T-minus 7 Days

It's t-minus 7 days until I leave for my California adVENTURA!

A little background on what is going on and how it started:
On Monday, August 24th I leave the Chapel Hill/Durham/Cary area to do 10 months of service with an organization called the Augustinian Volunteers (AV) in Ventura, California.  It all started when a coworker talked to me about her experience with a different organization.  This conversation and a persistent question of "What is my next step??" motivated me to look at my options.  I started doing research and came across a lot of organizations that had great opportunities.  I found the Augustinian Volunteers and felt their mission of service through educational, social and health programs is something I fully believe in and would want to be a part of.

After interviews and a lot of nervous waiting I found out I would be moving to Ventura, California and my site placement would be Help of Ojai in Ojai, California.  For the fall semester I will be working as a caseworker for chronically homeless people and helping organize the cities Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets.

To start the term off I will fly to Philadelphia for training and meet the other volunteers, including my brand new roommates!  From Philadelphia we will fly to California and start at our sites.  I will have a week at home for Christmas (put me on your schedule now!) and a week in Philadelphia for more training.  At the end of the spring semester we will all meet one last time in Philadelphia.

I am so lucky to have the support of family, friends and coworkers who have encouraged and pushed me to go on this adVENTURA.  I look forward to sharing my 10 months with you and will try to keep blog posts short and sweet!