December 2, 2014
We have had a very full 2 days! We began the "intensive" part of our intensive week yesterday (Monday) at Inholland University in Alkmaar. Our mentors Melissa, Kary and Julia led the students and faculty in warm up ice breaker activities and team building exercises. The student groups began their work in the afternoon with a focus on bringing together the research and interviews into one manuscript while the faculty focused on planning for the week. Monday night back at the housing the American students and faculty cooked spaghetti and provided a dessert of ice cream and blueberry and maple syrup, the German students provided a yummy salad and refreshments, and the Dutch students brought varieties of beverages to top off the meal. Laughter, guitar music and discussion filled the night with the music of three languages.
Tuesday morning found the group once again back at Inholland University hard at work on writing the papers and preparing their presentations for Wednesday afternoon. A weary crew returned to Schoorl for dinner in the village and back to the cottages for a bit more work on the presentations.
I promise tomorrow to share some thoughts from the students!
Posted by H. Lori Schnieders.
November 29, 2014
We began our trip to the Netherlands yesterday morning after digging the university van out of a snow bank (thanks to Jerrod and Clifton)! Picked up Taylor in Ellsworth, Mel and Julia in Portland (thanks USM for having the student center open we couldn't have made it another mile without that ladies room lol) and finally met up with Margot, Kary and Dr. Frey at Logan. I have to say how impressed I am at the wonderful packing job we did, there was room in the van for all of us and all the lugg...
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders.
April 7, 2014
What is the Rainbow Ball?
"The Rainbow Ball is an open and affirming chem-free prom evening that includes dancing, pictures, food, and friends. It is offered as an alternative prom for youth who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and their allies. All associated high school and college students, youth groups, and community members, including allied support groups, are invited to attend the casual, fun, safe, supervised, and friendly community celebration." (from UMM Webpage http://w... Continue reading...
Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : What's happening at UMM
March 25, 2014
I'm sitting with my feet up before our senate visits and got to thinking about the amazing young folks I am meeting who are the youth advocates -- Each of them Cameron from KY, Anake from Vermont, Katherine from ME Matt from Montana who has to come to Boston for treatment, all of them with unique stories to tell and each with a brave face, give me hope for the future :-)
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
March 25, 2014
Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
March 25, 2014
The welcome session has over 300 folks from 34 states represented. We have been charged with speaking as not one of 310 people but as one of 53 million people with some form of arthritis. We are growing at a rate of a million people diagnosed every year, (it is 1 in 6 Americans). We learned that we are 70,000 advocates, currently. Our new CEO Ann Palmer told one of the faces stories of a young girl from Florida who was scolded by her PE teacher because she wasn't running fast enough.
My ques... Continue reading...
Posted by H. Lori Schnieders.
March 25, 2014
Wow what a day of travel and getting started! My first session was with Christopher Kush from Soapbox Consulting where we were challenged to introduce ourselves to other advocates in the session based on 5 questions around advocacy. It was interesting to hear how others approached the questions. I was excited to see this year there was a Teen Meet and Greet for high school students from around the country with arthritis, their session focused on what to expect while in DC and how to stay con...
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
March 23, 2014
Almost packed and ready to head to DC tomorrow. As I was finishing up in my office I thought I should note the differences between Advocacy and Lobbying. Although most people use the words interchangeably, there is a distinction between advocacy and
lobbying that is helpful to understand. When nonprofit organizations advocate on their own behalf, they
seek to affect some aspect of society, whether they appeal to individuals about their behavior, employers
about their ...
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
March 22, 2014
Self-advocacy is the
ability to speak-up for yourself and the things that are important to you.
Self-advocacy means you are able to ask for what you need and want and tell
people about your thoughts and feelings. Self-advocacy means you know your
rights and responsibilities, you speak-up for your rights, and you are able to
make choices and decisions that affect your life. The goal of self-advocacy is
for YOU to decide what you want then develop and carry out a plan to help y...
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
March 15, 2014
As an ambassador for the Arthritis foundation from the state of Maine I will be traveling to Washington DC March 24th through March 26th. I will be sharing my preparation for the trip as well as updating my experiences while in DC. To help you understand my journey I would first like to share with you some definitions of advocacy. Tomorrow I will discuss my journey to becoming an advocate.
The Alliance for Justice defines advocacy as:
" any action that speaks in favor ...
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Posted by H. Lori Schnieders. Posted In : Advocacy Summit Washington DC 2014
