14 students in attendance agreed that the experience at Growing Power was something they would like to repeat in the future. First year Dawn Burnside enthused, “I really enjoyed working there. It was hard work but it felt like I was doing something. I learned so much while I was there. I wouldn't have ever been able to have an experience like that if I hadn't gone to Growing Power.”

What students are saying:

“This place was the kind of volunteer work that I would like to do in the future because I actually can see how my work is going to affect Growing Power. Also, I liked the fact that the work was hard physically-- some people don't/didn't know what hard work was until they came to Growing Power and I think that everyone should experience that.” –Tonya Reetz, second year.

Rebecca Shackleton ('13) harvests greens.

“I would like to be able to learn more about the processes they have there and the plans for the future. While we were there Will talked briefly about how they may begin producing energy from the methane given off during the decomposition process. I would love to see Growing Power become even greener by having no wasted energy.” –Dawn Burnside, first year

“Building the bio-filter [was one of my favorite tasks at Growing Power]. Not many college students can look back on their volunteering and see something come together quite like the bio-filter did. It took a full day of back breaking work but at the end of it the three of us could see what all the work was for. There are a lot of service projects where you cannot experience that.” --Anonymous

“I worked with Paul [one of the interns] for a couple hours unloading a truck of compost. We talked and he told me about his dreams of opening up a farm. All the interns were that way; they didn’t make you feel like volunteers. They were all very good at making you feel like you were needed for the functioning of the farm.” --Anonymous

Ripon College students and alumni gather at Admissions Officer Lyn McCarthy's home for dinner and conversation.