King’s Day At “A Window Between Worlds”

Today would have been Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eighty-second birthday and although the tradition has developed to do a work of service on the day of official celebration (this year Monday 17 January 2011), I was able to do service on his actual birthday by attending the Volunteer Day at A Window Between Worlds.

I was the first of the volunteers to arrive and the Volunteer Coordinator, Lonnie, did remember me from the last time I volunteered, several months ago. Today’s main project was the making of Sculpey balls, hands, and rocks. This AWBW art activity was a new for me. However, my task was to clean already made Sculpey balls so that they could be reused. Working with the clay balls was a bit trying because they resisted becoming completely clean. While the volunteers at the other end of the table were making hands and rocks, four people at my end of the table were making the Sculpey balls. They were Amanda, a new intern at AWBW (she started yesterday), who is studying psychology at Cal Poly Pomona; Kris, an AWBW board member; Mike, Kris’ fiancée and the lone male of the day; and Jean, a volunteer from the last time I was at AWBW. While I cleaned away, the four of them broke off and shaped pieces of clay of various colors (red, orange, green, blue, yellow, purple, brown, black, white) into approximately half inch balls. The balls were arranged in clear plastic trays in rainbow order plus the neutral of five balls for each color. The goal set by Lonnie of five trays was exceeded by one! Part way through the morning, Kris and Mike went upstairs to work on the other volunteer projects with a friend of theirs who was already there.

Met Kris and Mike’s friend Dustin (who, despite the name, is a woman) outside during our pizza lunch. She commented on my Red Sox cap and said she dumped a former boyfriend who was a Yankees fan. Good for her! Chatted with the three of them while enjoying bar-b-que chicken pizza and diet coke. Seem like fun people. Mike is from Massachusetts, though he left when he was two years old; Kris commutes from Arcadia to Beverly Hills for work; and Dustin is an actress. Another of their friends is doing marketing for the Golden Globes. And to keep the industry theme going, I talked with two other women, one of whom is named Barbara, about films and actors we like. I mentioned the screeners I’ll get for the Spirit Awards, but drew a blank on titles other than “The Kids Are All Right” and “Winter’s Bone”. Oh well…

After lunch I finished the cleaning of the clay balls and then went upstairs to cut up magazines. There were a couple of other people cutting up magazines and the others were painting small envelopes. Kris and Mike recounted how they met and how they got engaged on airplanes. Mike’s pick-up line was “Are you coming or going?” They’re planning on getting married at the end of June. The other people upstairs were Dustin and Barbara (women I talked to during lunch), Fran, who was at AWBW last time I volunteered, and a couple of other women whose names I didn’t get. A small, but lively group. Managed to get halfway through the magazine before Lonnie came to tell us it was time to begin cleaning up. Another Volunteer Day that passed very quickly. Lonnie had placed the leftover pizza in plastic bags for the volunteers to take home and someone else had dropped off a bag of lemons. So I took a bag of pizza and a few lemons on my way out. Pizza for dinner, but not sure about the lemons – perhaps some tea with lemon. An unexpected treat for the day.

Happy Birthday Martin!!!


Image is of AWBW’s website header from the website awbw.org

Looking In "A Window Between Worlds"

Today’s travel took me to Venice; no, not to the Italian city of gondolier fame (where the first official woman gondolier may soon be paddling), but to the California one of gallery fame. The reason for my journey to Venice was to participate in the monthly Volunteer Day of the organization, A Window Between Worlds. The last time I made it to a Volunteer Day was in October of 2009 and a day of volunteering was long overdue. The actual trip was uneventful (at least I hadn’t forgotten how to get to the place) and I was the first volunteer to arrive.

As usual, the table in the volunteer room was setup with the projects for the day and the two activities were to cut out positive images and words from magazines, as well as to stuff envelopes for a fund raising event. Art produced in a client workshop covers one wall, while on the opposite side is a wall full of art supplies waiting to be chosen by the shelters. Sitting in my preferred position at the table, I jotted down some notes while waiting for others to arrive. While she was doing last minute things, I met the new Volunteer Coordinator, Lonnie, who came into the position in March of this year. Turns out that she had gone to school in Massachusetts, specifically Brandeis and that her mother had gone to Clark. Clarkies everywhere. There were a number of Back East connections among the primarily women volunteers seated around the table – typical of any large gathering of people in California.

I was part of the assembly line of stuffing envelopes for the annual wine tasting fund raising event which is being held at Zazou: Cuisine of the Sun in Redondo Beach on Sunday 3 October 2010. There were eight of us working on that project, while a similar number were working on the magazines. It went quickly and was made enjoyable by conversation. After people explained how they came to know about A Window Between Worlds; the main topics were Seattle and Octavia Butler – a city I’ve never visited and an author I’ve never read. Obviously my input was minimal. The instigator of these topics was Diahnna, who actually lives in Seattle but was back in California visiting her mother Trini, who is A Window Between Worlds staff member. Seattle has free public transportation in the downtown area during business hours and a new eleven story public library. And Octavia, who eventually moved to Seattle from Pasadena, had actually been known by another volunteer, Fran (originally from New York), when she initiated a call to Octavia when she was still living in Pasadena. Connections everywhere.

Lunchtime arrived and pizza was the fare – barbeque chicken was delicious. Ate while sitting outside among some sorority sisters, who I believe were from Cal State, and who had been working on another volunteer project. Returned inside to the other volunteers and spent the rest of the time cutting up magazines – actually found a pair of adult scissors! Conversation centered around films and stories of travel. One of the volunteers, Andrew, asked about good places to eat, as he and his girlfriend Taylor are new to California. And of course they are from Back East – the D.C. area. Some places in the Venice area were recommended, as well as The Pantry in downtown Los Angeles. One by one, individuals began leaving and the Volunteer Day came to a close. Did the usual cleanup and said good-bye to people. The next Volunteer Day is Saturday 11 September 2010.


Mission Statement – “A Window Between Worlds is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using art to help end domestic violence. Through creative expression, battered women and children recover a sense of renewal and power. Their images of hope, survival and strength educate the public and become “a window between worlds’ for survivors taking steps to change their lives.” - Brochure


A Window Between Worlds
710 4th Avenue
Suite 5
Venice, California 90291

Phone: 310-396-0317
Fax: 310-396-9698

Website: http://www.awbw.org
E-mail: info@awbw.org


Images:
Left: Front cover of AWBW brochure
Center: AWBW website header from the website awbw.org

Right: Front cover of AWBW wine tasting invitation