Filed under: Tim | Tags: good works tour, Helping, nonprofit, Oprah, Road Trip, Travel, van, Video, Volunteer
So we’re showing off the GWT movie at TCNJ this evening, and I couldn’t be more excited!
I’m sure the movie will answer a lot of questions like:
What did it smell like in the van? (better than expected)
Is Zach that dashingly handsome all day long, or just in the evening? (its 24/7 baby)
Aaaand maybe a little something about the 40+ incredible places we worked!
So if you’re in the upper-Jersey area come on over to the showing tonight, but if you’re not DO NOT fret, GWT will most certainly have a big Collingswood release. With maybe a red carpet? Or at least a red tablecloth. OK it’s a maroon napkin, but a guy can dream, right?
Its going to be really helpful to us to see what people think tonight, so be honest, and tell us what you love and hate so we can keep making the movie better!
Can’t stop the rock,
Tim
Filed under: Tim | Tags: blogs, Documentary, editing, good works tour, love eloise, media, newspapers
So after some downtime the Good Works Tour fellows are back in close quarters – editing. We’ve been meeting to talk about our experience from the other side, and to create an outline for our film.
Here’s what it’s like: “Remember when ______ happened! Yeah that was hilarious!” <uproarious laughter>
Like a madlib, only in real life.
We’ve recently been contacted by several newspapers, and we’d like you to check out an article about us at Love Eloise, a publication way hipper than our blog. It makes me feel almost cool. Or that perhaps one day I could be cool. Much thanks to Kerry for taking an interest in us!
On that note if you feel like recommending us to any newspapers, local or otherwise we always appreciate it! We have press releases, photos, and I can ride a unicycle. Really.
Keep rocking out and checking back,
Tim
Filed under: James, Tim, Zach | Tags: activism, Camden, Collingswood, good works tour, New Jersey, Oprah, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Road Trip, Travel, Volunteer
GWT Lords, Ladies and Gentlefolks,
We’re home! …almost.
Today we’ve had the most Good Works of any single day on our tour. In the morning, we left the Kliemo residence (they were too nice, we didn’t want to leave) and went to Philadelphia, where we moved set pieces for The Burn Ward, a local theatre company. Then we went to Camden and donated what was left of our van food to a food bank at St. Anthony’s church. After that we returned to our home town of Collingswood and did our final act of kindness for the tour – we visited our neighbor, Mrs. Reeves. We helped her out by caulking the windows of her bedroom, which were in need of repair. We were glad to finish up there because she is Good Works Tour in how she lives, caring for others and always having a kind word.
Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way, all of the meals, directions, floors, beds, pies, dogs, high fives, donkeys, and encouragements. Thanks especially to all of you, our readers and followers-along: we could not have done any of this without your continued support and encouragement. You are all a part of the Good Works Tour.
Though this is the end of our trip its not the end of our journey. Stay tuned, Good Works Fans. Our editing will begin soon, and though updates won’t be happening on the blog as often, we still have many videos to post and much work to do, so please keep checking back here and telling your friends and Oprah about us, especially if you’re friends with Oprah.
Thanks for everything,
James, Tim, and Zach
P.S. Here’s a final video Tim did of SAME Cafe in Denver to keep you going for a while!
Filed under: Tim | Tags: advocacy, American pie party, Documentary, Equality Ohio, good works tour, Helping, Travel, voluteerism
GWT compatriots,
Today we drove to Columbus, Ohio. It was a grey day, but we got there on time to meet with Tony Sebony, founder of the American Pie Party. Despite my early hopes that this was a new political party centered on delicious baked goods it turned out to be an interesting spin on an old idea for fundraising – taking a pie in the face for some dough for a good cause. Now this was a place where we knew we weren’t going to be able to do good works today, but we are all signed up to take a pie in the face to battle cancer this coming October, so start saving your pennies now!
