LAST POST :(

Hey Everyone,

So sadly my blog has come to an end 😦 What a great semester this has been! Thank you everyone for reading and supporting my blog on homelessness in Rhode Island. I loved reading all about your comments and concerns and I am so happy that I could get a chance to communicate with you all. I loved hearing everyone’s opinions as well as have you all listen to mine as well. Thank you all again, and I wish everyone a safe and healthy new year 

Sincerley Laura Fortunato 

What worked / what didn’t ?

I did find this class very useful, especially since I would like to become a broadcaster someday. I felt that with the amount of writing I had to do for this class definitely helped me improve on my writing skills. I also enjoyed working on the different digital technologies and much we all need to experience it because it is really important using it on a day to day basis. 

I felt like their was too much work to do in this class, and not enough time especially because of all the other classes I am taking this year which is just as hard and has a lot of work as well. An example was watching the five hour tutorial on Lynda. I felt like that was going a bit too far. I understand that it is necessary to understand all the in’s and out’s of wire-framing, photo shop, etc. because comprehending all these different technologies will benefit us in the future, but I feel like the tutorials should have been spread out more on a weekly basis so we would have time to respond to the assignments. I also felt like we were assigned too many brainstorming and reading assignments. We are supposed to blog daily, and we have projects to do, and with the assignments over that, it made it really overwhelming. 

Dates on when to volunteer during the holidays and most frequentley asked questions

There will be many homeless people in Rhode Island this year, and we need to make sure they have a warm place to stay and a good meal.  You will need to bring a parent or adult guardian if you are under the age of 18.  It’s a great event, and we have many of the same volunteers that come back during Thanksgiving and Christmas because they really like helping the people. 

Here is the info:
How to Help

Volunteer at the Events (Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day; same time for both holidays)
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM Set up
11:30 AM – 2:00 PM Serve food & beverages
1:30 PM – 4:00 PM Break down tables & chairs, wash dishes, clean up. (We REALLY need help here!)

Volunteer the Day Before or Day After (Nov. 26 and Nov. 28, Dec. 24th and Dec. 26th)
If you are available to volunteer the day before or day after either event, please contact my PR representative Merrissa Jewler at merrissajewler@yahoo.com. She reponds quickly to e-mails!

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the best time for me to volunteer at the shelters in Rhode Island?
We usually have over 40 volunteers for each soup kitchen ( 7 soup Kitchens in RI) between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Volunteers are needed at all times, but are desperately needed between 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Your time will be greatly appreciated!

Do I need a reservation to volunteer?
No, you do not need a reservation to volunteer.

What should I do when I arrive at the the soup kitchen?
When you arrive, go directly to the Volunteer Registration table on the the first floor, ( There is one for every soup kitchen) . The volunteers there will give you a nametag and assign you a task.

Can my children volunteer?
Children can volunteer  as long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Where should I park?
 Some don’t have big parking lots, so if you can’t find a spot please park legally and according to posted regulations.

Do I need to attend a Volunteer Orientation to volunteer?
No. 

 

How to help the homeless during Thanksgivng and Christmas

Here is a site that I found which list many ways in which you can make a difference! 

For Thanksgiving copy the URL http://www.ehow.com/how_4510589_feed-homeless-thanksgiving.html

This site listed above goes the same for christmas as well! 

For Christmas copy this URL 

How to donate during the holidays!

We are now working with Hasbro Children’s Hospital into making as many donations we can to the homeless people in Rhode Island. Hasbro distributes it’s holiday giving through our non-profit partners organization. Listed below are some of the organizations affiliated with Hasbro Children’s Hospital and Advocates Of Rhode Island. 

1. Dream Foundation: The mission of the dream foundation is to enhance the quality of life for individuals and their families who are battling life-threatening illness.

2. Home For The Homeless: Is dedicated to reducing homelesnness and poverty by providing families with the education and training that will enable them to build independent lives. The first step in this effort is to recognize that homelessness today is not simply a housing issue, but instead an education issue and children’s issue.

3. Marine Toys for Tot’s: Mission of the U.S. Marine Corps reserve toys for tots programs is to collect new, unwrapped toys each year and distribute these toys as gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

4. Planet Hope: Mission is to provide hope for a better life for thousands of homelessnes and abused children and their families. 

5. Shelter Partnership: Is dedicated to allievating and preventing and ending homelessness by assisting in the development of short-term and transitional housing programs, affordable housing, and supportive services for the homeless and potentially homeless throught Rhode Island. 

