Helping Hands

American Red Cross By: Katy Fedurek The mission of the Red Cross is to “prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.​” Today, the American Red Cross focuses on the fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. Just in 2016 alone, the Red Cross served around 4.1 million meals and snacks, gave out more than 2.1 relief items, provided 206,000 places for people to stay overnight, and gave out more than 144,000 health and mental health consultations. The American Red Cross would not be able to serve as many people as it does today if it wasn’t for Clara Barton. Source:  http://valdostatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/american-red-cross.png Clara Barton found her passion of helping other people due to an accident involving her brother. Barton worked as a teacher at the young age of 15 and eventually opened up a fr...

By: NaKara Neely  http://recruitmentresult.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/111.jpg              A social worker is someone who helps people deal with traumatic situations and gives them solutions to their problems. In order to be a social worker, you first have to obtain your Bachelor’s Degree. This degree is the minimum requirement to become a social worker, which also makes the least amount of money. With this degree, you may be eligible to become a caseworker or a home counselor.   Within the four years, they teach you how to interview and problem solves for the occupation. Some of the courses are called social welfare, human behavior, social work practice and occupational research. Furthermore, the Council of Social Work Education requires you to have 400 hours of practice in social services agencies. Moving forward, if you want to expand your knowledge of social work you can earn a mast...

By Kendrick Tran Source: http://www.npr.org/2017/05/25/529905669/should-the-police-control-their-own-body-camera-footage Body cameras, a touchy subject for most people but I think this topic has a definitive answer. The main purpose for the use of body cameras in the police force is to discourage the use of excessive force because of the liability issues that one risks by going straight into force. On top of this, body cameras help to answer possible questions that might arise during a conflict such as "What happened during this shootout?" or "What evidence was left behind during the scene of the crime?". All of these are legitimate concerns and can be answered through the incorporation of body cameras.  Source: http://www.npr.org/tags/345214212/body-cameras Curious as to the actual data behind these claims, I searched around the internet. The most interesting source came to be the National Institute of Justice of the United States . Th...

By: Katy Fedurek Prompted Blog #2 The National Association of Social Work (NASW) created a code of ethics in 1960 that is based on the ethical principles of “service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence” (“Code of Ethics”). One value that stood out to me while reading the code of ethics was service. The NASW’s principle on service is: “Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems. Social workers elevate service to others above self-interest. Social workers draw on their knowledge, values, and skills to help people in need and to address social problems. Social workers are encouraged to volunteer some portion of their professional skills with no expectation of significant financial return (pro bono service) ." Source: http://www.naswin.org/?page=ExploreSocialWork  This value of service relates to my ethics and values in many ways. Volunteering has...

By NaKara Neely             The world needs people who care. Thank goodness, we have social workers who have made a large impact on our society. Today I’m going to share with you two iconic people whose work has had a major influence on many lives. www.biography.com/.image/t_share/MTE1ODA0OTcxNTMzODk1MTgx/jane-addams-9176298-1-402.jpg. Let’s start off with Jane Addams, the creator of Hull House, a settlement house for the poor.   She was known for being a social work reformer, pacifist, and a feminist during the late 19 th and early 20th centuries. During the 1880’s she didn’t know where her place was in the world. One day, she went on a trip with her friend Ellen Gates Star and they visited the Toynbee Hall in London England, which was a facility created to help the poor. Jane and Ellen were impacted by this so much that they created a similar establishment in Chicago where they lived. In 1889, they opened the...

Preconceived Notions and Breaking Them (Prompt #1) By Kendrick Tran Source: https://socialwork.asu.edu/tucson In the world of today, there lie numerous different preconceived notions about the world. Different professions and areas each have their unique stereotypes that try to define the line of work in a very general way. The fields of criminal justice and social work have some of the saddest stereotypes that portray both fields in a negative light. In today's society, both fields are addressed as occupations that rely more on helping themselves more so than others, the primary goal of these two lines of work. However, we are here to break some stereotypes of these respective fields and to show that these are the types of people that we need in our society and by discouraging them from approaching these professions severely limit the growth of our community. Criminal Justice, a field that has a large scope in terms of what a person can do, is generally stereotyped as a ...

By: Katy Fedurek Our society is ever changing, especially when it comes to the needs of humans. Large events like war, the Great Depression, terrorist attacks and natural disasters affect humans in different ways, calling for social workers to do their part to help society. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, social welfare is organized public or private social services for the assistance of disadvantaged groups. Abraham Maslow explained human needs in relation to a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid is physiological needs which are the most important, especially in times of disaster; food, water, rest, and warmth are the most basic needs to stay alive. A need for safety is second, and a need for belongingness and love comes third in the pyramid (McLeod). Following a need for love is esteem needs or a feeling of accomplishment, and at the top of the pyramid is self-actualization, but not everyone reaches this stage. “Every person is capable and has the desire to move...