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2022-07-29 Seflin Virtual Conference MDPLS Virtual Volunteering as of 2022-07-23.pptx
- 14. PLARN BALL HOURS : 683 Jan 2021 – July, 9 2022
- 15. South Miami High at Pinecrest Branch pivoting to an in-person class visit 02-28-2022
- 18. For a copy of this Powerpoint www.tinyurl.com/volunteering2fold
Editor's Notes
- During the pandemic, schools required community service volunteer hours, but few sites were offering. Miami-Dade Public Library System found a way through virtual programming by starting an at-home recycling craft project to upcycle plastic bags. This helped fill a supply chain gap for a library program that had moved into patron’s homes last year. The teacher Holmes Braddock Senior High School Bulldogs
- First I’ll show you the program’s overview. On Christmas Eve 2018, FOX networks across the country aired this segment and afterwards, we received boxes and boxes of plastic bags delivered to us from all over. We were running out of storage space! https://youtu.be/4_3W604HjpM
- https://youtu.be/4_3W604HjpM
- Published by ALA as a Program Model. https://programminglibrarian.org/programs/helping-hands-upcycling-dual-purposes
- This 2018 Helping Hands program won a national award. But for 15 months in-person volunteering and inside programming went on hiatus. So, we started remotely training students step-by-step to recycle plastic at-home through emails, Zoom and YouTube tracking participation using Excel.
- Before the pandemic, qualifying for service hours required a formal commitment, background check, with work monitored in person at the library. With this project, strict requirements were loosened. Remote access to library staff is key.
- NACO stands for the National Association of Counties. There are annual awards for inventive county gov programs. In late May 2021, KL & PC Branches combined our at-home volunteering projects and together we won a NACO Award’s Best in Category.
- The wording was for exceptional results and unique innovations.
- MDPLS purchased a yearly Zoom subscription with close captioning for programs at set dates or even on demand. One laptop and one Ipad spotlights the instructor or the hands plarning.
- Many in the crochet group were quarantining and so ran out of plarn. Students could create a steady supply. Advertising includes mentions at the Pinecrest Educational Advisory Board, the program poster posted on social media, the library’s calendar of events, a school newspaper article, and word-of-mouth.
- Library staff take students through the steps via Zoom or YouTube, provide quarantined plastic bags, collected the Plarn, and distribute it to crocheting patrons. The in-transit time through the library’s inter-branch delivery system made the balls Covid-safe.
- Students work at their own pace and at their own location which was mutually beneficial for students and crocheters. While it seems simple and repetitive, the finished plarn ball conforms to a standard and are quality checked by heft and smooth even links. To earn five hours, one ball equals 75 bags with 900 strips. This requires patience and dedication. An avg publix bag generates 12 pieces of plarn, each piece of plarn makes four stitches 17 across and 140 rows. About 198 bags are needed to create a mat. The Pinecrest has boxes of supermarket bags which no one has touched for months, that we can give to you if you’d like a start-up bulk of bags.
- Students or their parents deliver the end product. The library provides an acknowledgment letter, signs off on the school’s official paper or online approval form Hours are being provided for the plarn balls that get turned in but not for collecting the loose bags. However, we do welcome you to bring as many recycled plastic grocery bags as you can so that they don't end up in the trash.
- The very human side to the project.
- I hope that you are inspired and try plarning as a volunteer project at your library!