Homeless in Rhode Island during the holidays

Their will be millions of people who will be homeless for the holidays this year and many whom are struggling to find a meal and a place to stay. We are expecting to have another cold winter after all, and many will be suffering from hypothermia which is a concern in many locales including Rhode Island. This year we have established more “warming shelters” where homeless people can come for temporary shelter. What is ultimately important to me is giving and love, not only for myself, but for people in need around me. This year would be my third consecutive year working at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving day. Here I will explain briefly of what it was like. Their was around more than 250 homeless people, whom sat together or alone eating their first course meal. Among them were artist, drug addicts, college students, former businessmen, veterans, former athletes, and others who have hit rock bottom. Some showed their appreciation to the workers, and myself for what we have provided for them while others would curse at us. We were all told by the head of the person who ran the soup kitchen Anna Jenks,  of things that we might encounter today. Anna has been working at soup kitchens for over 12 years now and does some local traveling to various other homeless organizations in the New England Area. I would say she was quite experienced and very helpful in telling us if a situation like someone curing as I have mentioned earlier, is just to ignore it and give all your respect even if they don’t seem appreciative. I can’t express my feeling of gratitude while serving person by person at the table. Everyone says once you give to someone in need you feel like such a happy person, and I know how dull and simple that sounds but it is so true! I felt so rewarded and I felt like I gave them my love. Before this all took place, a week earlier November 14-20th, the national coalition for the homeless and national student campaign against hunger and homelessness co-sponsored national hunger and homelessness awareness week. It’s purpose was to raise hunger and homelessness awareness. Since I last blogged, the community of Rhode Island has helped so much and we are improving tremendously. As Christmas is approaching however, we still are working to improve our shelters and making more food. We need as many donations as we can get! To learn how, visit my PR representative Marrissa Jewelers facebook page! 

” Spend time at…

” Spend time at a social agency, meet some of it’s clients. Talk to people who are affected by homelessness, find out what they need. Make an emotional connection; put a human face on homelessness.”

3 simples things you can do during the holidays!

1. Serve a meal at an organization that feeds the homeless

2. Donate food to your local bank

3. Hand out food to people that are homeless

Lynda Tutorial : Wirefram

The video on wire-framing was very interesting. Not only was the video easy to follow through but it was also very structured. By this i mean that a lot goes into play when using wireframe. The fact that it showed the step by step process into how it works and what it’s used for, engages the audience to better fulfill what they have to do in order to succeed in such requirements as the group project we are now doing. The tutorial starts off with talking about how how the internet works. Now some people, like me thought that it would just be standard, explanatory stuff, but in reality its’s structured in many aspect of what the world wibe is vs the internet. Like many internet users, people may have various connectors such as a TI, modem, DSL, Cable, Wi-FI, or even cellular. Some other steps in this tutorial were how to download a browser. In this tutorial they recommended downloading firefox but it was the easiest  one to download. Now it get’s a little more complicated. They show you step by step how to deconstruct a webpage with a browser. They show you how to outline block elements and show  you how to produce images on to a webpage. Such examples can be of taking snap shots and if you have photoshop they show you how to take snap shots of the whole picture and how you can resize it right on your webpage! That was really cool! Towards the end of the video they go more in depth of designing for the internet and the many different obstacles you can choose from. In all, I was really satisfied with what I learned from this tutorial and I  can’t wait to start using wireframe and see how it turn out to be.

 

 

group assignment

Website : Prat Hobby Shop

Proximity: nearness in space or time.This website to me is unattractive but it is organized. All the layout items are related so by having them close together it makes it easier for the audience to find exactly what he/she needs for their car. In proximity, the use of white space can be a positive quality or a negative quality depending on how someone makes their website. White space deals with spacing elements, utilizing effective margins, gutters between columns, and padding which creates a balance between the content and the space between the elements. If the website were too have to much white space, it would look irregular, unorganized, and confusing to the audience. With too little white space it may make the web design look cluttered and cramped. With the Prat Hobby Shop website, I feel as if they used the right amount of white space. On the left it shows eight tabs with a purposeful direction to help the audience find exactly what they are looking for.  In the middle it shows in a brief paragraph their new line of accessories for car products and on the top on the left and right side it tells us how to contact the store and directions. I think their website is useful and easy to follow but boring and used too many colors.

Pathos: Use of emotions. This website is hard to define with pathos but the best way I can describe Pratt Hobby Shop is that it uses positive reinforcement with exciting propositions for the consumers.