After that we headed to Equality Ohio, an organization who advocates for people of all genders and orientations. I was very surprised to hear that in Ohio there is no legislation protecting the rights of workers to be themselves, in fact you can be fired for your orientation. We were honored to lend a hand in their FIRED campaign, a signature drive that will remind Ohio’s lawmakers that there needs to be legislation protecting the equality of all people. We helped mark signed postcards by looking up representatives in a database… Sound boring? Not when you have fellow volunteers who are ready to tell stories and listen to yours. We had a great time there, and got to interview some very passionate people.
It seems like home is just around the bend, lets hope this weather lightens up! A huge thanks to Deborah for opening up her home to us. Tomorrow Pittsburgh, which as far as distance has been concerned on this trip is a stones throw away from home.
Peace,
Tim
Filed under: Tim
GWT readers,
Just when we think we’ve seen everything something really astounds us. Today we worked at The Douglas Center, a organization that helps people with mental disabilities, specifically with job training. The center functions like a factory, every one of the clients has the opportunity to earn a paycheck by working, as well as attend classes and fieldtrips. We got to take a tour around the facility and it was absolutely eye opening.
We then were given some tools and supplies and shown to a filing closet that needed some new shelves. Hilarity did not ensue, but after much cussing and scratching of our heads we managed to put up some shelves we were awfully proud of. It probably shouldn’t have been quite the ordeal we made it, but we went home feeling accomplished, and the Center really seemed to appreciate their new space.
When we got back to my friend Will’s apartment where we are staying serindipity struck again. It turned out that our friend Kim Townsend, another Collingswoodian on a cross country roadtrip, was playing a gig barely a half mile from us. She was awesome! Check her out at oldbessy.blogspot.com We will deffinitely be listening to her cd while we drive to Louisville, Kentucky tomorrow, where we will actually be involved in some hurricane relief. It feels like we’re close to home, but there are still many miles left to go.
Keep on truckin’
– Tim
Filed under: Tim | Tags: ball of twine, crawker, Documentary, good works tour, kansas, lawrence, roadtrip, Volunteer
Today we drove from Boulder, Colorado to Lawrence, Kansas. A lot of people told us this would be our most boring drive, but we proved them wrong. How did accomplish this Sisyphean task you ask? Easy, we visited the world’s biggest ball of twine. And boy, was it big. Here’s a picture of how happy James was to at last meet the holy grail of twine.
Mmm twine
The best part of visiting the ball of Twine was finding it. It is located in the tiny town of Cawker, which is also home to the ‘Ball of Twine Inn’, and sidewalks painted with a trail of twine. We parked on the main street and went in search of our epic quarry, but found ourselves unable to locate it.
Of course we decided to ask the locals, here’s an excerpt from a conversation I had in a gift/antique shop.
Me: Hi, I’m trying to find your ball of twine.
Store Owner: Yep.
Me: … Umm. I’d like to know where your ball of twine is?
Store owner points the direction from which we had walked.
Apparently we had parked almost catercorner to this gargantuan landmark. Perhaps our minds weren’t ready for the bliss that is beholding the ball of twine, but you could definitely see it from our car.
After we laughed at what we had done we discussed what this meant about our navigation skills, visited the legend, then proceeded to Lawrence, where David and Jill Baldwin have graciously put us up. Tomorrow we Habitat for Humanity! Yes, some places are foolish enough to trust us with power tools.
One Love,
Tim
PS Kansas has people. Really. And flat land is impressive because of the big sky. GWT <3s Kansas.
Filed under: Tim | Tags: CHOICE Humanitarian, Computers, Guatemala, Helping, Road Trip, salt lake city, Travel, utah, Volunteer
Hey GWT followers,
Today we worked at CHOICE Humanitarian. Sometimes it seems like our timing is intentional. Over the weekend a tragedy occurred for this organization; a plane shuttling volunteers to Guatemala crashed and eleven people were killed. Needless to say their small office was full of activity; we were pleased that they let us help in a time where they have so much to do. Zach and James did research on news articles and statistics while I created a flash movie from letters of condolences. See, I did do something with my digital media degree! (bottom of this page)
What CHOICE does is amazing, and we were so happy to lend a hand when they could really use it. This is the first time GWT has worked behind computers, which was something a little bit different for us. It was also one of our longest days at a site, from quarter to ten to seven o’clock, though there were people in the office before we got there and we were not the last to leave. There’s something about doing work that benefits others that makes it easier and more fulfilling. CHOICE also exemplifies something that we’ve noticed makes a huge difference in the success of volunteer orgs – they focus on what the people they serve say they need and set them up for the long term. This sounds like a very basic thing, but it’s very easy to believe you know what someone else need and be totally off the mark. CHOICE judges their success not by the completion of projects, but by the projects the people they trained go on to create.
