After not being able to work in the field for 3 months… phase 4 allowed outdoor programming for the Town Shop. We had a scheduled activity 5 days a week outdoors with a smile on our faces. We visited beaches, state parks, had picnics, BBQ’s, open mic nights, game nights, play rehearsals in the park, and we kayaked! It was a true “coming together” without being too close. We found a way to keep the spirit of our summer activities alive by visiting staples like Robert H. Treman’s in Ithaca, South Sandy Creek in Mannsville, the Burnet Park Zoo, Chittenango Falls, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Green Lakes, and Onondaga Lake. We had outdoor painting and art days, writer’s workshops, we played paintball at the Combat Zone, and we kayaked a lot (Labrador Hollow, Onondaga Creek, and Willow Bay just to name a few). We truly got in touch with our local roots due to our limited transportation… we hiked the Camillus Unique Forest by moonlight, we played games at Camillus Park and Shove Park, and we swam, cooked out, painted, wrote and performed at Gillie Lake, we walked the Erie Canal, and kayaked 9 Mile Creek on a weekly basis. We are so fortunate to have so many amazing places and resources.
After a summer outside, we re-opened the building with the start of the school year. I don’t know how to say it, it is truly a feeling, but the building is alive again. We have assumed a hybrid schedule of building hours 3 days a week and outdoor activities Thursday, Friday and some Saturdays. We continue to kayak once a week, hike, and play games outdoors when weather permits. Eventually we will resume our normal building hours and introduce winter hiking, skiing and snow shoeing. The Town Shop has always enjoyed outdoors activities, so it comes naturally to be outside when we can be.
We have been through a crisis with our teens. I truly believe it has bonded us. In decades from now when someone asks “where were you during the COVID-19 pandemic? What did you do during quarantine? How did you spend your time when the world was shut down?” these teens will remember they were with the Town Shop, and the Town Shop was with them throughout the entire thing.
I am going to include something that a teen sent me tonight while she was writing an essay for school about why she wants to work in youth development. I believe it encompasses so many sentiments about the program and about the rewards of youth work. Her name is Mary, and she wants to work at a place like the Town Shop one day J
“There are many reasons why I am interested in the Human Services Field.my two main reasons are the need to make an impact and the need to return the favor. One of my closest friends works at a youth center I go to, and she has helped me out tremendously. Ever since then, I have wanted to return the favor.
Before I met my closest friend (Director of the Town Shop, Deb), I was quiet, timid and very introverted. I spent most of my time at the library or reading books at school. When I was home I would go to my room and watch Netflix. I didn’t have any close friends at the time besides my cousins.
One of my cousins reached out to me and asked me to go to a youth center to watch a preview for a play. I was very hesitant and almost didn’t go. When I went, that was when I met my now best friend. She introduced herself to me and something inside of me knew that I belong here and that brought a tremendous amount of comfort because I have never really felt that way before. She then asked me to join them on their activities. I got very involved with this youth center. I was out almost every night doing something with them. I was making new friends, and I was talking to new people.
All I want in my life is to be happy and to make others happy. If I can do that by being an advocate or working at a youth center like the Town Shop then that’s what I want. Deb told me ‘the best reward in human services is getting to be of service to amazing humans like you. You and people like you give me purpose.’ I want to return the favor of kindness and love to another teen in need. I want to make an impact on multiple lives the way the Town Shop greatly affected mine. I want to return the favor. That is my reason for wanting to be in the human services field.”
-Mary C.