Clubhouse Giving Day

 

by John Workman, Nikita Sharma, Raymond Nichols, Tavone Lee, Ben Arrowood

 

All of us at B’More Clubhouse got the opportunity to be a part of the first ever Clubhouse Giving Day on June 1st along with 38 other clubhouses. It was a day organized by Clubhouse International to commemorate the end of Mental Health Awareness Month with the hope of sharing more about the clubhouse community and raising some money as well.

We started preparing for the day towards mid-April. The first task we did was set up a profile on GiveGab, our fundraising platform. After that, we started to share the fundraising profile link with our supporters, board members, friends and family.

During the month of May, we shared the link and information about the Clubhouse on social media. We also sent a few emails to our current donor list. Some of the staff and members also shared the information with their friends and family. All our efforts helped us get a head start and we won a $500 prize for the greatest number of unique donors in the month of May by Clubhouse International.

On the actual day Clubhouse Giving Day, we set up a table outside our building with Clubhouse brochures and muffins from our neighbor local business, Charmed. We were able to get some offline donations from and also share about what we do. This was especially great since we just moved to our new property.

It was a day when all the members and staff were actively involved and updated about the fundraising process. We shared the link on social media, updated Instagram stories and kept communicating about our progress throughout the day. Because of that, we exceeded our goal by 55% and raised a total of $7,738 with 74 unique donors. We won another prize for having the greatest number of donors on June 1st as well. We were able to achieve that through great teamwork and a winning attitude.

This was the first time all the staff and members were actively involved in a fundraising campaign. We learned about the value of each individual’s effort in spreading the word and raising money. Next year, we hope to recruit more individual donors and set a higher goal.

Thank you so much to everyone who worked on this campaign and especially to Clubhouse International who provided us with the opportunity to learn and showcase our effort and skills.

Ways to Take Care of Mental Health

by Raymond Nichols, Kavette Smith, Nikita Sharma, Daniel Blank and John Miles
 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We wanted to highlight the experience of our colleagues on what it feels like to live with mental illness and also talk about ways to cope with it.

 
Raymond shares that living with mental illness can be challenging. Every day, there is a different set of hurdles to get through. It’s hard for others to see what you are going through but you feel it. There is also a lot of stigma associated with mental illness which poses a barrier when it comes to getting a job or doing other things to start your life over. For Kavette, the struggle lies in finding the motivation to complete tasks. She struggles with lower energy and inspiration and that gets into the way of her dreams.
However, there are different things we can do to feel better and also participate in productive tasks. Based on everyone’s experiences, Kavette, Raymond, John Miles, Daniel Blank and Nikita came up with a list of some of the things we can do to feel better. Here they are:

1. Stay on top of your mental health treatments: Raymond and John both share the importance of keeping up with therapist and doctor appointments as well as medications. “It helps you stay on track with your recovery,” they share.
2. Do things you love: Kavette gets the most out of relaxing activities such as taking a shower or listening to music. She always feels better after that.
3. Try to take life and its challenges one step at a time: When things get too overwhelming, it’s hard to stay focused and motivated. Dividing your goals to simple steps can be helpful.
4. Exercising, walking, stretching: Moving your body in some way or other helps John stay motivated and increase his level of energy. Daniel also agrees with this.
5. Healthy and nutritious meals: Nutritious food fuels your body with positive energy and strength. Making an effort to eat food is like giving your body the love and appreciation it needs.
6. Mindfulness and Meditation: Daniel practices grounding techniques to stay calm. Staying in touch with your senses and focusing on the present moment instead of worrying about the future is something we can make an effort to practice more often.
7. Art:  Kavette shares using art helps her focus. Activities such as painting, writing, coloring, drawing are very therapeutic.
8. Sharing with friends and family: “Talking about your mental illness makes you feel less alone especially when the person you are talking to is going through something similar,” shares John. Expressing your frustrations after a bad day gives you a chance to start afresh.
9. Accepting yourself: Making an effort to understand yourself helps you stay motivated and also increases your self-esteem. 

 

Spend A Day With Us At B’More Clubhouse

Mike Lantz, Nikita Sharma, John Workman

Every day is different at B’More Clubhouse. The environment is very friendly and we are always doing something. We wanted to take you along for a day here at the clubhouse.

