Reflection

Dolores Mission School is trying to focus more on what it means for them to be a Jesuit school, which I think is amazing after my SLU background.  So, beginning this year, every classroom has a picture of St. Ignatius (fondly referred to by most of the teachers as "Iggy") with a brief bio next to him, and teachers are going to be trying to talk more about him and about the Jesuits (who, in my opinion, are the best priests ever).  Also, on a school wide level, the students are going to be doing a brief Examen at the end of ever school day.  The Examen, a reflection based on Iggy's Spiritual Exercises, that DMS is going to be using is from the book, Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life.  I'm hoping become the proud owner of a copy of this awesome book sometime soon.  If you go to this link on Amazon's website, you can view a good chunk of the book.

The story behind the title is pretty sweet too:
During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow." (Linn, Dennis et al, Sleeping With Bread, p.l)

{image found here}

Weekend Snapshots

{Mariachi Plaza entertainment for the new Farmer's Market Friday night}

{view from my beach towel Saturday}

 {those little black dots in the water are surfers}

{Colleen with the best beach treat ever!}

Ahh... the life of a JV in LA.  We went to the Farmer's Market on Friday hoping to see a comedian who is from Boyle Heights, but we arrived too late, so instead we snacked on free samples from booths and listened to mariachi music.  I felt like I was in the audience of a Lawrence Welk show... except I had no idea what anyone was saying because all of the music and the announcing was in Spanish.  Saturday we decided to make the trek out to the beach, somewhere north of Santa Monica.  The waves were strong enough to attract surfers, so we got to watch them do their stuff for a bit, play in the waves, and relax in the sand.  Halfway through the afternoon, Paula pulled out a watermelon from her bag along with a huge butcher knife and right there on the beach, sliced it open and cut us each ginormous chunks.  I'm sure we looked quite barbaric, eating off the rind with juice dripping down our chins, but it was definitely worth it!

Lessons This Week:

A few of the lessons I learned today:

1. L.A. is a really hilly city.  It looks like nothing compared to the Bay Area, but those rolling hills are killer on a bike.

2. LA is not a bike friendly city.  There are absolutely no bike lanes, which may be why most people ride on the sidewalk.

3. All bikes are not created equal.  And having a semi-inflated tire is a lot more challenging than a properly inflated tire.

4. Say hi to people, even if they are staring at you like you look like an alien.  They will respond with a 

5. Making exaggerated faces that say, "Holy cow, you're getting way too close to me!!" or "AHHHH", don't work.  People will still drive crazily.  

6. I am so amazingly blessed to have a car at home.  Riding your bike to work or walking is tough work and just knowing that I have a car as a resource is such an amazing thing.

7. I finally understand/realize why some people from lower income situations haven't traveled very far from their cities.  Gas is expensive, cars are expensive, etc.  I knew this before, but the reality of it hit me like a brick today.

8. Walgreens/CVS/etc... mark up prices waaaay too much.

9. Riding into downtown LA can be scary.  Especially near freeway entrances.

10. Bikes are not heavy enough to trigger weight sensored stop lights :(

11. Not really a lesson, but just something I keep experiencing.  Every time I ride to work or to the store, I get so many stares.  It's like I'm not supposed to be there because of my skin color or my hair color or my clothing.  It's sort of making me understand how minorities feel on a daily basis, but not really because I still feel like I must be carrying along that white privilege.  Maybe it's all in my head, but I somehow feel that even though I don't "belong" here, people look at me in a more curious way, not a skeptical or suspicious way. 

*Note to self: unless you want to look like a super prep/Mormon on their mission year, don't wear navy blue shorts, white polo, boat shoes, and a backpack while riding a bike.*

Dedication

 

"Maryknoll Sisters: El Salvador Martyrs": A brief account of the four martyrs for whom the Los Angeles casas are named.

