I'm back safe and sound in MN! And boy, was it one helluva awesome road/ferry trip back. It's good to be home again, but I do miss AK just as I imagined I would. Below is my reflection on my year as a VISTA for FCA and quick synopsis on how the SOAP benefit weekend went.
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Coming from the bustling metropolis known as Minneapolis, Minnesota, I knew I'd be in for some sort of culture and career shock when I accepted the offer to volunteer with the Street Outreach & Advocacy Program in Fairbanks. Prior to these last twelve months of working with homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth, I had been working as a sales development representative at a couple corporations. I soon found out that dressing up to commute to a downtown skyscraper to rot away in a cubicle just wasn't making me happy at the end of the day. I needed a change.
The day of reckoning came when I received an e-mail from the Fairbanks VISTA leader at the time suggesting that my background seemed to fit well with who they were looking to hire at SOAP. After only a couple days time, I found myself accepting the offer and told my friends and family soon after that I would soon be a grizzly man living in Alaska's wilderness by way of a dry cabin in Goldstream Valley and making friends with just as much of the state's wildlife as my amazing colleagues at Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption. To coincide feelings of amazement and accomplishment, the friends I made in those I worked with at FCA, SOAP, and throughout Alaska all made positive impacts on my life. However, it was on those -40-degree nights in the long, dark winter when I realized that the at-risk youth I served do not have it easy. I had to do something about this to shed as much light on the issue as possible.
Motivation is the key word in trying to help teenagers put one foot in front of the other. Most of the youth SOAP serves come from backgrounds of alcohol, drug, and sexual abuse, as well as families filled with domestic violence. Our clients didn't necessarily choose to be at a place in life that makes it difficult to live day by day, but several have most certainly lacked motivation to put the past behind and make a difference in their lives moving forward. That's where I feel SOAP comes into the picture. I decided to bridge the gap of my music and art experience with our clients and start a weekly radio show at UAF, weekly guitar lessons, an art club with local fashion boutique Chartruese, create a 14-track compilation album of local music, and, most notably, host two benefit concerts for the program.
After a few months of planning, the SOAP benefit weekend kicked off with a 21-plus concert with four bands and silent auction with donated items from businesses and individuals throughout the city at The Pub at UAF on Friday, April 8th. Danny & The Jampires, Phineas Gauge, The Avery Wolves, and Alaska Redd rocked the stage throughout the night while students and other Fairbanks residents bid on various gift certificates, framed photographs and paintings, jewelry, electronics, and other items. The Pub was a packed house with several questions asked about our program and how each person can help in the future. It was a very successful evening to kick off the weekend.
Our second event was an all-ages music and arts festival of sorts called "We Are Visible!" 310 1st Avenue Banquet Hall hosted it from noon to 11pm on Saturday, April 9th. We had ten acts perform throughout the afternoon and evening while we had separate rooms with different activities going on, including arts and crafts, haircuts, and a clothing giveaway. To help with the set-up and take down for the event, several SOAP clients lent their creativity. It was great seeing them smile throughout the day and take initiative in making the benefit their own. All in all, the festival saw about 150 people attend; and based on the previous night's success, all money raised here was 100% profit for the SOAP program.
Reflecting on the weekend's events and adding money raised from admission, selling food and beverages, our compilation album, client artwork, haircuts, and silent auction items, we saw close to 400 people attend contributing close to $4,000 for SOAP. I am extremely happy with how the weekend turned out; but most importantly, seeing the smiles on our clients faces and advocating for their population is what I took away most. I will be sure to take their life stories with me wherever I go as they will remind me that life is not always an easy journey.
It was through my VISTA service at SOAP and living in Alaska overall that I have come to realize the meaning of life really does come through serving others. You know you have found a happy place when you don't consider your job work but more of place where lives are being positively changed. I gave the SOAP program and its clients my experience in helping others smile a bit more each day and they did the same for me when all was said and done. I look forward to similar life experiences back here in Minnesota and hope that a few more seeds of knowledge have been planted in improving Fairbanks youth homelessness issue.
I give thanks to AmeriCorps and my amazing colleagues at Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption and SOAP for all your help and dedication in making my year as a volunteer as fun and successful as possible. I'm happy to call you my family and look forward to the next time I find myself in the great state of Alaska. Until then, be careful "making moose friends."
Your Honorary Alaskan,
Dan Vogel
