Summer Vacation

We all know what this time of year means, school is out. Days for people who have begun summer vacation consist of, waking up at 12 pm, then walking around the house in those embarrassing pajamas of yours that you would never let anyone but your pet see you in for hours while constantly opening the fridge and hoping to find that perfect snack, then once that snack is found, you migrate toward the couch and start to watch mind numbing shows for what seems like 10minutes, but then you realize as your parents get home that you actually watched TV for 4 hours that day.

What summer vacation means for parents is, getting home from a long day at work and seeing a trail of trash from your lovely child then after putting away all the items they have consumed that day, finding this loud snoozing lump on your couch. You gain the courage to awake the beast from its slumber, only to find your kid who somehow is still tired after sleeping for 12 hours that day. After forcing the beast off your couch to go and do something productive, you see your couch seems to have a permanent dent in it from where the beast had been all day.

Does this seem like a problem you face every summer? Well do not fear we can turn that couch bum into that active child of yours you used to know. Here at the Mustard Seed of Central Florida, we are always in need of volunteers, and there is no better way to ride the beast on the couch than to put them to work helping others. Your child probably needs the hours anyways, for things like bright futures or graduation. We must warn you of the side effect of having your child volunteer with us over the summer, they consist of: a clean house, a full fridge, and no longer having to listen to your child say “I am bored” after getting home from a long work day. So send your couch potato over to the Mustard Seed of Central Florida this summer, we will gladly take them off your hands.

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!

As this beautiful morning sets in, I begin my day of my third week as an intern at The Mustard Seed of Central Florida! On this particular morning I can hear the furniture movement in the warehouse, the telephones ring, and the diligent computer key strokes in the office. To my right is my morning beverage in a recyclable container, which brings me to a segment I like to call Christina’s Corner. For my first segment, I’d like to talk about one of the many new things that I have learned since starting work at The Mustard Seed: recycling! Before my first day here, I knew recycling as the bin next to the trash, but since Mustard Seed has taken on such a green initiative in the office and the mattress recycling program, my eyes have been opened to the world of recycling unknown to me before.

Christina’s Corner #1: Each item that can be recycled has a “recycling code” on it, and it is a number found in the middle of the universal symbol.

For plastics, the numbers range from 1 to 9 with 1 being the most recycle friendly plastic. An example of category 1 is the soft drink bottle perhaps within your arms reach right now – as is mine. Examples of category 9 plastics include computer plastics, cell phones, and many more. Some recycling facilities, like the Mustard Seed, recycle based on these categories!

The Mustard Seed also collects unusable mattresses and breaks them down into various recyclable parts to divert the matter away from the landfills. Bring your used mattresses to us because either the mattress will go to a family or the mattress will avoid a landfill! As Lindsay previously posted, that's a win-win situation!

As I conclude my introductory blog, I hope that this has served as awareness for the recycling lingo and practices and maybe an incentive to move some of the mattresses out of the garage and down to our warehouse!

The Powershift 2011 Story

Where do I even start!? I guess I'll start where it all began...

Once upon a time there was an awesome club at UCF, it was called I.D.E.A.S.
Within this club were driven, dedicated individuals who fought day in and day out to bring positive environmental change across the land. One day, a messenger came to alert the environmental Knights (get it?) of the most magical and amazing opportunity--a grand ball in Washington DC where tens of thousands of like-minded individuals would gather to fight climate change!

Twas then time to find a chariot.
Up pulls the RunBus:

In the beginning, the RunBus was a cold, seat-less, barren world which would have surely driven these 32 students insane but because there was a magical force attracting each member of I.D.E.A.S. together in the quest to reach Powershift--a solution emerged.

In flies The Mustard Seed Fairy.

The Mustard Seed is known throughout the land as a healer, bringing hope to families and individuals who are ready to rebuild their lives. When she got word of the situation, she spread her fairy dust all along the floors of the run bus..we're talking mattresses people. Not-fit-for-families-in-need-but-perfect-for-making-a-30-hour-bus-ride-((for-32-students-and-their-luggage-)) comfy mattresses. Huzzuh!
With vegetable oil in the tank, mattresses on the floors, and the smell of french fries in the air, the old school bus and the students of I.D.E.A.S. set off to change the world

Lo Lesson #6:
I registered for PowerShift with the assumption that I would learn how to promote positive change in the community. Never had I imagined that this experience would create such positive change in my own life.

While in DC (and on the road) I found that there was a constant flow of positive energy--something that is pretty hard to come by these days. Somewhere along the way our society has shifted from a focus on community to a focus on self-- this forces neighbor against neighbor and consumer against environment. Who better to shift the paradigm than than today's youth? We are young yet we understand that Earth should be considered a home not a resource. So we will take what we learned at the convention center and use the inspiration we got at Powershift as fuel, to power this movement.
So what's the lesson here? there are wayyy too many to mention since i cant even wrap my head around this experience.
so i will leave you with this:
There's something about the glow of out-of-season Christmas lights and a sea of mattresses that makes a 30 hour bus ride seem okay. When you combine those two things with the sheer desire to create change and 32 positive attitudes you realize you wouldn't have it any other way.

fill that void!