Last Day of Tourist Activity

I just realized that I probably write way too much; I'm just really excited and amazed by everything I'm experiencing.  And it’s kind of funny that I assume that people care enough about my daily schedule to keep posting these hour by hour updates of what I’m doing.  I promise I’ll only highlight super cool stuff in the future.  So here’s my last day of tourist activity:

Earlier when I was talking about our casa, I don’t think I mentioned the car that came with the house.  It’s owned by the school who was gracious enough to allow us to use it for the duration of the year and while I am very thankful for access to a car, the car itself is quite an interesting gift.  It is a early 1990s Toyota Paseo, nicknamed by a previous group of JVs, the Red Barron.  One of the doors doesn’t like to work because it was broken into last year, the middle seat is missing a belt, and the back window is so slanted that you sort of have to hunch over.  We look like a clown car.  We’ve been joking that the car and the break-in were all part of an inside JVC master plan to make us the closest community ever since we have to practically sit on top of each other, we have no radio so we only have the option of talking to each other, and the car’s quirks are able to freak us out enough to bring us together over share nerves. 
Yesterday though as we were driving back from Venice Beach, there was quite a bit of traffic on the freeway and at one point, cars in our lane came to a sudden complete stop.  Reacting as fast as possible, we slammed on the brakes.  The car skidded and squealed and in the split second between hitting the car in front of us and stopping short, all I could think of was our car as a little metal ball.  For those of you who didn’t hear about the accident in St. Louis a couple weeks ago, there was a four vehicle pile-up (semi, pickup, and 2 school buses) in which the pickup got wedged under the school bus and was completely unrecognizable as a truck.  God was looking out for us today though because we did stop and everyone was okay.  But I'm not telling you this story to freak you out; instead, it was an amazing moment in which I was able to see God in everyday life, something that I want to be much more mindful of this year and in the future. 
As I sat there shaking and in shock, my casamate, Dana gently put her hand on my arm and asked how I was doing.  Clearly, she also was scared by this experience, but instead of worrying about herself, she reach out to me demonstrating selflessness and love despite the fact that I've know her for only a week.  Maybe it was just a reflex for her to reach out and comfort those around her, but I felt embraced by the presence of God through her action and I was inspired to better think about how my actions affect those around me.      

On a happier note, some fun pictures from our day in Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach:

 {lunch at Homegirl Cafe: delicious food + amazing mission}

 {pretty flags by Olvera Street} 

{mountains and the beach?!  crazy awesome}

{flashbacks to The O.C. anyone?}

{Venice Beach - cool, minus the drug deals I saw going down}

{Dana, Greg, Colleen, me}

A Smile

Every time I run through our neighborhood or walk the streets, there are always people out, walking, playing with kids, socializing with neighbors.  I've been trying to say hi to everyone I pass, young or old, homeless or in their yard, for variety of purposes including: to spread cheerful thoughts, to become more accepted by our neighbors, to see the surprise on people's faces when I acknowledge them, and to see whether or not they respond.  I tried this in St. Louis too as sort of a social experiment to see the difference in frequency of responses based on race, perceived socioeconomic status, male/female, etc. and noticed that people's responses did differ greatly.  Anyway, the point of this rambling is that I think it's very interesting to see people smile in surprise at a stranger's kindness or simply their acknowledgment.  It's so much easier to ignore homeless people or turn your head to people different than you, but I think there is a lot of power in a smile.  You never know whose day you could help turn around :) 

Hola Casa Ita Ford!

I'm finally here!  We got to LA two days ago, but without the internet in our house, it's been difficult to update stuff and with all the excitement of being here and meeting with people, time has been rather scarce.  So I’m sitting in our local Starbucks, thankful for their newly added free unlimited wireless!  Yay!  It’s weird how comforting it is to be back in, as Dana says, Starbs.  From the paint color to the smells to the green aprons, the atmosphere brings back familiar memories of catching up with high school friends, morning coffee with Adam, and studying for classes and is able to transport me back to feelings of home.  I’m in love with the realization that this is going to become my home!

