The Glendale Police Museum

Today's field trip was to the Glendale Police Museum.  It is housed in the Glendale Public Safety Building.  We were met by Dan, the delightful curator of the museum.  He is a 25-year veteran of the Glendale Police Force, having served undercover, on patrol and in the DARE program during his working years.  He has amassed an interesting array of Glendale police memorabilia and displayed it well.

Dan led our small group from display to display, and shared his memories and what he just happened to know about each cluster of items.  We began with the wall of chiefs.  After that, there were displays covering SWAT, bomb disposal units, K-9 units, women in the department, the motorcycle, uniforms, shields and badges, the Memory Wall (in 100 years, only two officers have been killed in the line of duty), police lights, technology, and a few others.  Dan regaled me and my children (currently 12 and 9) with his tales and information.  My kids peppered him with questions.

We ended up spending 90 minutes there - 30 beyond what we were scheduled for, because we were so interested in what we were learning about!  This is a free museum display.  Docent-led "tours" (like the one we had) need to be arranged ahead of time, but you can just go in and browse on your own.

Hunger 101

Today's field trip was a presentation called Hunger 101 and a tour of St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix.  I've dropped off food donations at the warehouse before, so I really wasn't sure what to expect.  Along with several other homeschooling families, my 12 and 9-year-olds and I learned about hunger in the Valley and about how St Mary's helps.

The first thing we learned is that there are three different kinds of people that St Mary's helps: 4, 5 and 7.  One in every four children in the Valley is hungry.  One in every five adults, and one in every seven senior citizens.  That's absolutely disgraceful.  I was shocked. 

Nonetheless, I won't cover the highlights of the presentation that Mr. Chet gave the group, in case you want to schedule a tour yourself.  I will, however, say that Hunger 101 is their educational program for children.  When I asked about age restrictions, I was told that it was St Mary's policy not to have kids younger than 5 attend.  I'd take that further and say that it's best for upper elementary through high school age.  There's a lot of talk, and a good amount of walking on the tour.

We went through the entire warehouse.  It's huge.  And hot during the summer.  No air conditionning.  The sheer volume of square feet and the amount of food that goes in and out of the building is amazing.  The number of volunteer hours logged by volunteers is staggering....and yet, still more needs to be done.

The most interesting part of the warehouse tour for me was when we rounded the corner and left the community supported section of the food bank and went to the government funded section.  Different rules and regulations, and yet another example of government waste and inefficiency.  The community supported portion of St Mary's does everything about feeding the community better, cheaper and more efficiently than the government funded portion.

Finally, a plug for one of their fundraisers...My son and I each won these stuffed turkey characters,  The tag attached to them says, "Buy-A-Bird Feed A Family".  They'd make perfect gifts for friends and family who don't really need anything.