If anyone from CHOICE is reading this, we would like to offer our condolences for your departed comrades. We read and heard a lot about them today, and they truly were exemplary people.
Tomorrow we depart for Denver! Maybe we’ll see this big salty lake that’s supposed to be here before then.
Much love,
Tim
Filed under: Tim
Hey there GWT fans!
Today was a very full day. We started at Adopt a Stream where we cut willow branches that will eventually grow roots to help support the bank of a stream. I never realized that you can reclaim a habitat, we saw a pond that had previously been a parking lot – I never would have guessed. This was GWT’s first nature friendly stop, which we hope makes up for how much gas we use.
After that we took a break to make the ultimate nerd pilgrimage.Thats right we stopped at Wizards of the Coast. They gave us sweet goody bags and let us hang out in their lobby. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen James quite that excited.
We then proceded to InterConnection, an organization where volunteers can learn about computers while earning their own by working for 30 hours. While we were in the refurbishing section a man made the statement he could take apart a computer faster then anyone else in the world. So of course I challenged him to a race. We tied, but I think I got lucky.
We saw more of Seattle tonight, it is a terrific city. Now we have to rest up for the long haul tomorrow, off to Helena!
Right back atcha,
Tim
Filed under: Tim | Tags: blind, Documentary, driving, dyslexia, good works tour, Helping, Los Angeles, Minivan, Road Trip, Travel, Volunteerism
Hey GWT Fans!
We drove today. And drove. And then drove some more. In fact, we drove from San Fran to Portland, which is a 10 hour drive – more like 12 hours with stops. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, which was unfortunately very foggy. As James so astutely pointed out, the bridge is more orange then golden. For lunch, we continued our side quest to eat at fast food places we had never been before by entering an In-n-Out Burger. Wow. My cheeseburger was phenomenal, but it also doubled as a sleeping pill – best van nap ever. There were lots of mountains and beautiful landscapes to watch on the long ride north
When we got to Portland, James’ college buddy Vegas took us out to a classy dinner. Many thanks to him, and to Jerod H. for letting us crash at his place for tonight. It is wonderful to see all of our friends and relatives that are dispersed about the nation.
Tomorrow, we’re working at Northeast Emergency Food Program, then heading to Seattle. Watch out Many-Starbucksed-City, here we come!
And finally, more videos! Here’s Zach and James at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in Los Angeles and, hey, who are those hot dudes carrying lemonade?
Yours,
Tim
Filed under: Tim | Tags: animals, cats, Dogs, Helping, helping people, Monyerey, Salinas, SPCA, Travel, Video
Good Works Tour is on the road again!
This morning we bid goodbye to Los Angeles and headed north. Around mid-day we arrived at the SPCA in Monterey. I entered the building not wanting any sort of a pet but left begging James for a Good Works Tour Dog. He told me I could have an imaginary dog, who I subsequently named Sparky. After watching the cute animals in their cages we got down and dirty cleaning animal carrying crates. Give us a sponge and a hose and we’ll give you a whole ton of cleanliness.
After waving goodbye to all of the kittens and loading Sparky into our car we headed to Dorothy’s Place where we cooked up a storm. That’s right, we reheated spaghetti. Our mothers would be proud. We had a blast serving dinner to homeless women, and an even better time talking with them and the people who run the shelter. I know it was one of my favourite good works because I desperately want to do it again.
Jimbo finished up two videos today, feel free to start getting addicted to them.
Good Works Tour 