But before I jump ahead of myself…  After driving down in our fleet of rented Dodge Chargers (riding in style, right?) for all the LA and San Diego casas, Dana, Greg, Colleen, Paula and I arrived at Casa Ita Ford.  Our house is named after Ita Ford, a Catholic sister who, while serving as a missionary in El Salvador, was raped and murdered by a military death squad (when I learn more about her, I'll update you all!).  We were greeted by our land lady Celia, who lives in a house right in front of ours, so our house isn't actually on the street.  She quickly came over to introduce herself and make sure we are going to be good tenants.  She’s doing her part to a T to keep up in line, complete with a meeting the following day and a plethora of post-it notes scattered around the house with instructions for us on care and upkeep. During her meeting, she repeatedly referenced other JV years (we’re the 17th year of JVCs living in the house!) and their mistakes (ex: “those girls in group 15 thought it would be a good idea to sunbath on the roof, so now you can’t”, “that pot smoker in Group 5”, “the bed bugs in Group 16,” etc…).  Her semi-neurotic personality must be somewhat of a legend because when we went around to placement sites and met our support couple, they all asked about her with slight humor in their voices. This should be  a fun year!  Her dog, Trouble, also gave us a warm and noisy welcome.  After we got a little settled, our support couple, Brady, who served in LA as a JV about 5 years ago, his wife, Christina, a Los Angeles native who he met as a JV, and their 14 month old son, Ben (we want to make him a shirt that says "#1 Support Baby"), arrived with beer, pop, pizza and encouragement.  Their friend, Andrew, who actually had my placement 5 years ago, also came.  Andrew is a SLU graduate too (with a history degree!  crazy...) and after his JV year, he stayed on with DMS as a 4th grade teacher for 3 years, and recently transferred to work in a nativity school in St. Louis.  It was awesome to get to know them and hear about their experiences during their year, as well as knowing that they will be always present to provide us with support, encouragement, and prayers.

  {Casa Ita Ford!}

{Trouble... don't let his smile fool you}

Yesterday was a packed day, as we toured everyone in Casa Ford's placements, chose our rooms, and walked around our neighborhood a bit.
 

{Dolores Mission Church}

 

We began at Dolores Mission School with a presentation from Ms. Moreno, the principal.  She told us that to educate one student at DMS, it costs $5,600.  The highest tuition that anyone pays though is only $2,200 and only 7 families right now actually pay that. After a lengthy consultation with the family and the administration, a certain tuition is set for the family that reflects their needs and abilities.  Since some of the families in the school only have an income of around $15,000 a year, the lowest tuition right now is $20 per month.  Talk about quality education for all!
 
We then walked over to the church across the street and talked about the Guadalupe Homeless Project, a shelter, soup kitchen, employment help, etc.  80 men are able to be in the program at a time, for a maximum of 3 months.  Ranging from new immigrants to people who have been in the US for over 15 years, but are now homeless, the men literally sleep in the church, using the pews as beds, eat their breakfast and dinner in the school cafeteria, and are taken out to work sites to try to find employment during the day.  They are also offered English classes and other enrichment activities.  This reuse of space and resources is a theme that was constantly repeated throughout the day, along with an overwhelming strong sense of community.  As we learned the history of the school, church, and agencies, we kept hearing about programs that grew out of community need.  For example, the mothers in the community wanted a preschool for their kids, so when a priest won Jeopardy, he used his money to buy a house next to the church which was converted into a preschool.  Parents needed help understanding the process of how to get their kids into college, so DMS and Proyecto Pastoral (the agency Colleen works at) got together to work with parents to create pipelines for kids, outlining the importance of education and parental involvement at every step.  They also work to keep kids off the streets in after school programs, a newly created summer camp (started by moms and older women of the community this summer through a $10,000 grant from the city that they lobbied for), and by helping parents find money to keep their kids in Catholic schools through high school, in order to try to avoid the extremely high drop-out rates of public schools in the area, drug use (the school next to DMS currently has a horrible ecstasy problem), and gangs.
 
We then ventured to Greg's future placement, The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, which specializes in free legal representation, education, and advocacy for the low-income communities of LA.  It was the last day of work for the summer interns, so as a good-bye party for them and a hello welcome for Greg, we got to join in our their delicious lunch which included homemade carne asada.  There are such great benefits of living in a little Mexico :)

After our tour at Proyecto Pastoral, the director told us about a 12 hour indoor/outdoor music fiesta/benefit/extravaganza going from 2pm - 2am in Downtown Los Angeles called the 1st Annual Visionary Sounds Music Festival Saturday.  We decided to venture out with another one of the LA casas and caught some of the later groups at La Cita Bar as well as scored some free Mexican sodas left over from afternoon parties.  Even though I had absolutely no idea what he was saying, my favorite group was Perrozompopo from Managua, Nicaragua. (According to Wikipedia he's one of the most influential up and coming singers in Nicaragua and most of his songs are calling for social change and discussing the political climate of the country.)  Supposedly they don’t venture out of Central America much, so we definitely lucked out!  I just wish I knew how to salsa dance so I wouldn't have looked like such a complete gringo.   

