Ghost of Breaks Present part 1

I mentioned a couple posts ago that when we held break programs at the old place, we all raided our own sites for the best stuff we had to keep kids entertained, a task made a little easier by the fact that Sunshine had added to the company-provided items at her own expense.

The company provided the things you'd expect, markers and pencils and paper/construction paper. Some LEGO. Plastic animals and blocks and a few K'nex. Anything they provided was fine, but there weren't usually enough to go around.

So finding things at Goodwill, Sprawlmart and yard sales was at the top of our list of priorities...at least those of us who were personally invested in our jobs. And I'm not talking about money.

LEGO. Art supplies. Games. Different construction toys. Magnifying glasses and little acrylic specimens. Sports equipment. Dominoes. Yarn. Stencils and modeling tools. Just a ton of stuff. Anything that we thought we could amuse kids with. Books. Lots and lots of books. Crafty supplies. And I'm not ashamed to say that I hoard trash that can be utilized for future creativity. We found things that we shared with each other, too. If I found something I thought Emily or Sunshine or Carey could use and it was available at a decent price, I bought it for them. Sharing the wealth. They did the same. And we all emailed craft ideas to each other. Part of supporting each other and our programs.

Anyway, we had the philosophy that spending 20 bucks on an item that would keep 15 kids entertained for half a school year (or more) wasn't an expense. We thought of it as an investment. I still say we were right about that.

Now trying to turn in a receipt for the expenses was a joke in later years. We had one manager who'd make sure we got our money back, but she left in 2011 I think. And we had a parade of micromanaging, abrasive stupid cows in charge after that.

Still didn't matter. We all did it. It made our jobs easier to supply the extras so essential in keeping kids entertained.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~And just like I always do, fast forward through a bunch of years to now.

Break programs.
Now it wouldn't be fair for me to say that *all* of the programs being run by the organization I work for are the same. After meeting a lot of the people who work there and seeing the level of professionalism, I sort of think those programs are the same... but I don't know it.

I have only seen two sites (besides mine) in operation. And I did not plan their daily agenda, do any of the setup or implementation of any plans.

If there actually were any plans... I'm still not sure about that.

When I worked at the site in Sandy, the site director Marlene greeted me at the door with a panicky, "What am I supposed to do with these kids for a whole day?!?!" This wasn't the first time I'd heard that from her, I'd been calling her for several days leading up to the program to inquire about supplies for different crafts. After saying, "No," to every supply I asked for/about she said the phrase, "What am I supposed to do with kids for a whole day?" at least once in every conversation.

When I worked at Marlene's site, I brought everything we'd need for several projects, including scissors and tape. I have learned that if I don't bring everything I need, I will either have to dig for it or do without it. When I arrived, she looked at the stuff I brought and said, "Oh, they don't do crafts."

She was wrong.