Belief & Leadership

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

On Day 2 of mentorship, we had the opportunity to partner once again with @jaleelanthonytv for a Belief & Leadership workshop. It was so amazing to see how invested and engaged our mentees were. We love to see notebooks being filled up with knowledge learned from creatives we bring into the firehouse. Today, Jaleel discussed what leadership really means. His prompt LEADER helped the mentees reach deeper into their minds. LEADER represents, L- Love, E- Experience, A- Appreciate, D- Discipline, E- Environment, and R- Relationships. Discipline is something Jaleel heavily emphasized. Our mentees took home lots of new information and inspiration. We can’t wait for them to learn more throughout these next 12 weeks.

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

First Mentorship Of 2022!

Photo Credit: Mariah Frank

3...2...1...It's mentorship day! Today we had our first day of spring mentorship! How exciting?! This day was all things paperwork, technology, and guidelines. During the first half of mentorship, we introduced ourselves and shared some fun facts about each other, then we went over guidelines and expectations for our mentees. We filled out some paperwork, and assigned cameras and laptops! This week’s goal was to establish trust and partnership with our mentees. At the end of the day, our mentees shared an impactful story so we can learn a little bit more about them! We can't wait for our 10 mentees to learn all things photography. Stay tuned through our Instagram (@thefirehousedream) to see more behind the scenes and mentorship days live in action!

Photo Credit : Mariah Frank

Mental Health Intensive | Week 2

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

We recently started our Mental Health Intensive at TFD! This is a four week program designed to give access to mental health resources as well as support for the youth within our community. One of our 3 pillars is Mental health and we feel that it is very important to share our stories and normalize the topic of mental health.

The first week of our program was virtual, but this past Wednesday we were able to finally meet in person! Kathy of kathykhang.com led us in breath-work during the first half. During our time with Kathy, we are able to focus on the space and the present moment and clear our minds of unnecessary thoughts. The second half of our day consisted of Erika Aguirre & Erika Luna from Oasis Project teaching different coping skills. We first discussed challenging experiences, our feelings behind them, and how we managed those situations. Afterward, we moved to stations with different objects to help cope with overwhelming feelings of stress. There were things like painting, journaling prompts, play dough, sand, scented lotion or candles, essential oils, and much more. Erika & Luna explained the purpose and benefits of each of these things and allowed each person to try out these out to see what helps!

We can’t wait for the next two weeks! Thank you to our facilitators for coming together to help make this possible.

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

A Trip To ReUse Depot

Don’t you just hate how furniture and building supplies go into landfills? ReUse Depot, a non-profit organization, prevents this from happening by reselling items that would’ve been tossed away (https://reusedepot.org). On day 3 of learning photography, we took a trip to ReUse Depot for the second time. Our mentees got to meet the store cats, look around at all the amazing antiques, and on top of that they got to photograph all of it! Its was an amazing adventure! We can’t wait to come back!

We also learned some history at ReUse Depot…the Firetruck (pictured below) was a World war II Firetruck that was then donated to Maywood. At some point between the years 1943-1980’s this very truck was Maywood’s official Firetruck, meaning it was in our Firehouse! How cool is that?!

Photoshoots & Fun

In today’s mentorship, our mentees held photoshoots for their products! They accomplished so much in a short period of time and are nearing the end. This is another big step in the process. The mentees took their own headshots and product photos for their websites. Some mentees even brought in models to showcase their hard work. All of the photos are turning out great and creative! There’s still a bit more to get done before the brands and websites are completed but it will be done before they know it! We are so proud of our mentees here at TFD and all they have accomplished in their time here!

Photo Credit: Mya Rose