{I forgot my camera, but the lead singer definitely deserve a picture on my blog} 

 

{Image via: Perrozompopo}

Orientation Part II

[Written Aug. 10]

Today was the much built up and feared by many afternoon/evening of dundundun… SILENCE.  I've been actually looking forward to this unstructured time of escape into the current chaotic jumble of my mind, during which we were instructed to avoid eye contact and smiles to create our own bubble, a world of just you and God.  Following a talk on spirituality this morning (by a woman who was raised Catholic, got into the "sex, drugs, and rock and roll", and has since returned to Catholicism and spirituality), we received a list of questions that are part of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises to help guide our reflection.  To tackle these and create my bubble, I went for a walk on the beach and through a park which was absolutely gorgeous.  [for any DGs reading this, I found a sand dollar and broke it open to find the five doves :) ] Some thoughts that struck me from the guided reflection include:"Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to deepening God's life in me."  Pretty powerful mantra! I really like how straightforward it got too, like the first line of the First Principle and Foundation: "The goal of our life is to live with God forever.” "Where are you?"  this was (simplified) what God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden following his realization that he was naked.  God asks each of us this too: what are you using to hide from Me?  Another great pointblank question.

Along with the other questions and thoughts, this led me to create a few lists that I hope to keep referencing this year.  First, I made a list of my fears; whether silly or serious, I have many worries and concerns that were more tackleable when written down.  Then I made a list of reasons why my placement is vital.  I know, still struggling with this one, but the list will be very encouraging and makes me feel so much better about how I am going to be changed and help the children learn from me.  (Side note, yesterday, we had a talk by a FJV about community and he said that one of the most important things about community in JVC is knowing that each of us is working to support various layers of society.  For example in my casa, I'm getting to help the littlest kids; Paula, Dana, and Colleen are there for the tweens and teens as they need support, guidance and fun, and Greg will be helping families and parents gain a foothold in housing and the job market.  We each are vital to try to support at every step of life and to try to make sure no one slips through the cracks.)  I also wrote a list of people to write letters to and why, and things I want to do as a community and as an individual this year (I'll be posting this list on my blog soon, hopefully).   And yes, I'm aware that I may have an addiction to lists, but I'm ok with it : )

We also ate dinner in silence, which I thought would be uncomfortable and extremely challenging, but it actually freed my thoughts up, to allow me to think about the different people who contributed to my salad of carrots, cilantro, lime, and raisins (delicious, btw!).  Farmers and their families, seed producers(?), truckers, God, worms, people at farmers markets, the chef (an FJV), other JVs, etc.  I also was move conscious of the taste and textures of everything, the sweet, crunchy carrots, the tangy lime, juiciness of the plump raisins.  This mindfulness is something that I definitely need to work on this year.  

We broke the silence with "bedtime stories" of people's lives.  As individual casas, we shared our personal stories using lifelines, pieces of paper that we had drawn on to visually demonstrate major events and situations in our lives.  Mine was a tree, flowers around the trunk with names of those who have been extremely influential in my formation, events up the trunk, and dreams and goals in the leaves.  We shared about our lives, people who have helped to shape who we are today, and our emotions with our casa, helping to create an environment of trust, compassion, and community.  I began to more fully realize how blessed I am with such an incredible and inspirational group of people in my casa!  This year is going to be amazing!

 (Jen and I - how obvious is it that we had been out in the salty wind all day??)

p.s.: did you know a single round of Uno can last over an hour and a half?  Jen and I played one with 2 other JVs and the program director and it took forever!  Maybe we were too competitive??  

