Kids on the Ave

The sun is struggling to come out now, but it was certainly cold this morning when I went running. That's right, running, for the second time in 3 days! Lets hope I can keep it up. A little exercise can go a long way to improving my mood and sometimes it is sooooo hard to get started. I hope the sun wins the battle today, because I would dearly like to have it around for a bit longer.

Yesterday I participated in a class called Homelessness 101, put on by the University District Service Providers Alliance (or UDSP). This class is required for staff and volunteers in the different agencies that provide services to homeless youth in the University District. Their goal is consistency and to not duplicate services (except of course where more of a service is needed--I am sure they would love to have more shelters, for example.) The class covered the different reasons why youth are homeless, what life on the streets is like for them, what is appropriate or not appropriate in program (drop in, shelter, etc). We watched a documentary called Kids on the Ave, which was made by a former Vista volunteer. It was really good, I recommend it if you want to know what those "street rats" are really up to. I look at them in a whole new light. The only bad part of the class is that my butt still hurts from sitting on the folding chair for 4 hours...

The lunar eclipse on Wednesday was beautiful. I wasn't able to take a picture--it probably wouldn't have turned out anyway, but here is a link to a local ballardite's Flickr page who took some amazing photos. (pilfered from the MyBallard site.)