WOOO-WEEEE!!

It's a wonderful day to do anything fun unless it's of course dangerous or against the law but hey get out there and enjoy life and spend time with your family. I am having a wonderful time with my sister and my nephews....except for that pain in the butt ex-fiance of hers. Not going to get into that because then I will have to get into religion because he acts the way he does because of how he was religiously raised and I really don't want to offend anyone but then again I do have a right to a freedom of speech in both the written and the spoken sense so....yeah. But I wouldn't want to offend anyone just a random vent moment and yes people can act differently based on the way they were raised, whether religiously or culturally, etc....

Anyways, an update on my health I am getting better but I still have a lot of healing to do where they lanced the dang thing but they did a pretty good job of doing it that I am pretty sure I will not have a scar....before I continue on any other subject I want to apologize in advance for my run-on sentences and what not but I am in a very giddy mood tonight/today...seeing as it is early morning at 2:30 am or so where I am at but oh well. So please excuse that none sense.

My Nephew Ayden just turned 3 and the cake was exquisite--even for being store bought and all--I didn't get time to make it due to other extenuating factors (going back up to the pain in the butt EX-fiance of my sisters). But yeah all in all the party turned out wonderful and there was lots of presents for him to open. He especially liked the book and a mechanic toy me and my mom got him. tehee.

As for the most recent as recent can possibly get, I went on a photo escapade around my neighborhood and community park. Of course getting permissions from anyone I took photos off. I will not be uploading those until I am allowed access to the city hall and local library to take photos for the cite council updates and what not. I love taking pictures of the community for the cite council which is to ensure that the community is getting all it needs and also to document the improvements or lack of improvements and what not within the community. Also I get to keep copies for my private portfolio collection. [[Note: both pictures from the party and the photo escapade will be posted at a later time]]

I am entered in a few new campaigns on Brickfish if anyone wants to come and support me that would me nice at http://www.brickfish.com/erica_ryoko.

WOOO-HOOO for being earth and community friendly!!
I wanted to share a wonderful plan I have as a community day event with you so that maybe you and your community can come together as well. I know that it doesn't matter if you live in a high-end society environment, gated houses, or slum housing that as long as there are delinquents around there are sure to be graffiti. I hope to organize enough people on a day that I have not set yet since I have to go through a process with city hall and local police for permits and what not, to clean up the graffiti or paint over it in the areas where it is most needed. Graffiti not only affects the portion of property where it's on but it affects the surrounding community housing, schools, shops, the whole surrounding environment.
Hopefully the community coming together to make our surroundings not so drab will not only make other people not within our local community to think that we are good people and that these places are worth visiting too but maybe some great times to be had with neighbors and people who you normally wouldn't talk to.
If you are planning on a day like this too with your community make sure to check out which permits you might be needing and what the following laws are as per volunteering and community service because some places have reserved rights for volunteers such as juvenille detention and all that fun stuff. Just make sure you go through all the arrangements first and be sure to see if there will be extra volunteers who are willing to bring supplies needed(everyone should bring a bit of that), refreshments, towels, hats, and sunscreen. You can't believe how many people forget the essentials.
Always have sunscreen if you are working in the daytime. Bring some hats because it will not only help to keep sun off of people but will help when dealing with paint. Towels are for two reason, one set for getting wet and cooling people off in the sun and the other set to dry off sweat. Of Course we all know what the refreshments are for. You usually want to go for water if you are working outside but also try to get something that will put nutrients in your body. I know gatorade and powerrade are highly rated drinks for being in the sun but they don't do you much good unless you consume twice the amount as the daily intake of water needed to keep your body hydrated.
The person in charge of organizing the event should either document the whole community service event or have someone do that for them. That means documenting people who are coming to help by having them sign in and sign out on a sheet --that goes for breaks too--(you need accurate times especially for people needing the volunteer time), taking pictures of the event and volunteers (to provide copies to the volunteers if wanted and also to your local city hall or library because they tend to have places where community events get specially posted and praised) and to chart who brought what. By charting which volunteer or group of volunteers brought what, you can make sure to give everyone the proper thanks when sending out thank you cards. That probably seems weird and people usually say that if you do a good deed that the deed itself should be it's own reward but some people need to hear those two little words so if you are the person in charge be sure to send out thank you cards to EVERYONE on the list (another reason for that lovely sign-in/sign-out sheet) and make sure that the people who brought things get thanks for that extra contribution.

Here's an example of that:

Dear John and Jane Smith,

I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to help brighten our community by helping to rid our lovely local buildings and lanscape decorations from graffiti. You especially helped by bringing 5, 1 gallon buckets of white paint and 10 normal sized paint rollers. You really helped a lot to make our community shine! I hope to work more in community events like this with you in the future. Also, if you have any wonderful ideas for future community projects, you know how to contact me.

Thanks again for your hard work and dedication to this community!

Erica

Use names if possible, if it's a group of volunteers from a school then make basically two sets of cards, meaning there's one to send to the school for recognition of that club/group of people and also for each individual person who aided in the event. Always thank them for their work first them how they helped and it's always good to say how they helped the community (in this case the smiths made it shine). Try to end it by letting them know that their ideas are welcomed anytime. By doing that you open the door for future events and it let's the person(s) know that their ideas are valued (which is true). A comminuty may have "i" in it but it doesn't mean there is only one indivvidual there. Try to make each one a bit different because generic cards make people feel blah and make them feel like they weren't appreciated as much as they were. When you end it always sign your name, you don't have to put full names if you feel uncomfortable.

well that's all I have on that. leave me a comment or send a message my way if you would like to know more about anything posted above...especially the community service event.