APO Birthday Survey

Hey y'all,

In order to make everyone's happy, special days even more special in a very meaningful way (i.e. group birthdays and cakes made with love, not skill), I'd like to know your birthday info.

Think of it as heartwarming attention instead of creepy stalking.

APO Birthday Survey

The "Our Daily Bread" Experience

The gang eating lunch afterwards.

Everyone kept telling me about Our Daily Bread, so finally (after about two years) I decided to go see what all the fuss was about.

It was awesome.

First of all, Our Daily Bread is in a beautiful, newly built facility right across from Scores. The first thing you do when you get there is sign in, pick up an apron, and put on a hairnet. Let me tell you, kids, these are some of the prettiest hairnets on God's green earth. In fact, Mara and Jesse have both reliably informed me that hairnets are the next, big thing so watch out for them in the Fall 2009 collections.

Emily and Shane modeling hairnets.

Jesse showing off his hairnet.

Second, the people running ODB really have their stuff together. There's a little fifteen minute orientation for all the newcomers, explaining how the tables are set up and which awesome jobs you can get. I've been the "BREAD" person each week, which means I go around with a basket of cinnamon raisin bread, wheat buns, dinner rolls, cheese bread, onion rolls, and potato bread, and offer some to each of the diners. There are some peeps who get to work as servers, tea-bearers, kitchen helpers, and so much more.

Angela helping clean up. . . with style!

Kerrie on ice water pitcher duty. Ice, ice, baby.

We all spend a good two hours running around, feeding as many people as we can before the 12:30pm closing time. If you're good enough and looking especiallys sexy in that hairnet, you might even get a proposal or two.

These gals love ODB! You should, too!

Afterwards, ODB takes care of its own, feeding us a free lunch and as much sweet tea as we can gulp. We sit and chill and relax our feet a bit then head back to campus.

Mid-Winter Ball

On Saturday, Jan 31, Mariadina took a van full of brothers to the Baltimore Folk Music Society's Mid-Winter Ball at Towson University, where they helped with setup, decoration, and cleanup. She was also nice enough to bring costumes, so we could all fit in with the theme, "A Mid-Winter Night's Dream."

This is what you missed

In between the setup and breakdown, the brothers were able to enjoy themselves with some contra dancing.

Wheeee! Fun.

There were also some fun games/activities. Alex and his troupe won a Shakespeare-inspired acting competition and Mariadina won a contra dancing game, winning them each a copy of Shakespeare's play upon which the event was themed.

Alex's world-class acting

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Contra dancing fellowships are being planned for the near future. We can only hope that they will be as fun as this service project. We will also hope to see this project return in future years. Thanks to Mariadina for a wonderful night.

Spring '09 Service Policies

Policies are as follows:

Required Hours: At least 15.

Intersession Hours: A maximum of 5 hours from intersession can be counted towards requirements.

Outside Service Hours: A max of 2 from any one project. A max of 5 for the semester.

Van Certification: Getting van certified will get you 4 hours.

Drivers: You will get service hours for the full driving time. Make sure the coordinator keeps track of the time.

Passengers: You get service hours for half the time spent riding.

Bake Sales: You earn 15 minutes of service for each relevant item contributed to a bake sale or PB&J event.

New Picture Policy: Send at least 5 pictures from one APO service or fellowship event to the historian gmail and earn 15 minutes of service. The amount you can earn this way is capped at 1 hour.

Service Coordinators: You get 3 service hours for being a coordinator. (Coordinating more than one project does not get you another 3. See CSK below.)

No-Show Policy: If you sign up for a project and don't come, you are taking that spot from someone else. Call to cancel reasonably far in advance. First infraction = warning. Repeated infractions will result in a deduction of the hours you would have worked.

Also, we are offering prizes at the end of the semester for exceptional service-related efforts. Everyone who gets one of these awards will be invited to our end-of-semester awards dinner.

TSK (Transportation to Service Key) - Spend 3 or more hours behind the wheel for APO service projects.

CSK (Coordinator of Service Key) - Coordinate 2 or more projects.

VSK (Venerable Service Key) - Accumulate 50 or more service hours.

Shane and Frank, at your service.