Thursday, July 22, 2010

Volunteer Blog

June 30, 2010
By: Christopher Hallett

Today at Davids' Place, the 5th grade class I was helping with cooked Pizza. The kids were eager to help and over the course of 45 minutes they learned how to cut vegetables to put on a VERY good pizza, and they had a lot of fun. The Kids were very cooperative and listened to Matthew's instructions, and when he was in the kitchen they listened to me. At the end of the class, everyone got to eat the pizza they created and overall, I think it was a very good experience. I enjoy helping at Davids' Place, and I hope that more opportunities for the kids to learn cooking in the future.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Jubilee Garage Sale!





Please join us on Friday, June 11 at 8:30am for the Jubilee Park Summer Garage Sale!

We're going to have book shelves, refrigerators, desks, clothes, and much much more!

Come out and help support the Jubilee Center!

For more information, call Rachel Gonzalez 214-887-1389.

Friday, June 4, 2010

New Staff Member!

On May 24th, the staff welcomed Carrie Clark as the new Development Associate and Volunteer Coordinator to Jubilee Park. Carrie is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She graduated from Centenary College of Louisiana with a BS in Sociology, and she graduated with her Masters in Church Ministry (emphasis in Urban Ministry) this past May from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. Carrie has worked for the past four years in another urban non-profit setting and is extremely passionate and dedicated to a holistic approach to community renewal. Carrie is exciting about her new endeavor at Jubilee and getting involved with a new community!

Feel free to send Carrie an email to welcome her aboard the Jubilee staff: cclark@jubileecenter.org. She is always looking for volunteers and would be happy to accommodate you!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Yeah, we think we've got some pretty good ones too...

O.M. Roberts Student of the Month--January 2010 Michael Valdez

O.M. Roberts Student of the Month--February 2010 Juan Benitez

The Jubilee Farm Stand

Submitted by LaSheryl Walker, Jubilee Community Outreach Director, and Matt Smith, Assistant Project Manager-PepsiCo Hope

The Jubilee Farm Stand was a big success. It was run almost 100% by the Jubilee community; 6 women volunteered to run the Operations, Finances, Marketing, and HR. After a 1 1/2 hour training, they recruited additional volunteers and smoothly ran everything from packaging to sales to bookkeeping. They manned the stand from 9:00-3:30 in what some of them said was the first day they had worked in a long time.

It was an amazing display of creativity and team work. They created an incredible atmosphere that cannot be recounted with word. They turned on music and a spontaneous dance party even broke out. Hundreds of neighbors came by to enjoy the fun and good food. One woman said her favorite part of the day was the conversations with neighbors she had never met. This was truly an example of the power of food.
They sold $454 worth of fruits and vegetables, which equaled about 630 pounds of produce or 2,500 servings

This was the first test where we turned a profit. Jubilee earned a 15% margin (about $70). The money from this test will be used to buy the produce for the next test (Thursday March 11th). They ran out of produce mid-day and were turning people away so they increased the order for the next test by about 50%.

It was amazing to see how food brought different cultures together in ways that would otherwise be difficult. The ladies worked very well together supporting and encouraging one another.

The following day during the debrief the women discuss how things worked and each of the them talked about sharing different job positions to allow each of them to experience other job responsibilities. They also came up with ideas like doing taste tests during the sales to show how different cultures prepare foods and how they taste.

We still have some work to do to prove that this model can be sustainable but last Thursday was a huge step in the right direction. This group of 6 women is now calling all of the shots, including when the next farm stands will be and what will be sold. The ladies are gaining skills that will be marketable and have the opportunity to use Jubilee as a reference for future employment. This community ownership made last week's test far more successful than any of us could have imagined and has inspired us to push even farther to tap their full potential.

Come check it out this Thursday, March 11!

Oh...the building





Looks pretty different after my 6 month hiatus!

News from THE Jubilee


So...what once began as a construction blog is now being transitioned into a "Jubilee News" blog. We(well I, the complete slacker writer of the construction blog) found the building wasn't so interesting on a day to day basis. With our record 45 rain days, things progressed, well slowly, to put it mildly. BUT, we are back on track and ready for a move-in date sometime in June-the building is amazing and we are so excited for the space!

But, how can I ignore all the other exciting events that take place daily at Jubilee (or THE Jubilee, as the kids call it) So that's what this is.

I will catch you up to speed: an "Exemplary" ranking, The Audobaun, Summer 2009 Program, Friday water days, The Community Garden, composting, okra, squash and zuchinni, Mavericks games, National Night Out, Saturday Tutoring, La Posada, Jubilee Ministry, The Passport Program visits Africa and Southeast Asia, Bookshelf Project, Mickey Mouse and Disney visit Jubilee, Jubilee Sunday, The Crow Collection Museum, 101 Dalmations, Thanksgiving and Christmas Senior Citizen Lunch, The Angel Project, The Texas State Fair, A CRAZY snow day with a Jubilee snowman, Black History month, birthday celebrations, Friedman's Cemetary, Mardi Gras, Music Appreciation Mondays, National Engineers Week, The Automobile Show.....and, we're up to speed.