 

p.p.s.: we also had mini workshops on various ways to live simply this morning and I attended the discussion on the environment and living simply.  I felt like the most unenvironmentally friendly person ever!  Supposedly there is a quiz online that you can take to find out how many earths it would take for every other human to live like you do, so I want to take this and get depressed/inspired.  The girl next to me said she would require 7 earths.  Anyway, some ideas included having No-tech Tuesdays or Amish Mondays in which all electricity and technology can be used in your casa, "if it's yellow let it mellow", vegetarianism (big debate on this one!), eating only locally grown food (another debate since if everyone only ate locally, how would countries that are single export based, like some that rely on banana, coffee, cacao, etc production and export continue to make money?, composting, army style showers, gardening, CSAs, education of house and community, etc.  The most radical idea was from a guy who lived in Mexico this past year with the Zapatas, and he suggested showering together?  Um, creepy!  I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not, but either way, I love the earth, but not that much.  

[As I was posting this, I took the quiz here and my life in Decatur would have taken 4.81 earths.  Yike!  I'm going to be better this year!  There's also another quiz here, but I didn't know the numbers for some of the questions, so I didn't do it.]

 (Our running route that led down to the beach) 

(crazy bird storm!)

 (flowers along the road)

 (my favorite house on the beach)

Please Address Fan Mail to...

p.s.: fan mail is always much loved!  And I'll do my absolute best to write you back (probably even more reliable than e-mail!)

Katie Binder
135 N. Herbert St.
Los Angeles, CA 90063

Orientation Part I

[Written Aug. 8th] 

As I write this, I'm sitting on my (very, very firm) bed in a dormitory with 23 other beds in two neat lines.  It would sort of look like a military hospital from WWII movies or like the orphanage I envision Madeline living in except on top of every bed is a sleeping bag, brightly colored towels hang on the walls waiting to dry, and it smells faintly like campfire.  Oh, and the sign on the door says "Squids".  Welcome to the end of JVC Orientation Southwest Day 2.

Yesterday (Friday), I left the familiarity of St. Louis at 6:30 am to fly across the country to San Jose, CA.  At our layover in Minneapolis, my friend from SLU, Jen (serving in Tucson), and I scoped out the crowd, looking anxiously and nervously for other potential JVs (key giveaways: one small suitcase, crunchy looking shoes like Toms or Chacos, a sleeping bag, etc.), trying to see if we recognize any faces from out extensive Facebook stalking (we both struck out on people from our communities, but we did see a couple of girls who fit the description).  Once in CA, we got our last cups of Starbucks for a while (a very sad moment for me) before meeting up with other JVCs waiting to drive down to the retreat center, Camp St. Francis.  After an hour-ish drive, we were welcomed to what seems like paradise after leaving hot and sticky IL.  The retreat center/camp is right on the beach in northern California, so obviously we immediately went for a walk on the beach with a few other girls.  Gorgeous.  The rest of the evening was filled with meeting our community (more on these awesome people later!), icebreakers, dinner, and getting introduced to the 60ish other JVs getting ready to serve in Tucson, Phoenix, San Diego, LA, Berkeley/Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento.

 

This morning following an energizing beach run and a fruit-filled breakfast, we began with a prayer session.  Each of us had been instructed to bring a prayer symbol to place on the alter.  As we gathered for prayer, we were invited to place our symbol on the ground around a large wooden cross as we explained its meaning and tie a ribbon to the cross to recognize each of our intentions for our JVs this year.  One of the intentions that struck me the most was the idea that we each need to remember that no talent or talents are worth more than any  other.  Each of us was given talents and every person we are working with has talents, so we need to work to be mindful of this fact and not be intimidated or boastful of our own strengths or weaknesses, but instead work to use what we were given to best serve God.  Personally, I struggle with this idea, sometimes lapsing into the idea that teaching PE is minor to communities when compared to working for homeless teen mothers or with people on the fringes of society who cannot find employment.    

Our first large discussion was on the idea of privilege.  Most of us realized that we are the most privileged in society, being white, educated, with educated parents, heterosexual, English-speaking, Christian, upper middle class.  One very insightful definition that was offered as the idea of what privilege is or means was "social safety net".  For example, if I don't find a job or if I am suddenly unemployed and have little to no money, I have layers of security.  Not only would my parents be able to financially, emotionally, physically, and mentally support me, but I know my grandparents, siblings, extended family, and friends would, for the most part be able to give me a boost or some sort of aid while I get back on my feet.  So ponder that, how many layers, if you really needed aid, do you have in your life?  Many people I will be working with don't have financially stable families, or family in the US.  Their nets would break very soon after a bout of bad luck.  I know white privilege may not seem that important or influential, but read this article first.  Obviously, people can't change these privileges that you were born with, but how  can we use them to serve God's people better?  I also had a really long discussion with 3 other JVs at dinner who all thought that white privilege doesn't exist, so feel free to disagree with me and the article.  My understandings were shaped be my experiences, so many of my thoughts are related to the education system and my time at Career Academy with a predominately black student population.  