If you're like me than you probably find yourself (quite frequently) staring blankly into that gaping abyss of wasted space in your room, wondering what's missing. You've tried moving your bed, your desk, your chest, and your drawers. You've tried moving your lighting, pictures, paintings, and books. You've even tried filling that space with "projects" you're working on so you seem artsy or too busy to care about that pesky, unrelenting feeling that something is TERRIBLY and UNDENIABLY OFF in here!!!! You may have found reasons to avoid your room completely by joining various clubs, going on trips you can't afford, rocking climbing, or training for an 8k. If you find that the time you spend in your room is steadily decreasing and you are slowly but surely establishing permanent residence on your friends couch, you may have a problem. Luckily, we have the solution! On May 7, 2011 we will be hosting our Chairs for Charity 2011 fund raising event at the Sheraton in downtown Orlando. What's Chairs for Chairty you ask? Basically its the sweetest idea ever...

Local artists were asked to select a donated chair and use their creative abilities to turn them into B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L works of art. Wellll...the chairs are complete and they are AWESOME!! Please take the time to check them out and dont forget to vote on your favorite! (click the pic)

All the proceeds from these chairs will be donated to The Mustard Seed to support our efforts of helping families and individuals in need.

Just imagine.. owning a tangible reminder of the families you've helped anddd making your house look fabulous by filling that void! There is simply no better way to light up a room!

To find out more about Chairs for Chairty check out our website: http://www.mustardseedfla.org/upcoming_events.html

National Volunteer Week 2011

At The Mustard Seed there are few things that we value more than unity, our volunteers, and the individual. So we are extremely excited for the week of April 10-16 when we will witness a nationwide movement of individuals push aside their aside differences for the sake of the community.

As we celebrate National Volunteer Week 2011, we hope that you will join us in our efforts to create a healthier society, a more clean environment, and a nation of altruism.

Alone you can make a difference, together we can change the world!

Mattress Recycling = More Usable Mattresses for Families

“So you recycle everything now?! Where do my donations go?!”

I get the question often so, in order to avoid any confusion: 

We recycle to fund our philanthropic programs. 

 Not the other way around.  

And your beautiful gently used donations? They go to families in need in the Central Florida everyday! 

But for the dirty, un-usable items –ya know what? We can save those from the landfills.

Have you heard of win-win situations?

Because this is a perfect example….

If someone called to offer you 600 mattresses for Central Florida Families in need – would you turn them down? Previously, we would have to because 50% of them were un-usable and we had no way to manage a heap of 300 dirty mattresses.  Now with our mattress recycling program we can say an enthusiastic “Yes” to that call and provide 300 mattresses to our families and divert those dirty 300 mattresses from the landfill!

Let’s show them the scoreboard…

Community: 1 // Environment: 1

(okay - so maybe this looks like a tie – but isn’t a tie a win/win? J)

Mattresses are only the beginning of this recycling love-affair.  We now recycle: broken appliances & electronics, cardboard, paper, electronics, Styrofoam, & plastic bottles and the list goes on…

Want to learn more about our recycling efforts?

Why don’t you come celebrate with us?!

We would love to show you what we do!

Let’s Celebrate! Thursday 3.31.11 5:30P – 7:30P

Ribbon Cutting for MATTRESS RECYCLING @ THE MUSTARD SEED

12 Mustard Seed Lane Orlando, FL 32810 - Corner of Kennedy/Keller

SPRING BREAK 2011!

Spring Break...ahhh...the glorious week every student from kindergarten to graduate school yearns for. No worries, no waking up early, and most importantly NO CLASS! For most college students Spring Break serves as the ultimate excuse to throw inhibitions to the wind, bathing suits in an over packed suitcase, and savings out the window--all for the sake of a wild week in some far-off exotic location.

However, some of my collegiate peers decided to take the less tropical route and traveled great distances to spend their Spring Break in a warehouse. That's right, last week the good ole Mustard Seed welcomed 34 college students who devoted their Spring Breaks to helping those in need. Alternative Spring Break gives students the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones by traveling with a group of strangers to engage in daily volunteer work, learn about diverse communities, and live in unfamiliar conditions.

Our first group of students from the Office of Student Inolvement James Maddison University broke a Mustard Seed record by deconstructing 39 mattresses in only 3 hours! WOWZA!

That's a tough act to follow but when the second round of JMU students graced us with their presence they deconstructed a whopping 100 mattresses in 4 1/2 hours! What are they feeding these West Virginians? Pure rocket fuel!?

The 3rd group of Alternative Spring Breakers didn't put forth as much travel time to get here. But let's just say if volunteer efforts were measured in miles, on Monday our friends from the University of West Florida would have traveled from CA and back! Together they deconstructed 50 mattresses!

Aside from mattress deconstruction, last week's volunteers did wonders in the warehouse, dishroom, lenin room, and clothing department! They also compiled over 50 dish sets which will be offered to families when they come to pick up their furniture.
In closing, a personalized letter to each individual Alternative Spring Breaker
Dear (insert name,)
As you transition back into the dreaded almost-there-so-it-seems-like-summer-will-never-come-end-of-the-school-year grind, we hope that you will carry with you the memories you've made at The Mustard Seed. Your efforts have helped us, the local community, and the planet in more ways than you can imagine. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, we really do appreciate and admire the fact that you devoted your Spring Break to helping those in need!

Sincerly,
The Mustard Seed
**Special thanks to Heart of Florida United Way for sending all of these awesome college students our way!!**