Independent City 2012 with Orangewood

Today I participated in Independent City 2012 through Orangewood.

It was at Pretend City, and I can hardly wait to get back there... I wanted to play SO bad.  I am seriously just a big kid.

I was at the Transportation table.  My area taught kids the expenses of owning a car... like gas, insurance, oil changes, flat tires, etc.  We had them figure out at $4.09 a gallon, about what it would cost just to fill the tank.  Many of their eyes bulged just at that!

For foster youth in Orange County, they are entitled to a free bus pass, every month until they turn 21.  Amazing!  We were giving out the phone number for them to call, to obtain those bus passes.  I think that is so awesome.

They had other stations, like Ralphs grocery store, apartment rental, the gas company, someone was walking around handing out tickets randomly - and if the youth got a ticket, they had to go to the judge - and there was an actual judge there.  They were given money, and they had to rent an apartment, buy groceries and do everything within a budget.  Some of them were given eggs, as a baby - and they had to drop them off at day care and pay for it and pick them up in a certain amount of time.  

I ran into one of the girls I helped at Belle of the Ball... which was fun!  

This was the station I was at... 

This was the shirt we got for volunteering.  The youth also received a shirt if they finished all of the stations, and a gift bag full of items.  The gift bags looked huge, I am not sure what was inside.  They also got money for attending and completing each station... which totaled about $45 - and I asked one of the Orangewood employees if they actually got real money in the end.  She said it counts as credit that they can use to have Orangewood help them pay a bill, or they can choose gift cards.  I thought that was nice!

I absolutely love volunteering with Orangewood.  Their events are SO organized - always start on time - always end on time - easy set up and clean up - they are SO organized and I think its so fantastic.

Such an amazing group of people and I am so thankful to be able to be a part of them.  This event was strictly for Orangewood volunteers only - so I am glad I got to participate.