Greg's Work Site Positions

Here's an update about work sites, sorry about all the acronyms. There are Three main positions I take here at Nome Community Center (NCC). Where I work most every day, is at the XYZ Senior Center. The XYZ (meaning X-tra Years of Zest) Senior Center, is a non-profit that is operated under the NCC. This facility was designed to create a supportive space for local elders to improve their quality of life. Here they can receive weekday meals (breakfast and lunch), be social, and use our laundry facilities


**Side note: If you do not own a washer and dryer in Nome, it is Very difficult to get your clothes washed. The only public washer/dryer is at one of the local bars. Having 3 washers and dryers available to those who are 60 and up is a privilege to many of the elders.

1st Floor Dining Room

My job title at XYZ is Dining Room Manager. This means I make sure that everything keeps running in the kitchen and dining room. More specifically, I am a supervisor to the halfway house residents who use our facility as a worksite for working off their probationary hours. While I do sometimes have to act as a babysitter, this is generally a group of men that wants to shape up and are interested in helping.

At XYZ we offer rides to and from the senior center, and two chauffeured grocery shopping trips a week. I am now in the process of being trained as the back up driver. The roads have been covered in a decent layer of ice since Nov. 1st and will probably stay that way until mid May. Thankfully, in the case of driving, Nome is mostly flat.

2nd Floor Breakfast Room

We also plan activities and day trips for the elders to be apart of here as well. These include berry picking trips, regular bingo and Eskimo bingo tournaments, and a recent trip to the Teller Cultural Festival. There is also a monthly trip to the sewing shop and holiday events that we put on - like the halloween costume contest. This week we're hoping the weather will be nice enough to go ice fishing on Monday. Of course I am excited to go as well. This is something many of our elders grew up doing throughout the winter months.

My second position here at NCC is the Food Bank Manager. I am responsible for the organization of both food donations and volunteers to man the building during open hours. I also have a responsibility to the Food Bank of Alaska to keep records of food given and an updated inventory of shipments that come in. 

The Food Bank is currently giving away free frozen turkeys from now until Thanksgiving. Along with that, I am happy to say that we are nearly at our full storage capacity for food. 

My third position is a little less official. After only two months here, I have replaced plumbing, rewired a few fixtures, worked on the construction of a new storage room, and repaired cabinets, washers and ovens. I am an on call handyman of sorts. This shouldn't come as shock to those of you who know me though. When this isn't my job, it's my hobby.

I can honestly say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself here in Nome, despite the cold and other challenges. I am feeling at home here and I am sure God has some awesome things planned.

Halloween

Although the sunlight gets shorter each day, the amount of activities keep growing.

For Halloween, Nome Community Center partnered with two other organizations to create the ultimate Halloween Festival.  There was indoor trick-or-treating, a haunted house, carnival activities and games, a costume contest, food, a photo booth, and much more!  It turned out to be a successful community event.  I organized NCC's portion of the event and coordinated with the other organizations, which was quite rewarding.  The children scrunched their noses as they felt brains, intestines, maggots, and other "ewwy gooey" objects (disclaimer: not really brains and maggots, etc).  They colored different pictures, made spooky picture frames, got their faces painted, made and ate witch hands (popcorn), and proudly displayed their costumes.  We raised money for three organizations, collected six full boxes of food for the Food Bank, provided free activities, and had a great time.

In addition, XYZ Senior Center had their own costume contest, complete with judges and prizes!


Coming up next, we have a Community Thanksgiving Meal happening on Thanksgiving Day.  The entire community is welcomed to this event (we're expecting about 300 people).  Nome Community Center organizes this event every year with the support of many local businesses.  Greg and I are organizing this event and it's been a challenge.  I've really appreciated getting to know more about the local businesses.  It is a struggle, however, since we aren't as familiar with the town and have never been to one of these events before.  It's going to be worth it, though!  We are looking forward to Thanksgiving for many reasons.