To close the day, we had mass on the beach (talk about picturesque!) with an amazing priest from the Bay Area.  Acknowledging that not all of us were Catholic, he tied together a variety of faiths to form the homily, talking about the Jewish faith, Catholicism, and Protestants and how we all work together to work for peace in our world.  Communion, he said, is for the hungry, those who desire to be feed in order to go out and do the work of God.  His reiterations and different ways of looking at the Catholic faith made me remember why I love the Jesuit order and their mission of reflection and service.  Jen and I also met a former JV (FJV) at mass who is probably in her 50s and currently lives in the Bay Area.  It was amazing to hear her stories about her work and the people of her house.  It's so weird to think of how old the program is and how much it transformed her life and continues to impact her life in huge ways.  I'm so excited (and very nervous) to be "ruined for life"!

 (For the DGs getting ready for recruitment!)

(sanitary?)

Support

JVC by the numbers:
300+ - amount of women and men serving as JVs each year 
$7,000 - amount to recruit, screen, place, and provide ongoing support for one volunteer (like me!)
$20,000 - amount each agency saves per volunteer each year
$4 million - JVC's budget for 2010

$6 million+ - total amount saved each year by nonprofits and schools aided by JVs

As an incoming volunteer, JVC asks that we each fundraise to not only help meet the operating budget of the organization, but also to spread the word about our work and about the mission of JVC.  Even though I knew fundraising would be a part of JVC, I still was dreading the e-mail with more information about the process.  Whether it was selling Girl Scout cookies in grade school, magazines and calendars in high school, or towels and Cards tickets in college, I have always hated having to ask people to buy things from me.  JVC kept emphasizing that this was an opportunity though, to be able to raise awareness of my future work, allow others to do something good, and create connections with people in my community and family.  At first I thought this was a way of sugar coating the task, but I soon realized I was wrong.

During the process of creating my Send Me to Serve page, composing my letter to potential donors, and creating a "flyer" about myself and my placement, I was forced to put into words why I am so excited about my upcoming year, what JVC means to me, and why I am passionate about this program.  Just like with the theme of this blog, "finding meaning", I had to reflect on ideas and experiences that I take for granted and explain them to others, allowing me to clarify and gain a deeper understanding of my formative experiences and the four values of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  Also as I was researching, trying to find statistics about Boyle Heights (the neighborhood of East LA that I'll be in) and about Dolores Mission School (DMS), I had multiple nights of staying up until 3 or 4am because I became so interested in the wealth of information on the internet and in books.  Ranging from the Jesuits in Boyle Heights to gangs in East LA (read about in this amazing book) to community statistics (found here and here) to videos of DMS, the information I found continues to make me more and more excited for this experience.  So, as I began to ask for support and share my information, I was actually enthusiastic about fundraising, a complete first for me.

Long story short, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of support from family and friends!  I was not only able to surpass my goal amount, but I also was able to raise awareness about my work and the organization.  I could not believe how willing people were to give money and support to JVC.  Knowing that I have this encouragement and aid from so many people (especially since many of my family members and friends are already inspirations for me!) has really helped to boost my confidence in what I will be doing and in my abilities.  For me personally, more important than the financial aid, has been the personal contact with donors and non donors alike.  I loved telling people about what I'll be up to all year, about my community and school and hearing their interest and well wishes has been extremely motivating and heartwarming.   

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 'support' means "to hold up or serve as a foundation for" and I could not think of a more descriptive word for what so many people have been doing for me and JVC.  This year is joining to be a journey, with challenges and successes, relationships to be made and continued, and countless lessons to be learned, but thanks to so many people that I am lucky enough to call my family and friends, I have an extremely stable and well-built foundation from which I can embark.

Thank You!