I greatly underestimated the impact volunteering would have on my life prior to starting with Big Brothers Big Sisters. I would be a different person today without this experience. The lessons and values I have gained from my many encounters are unique to volunteering. For this, I feel the value of volunteering often goes unnoticed.
I have served my community by being involved with various organizations, all different from each other but all equally important. I have volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Country Manor (a retirement home), the St. Cloud Hospital, and the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). My two favorite volunteer experiences have been with Big Brothers Big Sisters and in the pediatric department at HCMC. As I already
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The transition from elementary school to junior high was extremely stressful for him. Acting as his big brother during that time, I was able to help him address these issues. We met on a weekly basis where we would chat and often play games outside or in the gym. Throughout our time together, I watched his self-confidence increase dramatically. He would tell me about the new friends he was meeting as I encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone. We worked on his football skills, which was something he always wanted to try, but didn’t have the self-confidence to join the team. By the time I graduated, he had joined football and had grown his social skills and increased his self-esteem. With his new found confidence he began to better manage his anxiety as well. To have experienced first-hand how my involvement will have a lasting impact on his life is very gratifying. It is impossible to keep from smiling while reflecting on the entire experience. I hope to someday volunteer again with Big Brothers Big Sisters, as I know that this experience and the many others have helped shape the person I am
However, most of my volunteer work comes from outside of the school, such as; Pelotonia, Light the Night for leukemia and lymphoma, Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, etc. For many of these organizations I have volunteered more than once. Volunteering at Light the Night has a story. For my 16th Birthday party, I wanted to have my friends and I volunteer for the day while having fun at night. So I had 7 boys and girls, along with me, volunteer for Light the Night, organized by me.
Being in a school that brought students from various counties and cities with different backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives, opened my eyes to seeing just how diverse humanity is. In a time when everyone is struggling with personal problems, I know how monumental a simple volunteer act can be. One of my favorite acts of service is tutoring. I tutored an elementary-aged girl for two years in Fort Lee and I will always remember those two years as the most fulfilling. Education is so precious, and children are the most open to it.
To begin, I would choose the American Legion Auxiliary Post 44 as my community service because our veterans and soldiers are extremely underappreciated and I want to change that tremendously. Being a teenager, I see what lack of respect young adults and teenagers have for our military and its members. They do not quite understand the time, effort, and dedication that is put into being a member of the United States Armed Forces. It is not as easy as just signing a piece of paper and going through training. It is mentally and physically challenging, and those individuals sacrifice a lot to be where they are, as do their friends and families. When they sign that piece of paper, they are basically signing
My community service has inspired me to help others through the field of nursing. I volunteer after school with my high school's Athletic Trainer at games, practices and other sporting events to help prevent and diagnose injuries for student athletes so there is less need to spend money on an E.R. or doctor visit for a simple sprain.
The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) has been around for over 90 years. This organization has supported one-to one relationships with adult volunteers and youths of single-parent homes. The volunteer and the youth makes substantial time and commitment, meeting two to four times per month for a least a year, meeting can last four hours. The Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring helps improve the lives of youth and strongly engages the community through involvement with community leaders. It is recommended that the agency match volunteers to help meet the specific needs of the youth. The agency considers matching such as gender, proximity, and availability. In addition, youth and parents state their match
Volunteering in my community is something I truly enjoy doing. Giving back to the sport that has given me so much makes it even more rewarding. For the past four years, I have volunteered at my home club at the Lacombe Curling Club with their Learn to Curl program. This program runs on Friday nights from October to February and provides kids aged 8-18 an opportunity to develop and grow in the sport of curling. Volunteering for this program is something I value as it is important to me to give back to the program which helped me get to where I am today and helped build my passion for curling which I still have to this day.
For my service learning assignment I volunteered at the soup kitchen. Going to the soup kitchen and helping people who couldn’t afford their food truly opened my eyes. I was surprised by a variety of different types of people and how many people there were, how it made me feel and how it affected me and lastly, my desire to continue volunteering my time. The first thing I really noticed once I started my volunteering was the variety of different types of people.
If you had the opportunity to change the world and your life, would you? I have many experiences with volunteering and each time it has left an impressionable effect on me and benefitted the world because of it. Volunteerism gives a person the opportunity to change people’s lives, including your own. Volunteering is crucial to a functioning society and can better the world one person at a time. Volunteerism is essential to creating a functioning society, personal well being, and advancing careers.
Volunteering enables an individual to make a positive impact on his or her community, while empowering the individual to better his or her life. This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer at many diverse locations. From the hospital to the local library, I truly value my experience and treasure everything it has thought me. Volunteering lets us experience and learn things that we otherwise would not have learned; volunteering opens doors for us that we may not have been able to open before. Volunteering provides us with guidance and tolerance which we may use in the future to aid us in our decisions. At first glance, volunteering may seem to only benefit those who are helped, but on a deeper level, one can realize that volunteering benefits the volunteer as much as, if not more than, those who are helped. Not only does volunteering make a difference in one’s community, but it also helps the volunteer become a smarter, happier, friendlier and more caring individual.
• Joanna Saisan, M. M. (2013, Sept). Volunteering and its Surprising Benefits. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from help guide: http://www.helpguide.org/life/volunteer_opportunities_benefits_volunteering.htm
with her. So I dont think she is crazy anymore for wearing sandles in the winter time.
A reflection of my volunteering experience can be summarized in two words: Life-changing. It is hard to explain the feelings that occur when you involve yourself in selfless acts for your community, such as volunteering. There is a feeling in your heart that you cannot ignore, maybe it is the happiness you feel or the overflow of emotions in helping others. In other words, it is a feeling in which you want to share with others. Maybe with a friend, maybe a classmate, maybe a family member, or maybe even a stranger. Either way, spreading how life-changing volunteering can be is a great start to making a positive change in your community by simply by involving others.
Volunteering benefits a person by building connections with peers, improving family life, expanding career skills, overcoming self doubt, having lasting life impressions, and creating new opportunities. Just a small act can make a huge difference in someone’s life. The future is dependent on the individual person and the people they surround themselves with. Just a few hours will change both the volunteer’s life and the one that is in need.
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
These experiences have afforded me opportunities to demonstrate my gifts and talents that had previously gone undiscovered. Through different community service opportunities, I either learned something new about myself or I was reassured something. These qualities include that I am creative, reliable, open-minded, passionate, and an effective team player. Community service changed my life by developing my character through enhancing my transferable skills, which allowed me to see the world differently. Everyone, from all walks of life, needs to in some way, shape, or form give back to the community because it will not only benefit the less fortunate but it will benefit the volunteers as well. Additionally, I learned about the wide variety of resources available to help the community. There are so many resources out there that people are ignorant to like certain shelters and food banks. Ultimately, community service taught me the greatest gift I could ever receive, how to be