We open from Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. When we open the door, we welcome our members and staff, screen for COVID-19, check temperature and put on some hand sanitizer. After that, the culinary team get started on coffee. We take the time to warm up and see how everyone is doing and also try to finish any leftover tasks from the day before or plan out for the day.

Our morning meeting takes place at 9:15 AM. During the meeting, we discuss meetings and events for the day and also plan out tasks. Members get an opportunity to volunteer for tasks that they want to do. After that, our morning starts. Some members choose to greet and answer phones, some choose to work in the kitchen and make delicious lunches. Lunch is then served at noon. We take the hour to get a break from a busy morning and get together at 1 PM for another afternoon meeting to plan out. Afternoons are focused on cleaning and completing tasks from the morning.

We have a lot of meetings and events that take place during our work ordered day. Some of them are Book Club, Job Hour, Menu Planning. We also make weekly garden trips and have social events such as picnic, movie nights etc. Although our social events these days have been mainly virtual.

That’s a typical day in our clubhouse building: vibrant and busy filled with a lot of positive energy. If you want to experience that a bit, please call us at 410-727-2030 and join our meet the clubhouse tour. 

 

 

Cherishing Memories from 9 East Franklin St.

Kavette Smith, Nikita Sharma, Raymond Nichols, Bernard Jones, Mike Lantz, Ben Arrowood, Mary Watkins

As we welcome ourselves to the new building with a lot of unpacking, purging, cleaning and organizing, we wanted to look back on some of the wonderful memories we have created in our building at 9 East. Franklin.

We were in the building from 2014 for about seven years. In that span of time, we grew a lot as an organization. We celebrated our 10th anniversary with a big cookout and a bigger fundraiser Mask-R-Aid to celebrate the milestone. A lot of members have joined us, worked towards goals and left to do better things in the community. We are so proud of them. We also added the communications unit and gained a lot of community and employment partners. As we grew in size, we started to explore more public sources of funds and are now an accredited PRP. Of course, we did not hold back on having fun at all, social events such as winter luau (winter beach bash), brunches, thanksgiving etc. always brought us all together.

We asked some of our colleagues about their favorite memory and it seems like a lot of good ones were made. Kavette is grateful that she found her first job working as a Florist Assistant with Dino and Joe when she started out as a member in that building. Ben shared that he had the opportunity to make a lot of new connections. Networking with state legislators has been one of his highlights.

Crystal Berman, a longtime member shared that the building provided her a platform for learning new things. “I learned how to communicate with people and also do different things such as greeting, answering phone calls, writing articles for the newsletter etc.” Social events such as picnic days and bingo night brought her a lot of joy as well.

Mike L always enjoyed stepping into the building and meeting members and staff. He shares, “all of them are very nice.” Raymond recalls going to the Lacrosse game as his favorite memory and he equally enjoyed working with Gina too.

For Bernard, joining as a member in that building was life changing. “In the past 2-3 years, I have gotten my mental health back together.  Just being there and working with Clara and Morgan was very enjoyable. I had some great conversations, shared poetry, made food and had delicious lunch every day.  I got my confidence back up. I am currently working towards a bachelor degree and hope to get a job at Amazon. Some of my favorite memories revolve around the tours we had for Mayor Brandon Scott and a professor from Coppin State and also being on a radio show with Clara.” We are glad that the place holds a lot of positive memories for Bernard.

Mary became a member a few months before we moved to our current location. It was the place where she started connecting with other members and hopes to have better experiences moving forward.

We are so grateful for the years we spent at 9 East Franklin St. and hope to take the foundation of relationships, networks and growth into our new building and make it better.

 

 

At 831 N. Calvert St.

For the current blog post, we wanted to share pictures of what the new building looks like. The space will evolve to serve us better but this will serve as a reminder of how it all started, the journey towards our permanent home.

One of the two second floor offices.

 

Storage space

Hallway full of sunshine

Conference Room: Getting down to the business of the day

 

Second Floor: We’re excited to see how this space will turn out

 Kitchen: It’s also time to eat