Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What can volunteering teach you
The benefits of volunteering
The benefits of volunteering
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What can volunteering teach you
In the book titled Strength To Love by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, he includes a sermon called ‘The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life’, where he makes the argument that in life the most pressing question we must answer is “What are [we] doing for others?” Community service has taught me that we must value pouring into the lives of others, and expect nothing in return except the satisfaction of knowing our efforts were of help to someone else. I want to encourage people to see community service and volunteering as more than just a requirement or a chance to fill up a resume. Whether we sign up to make hundreds of sandwiches for the homeless or pay a visit to someone at a retirement home, we should go with the hope of enriching someone else’s
life. I feel that too often people add themselves to the equation, and counter Dr. King’s question by asking ‘What can others do for me'? I initially got into community service as a means to escape my feelings of abandonment, but those experiences not only gave me a break from my hurt, but changed my view on helping others. I began to find my joy by bringing happiness to other people, which I believe will change the view of volunteering from ‘free labour’ into the richer opportunity it actually is. I believe volunteering not only changes the lives of those you service, it also changes the volunteer.
Alleged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King said “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Meaning there shall be equality between one another. Dr. King grew up around pastors in a Baptist Church, so when he gave his speeches he sounded like a preacher. He was a well-educated person who graduated from Boston University and received his Doctorate degree. Plus he was a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race. Being a strong worker and having knowledge of civil rights made him more of a confident and convincing speaker. Therefore, In Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, he pointed out to African Americans, that in the near future the African Americans would have equal rights and liberty like all the other Caucasians have. In this speech I have found Dr. King using logos, ethos, and pathos to get his attention across about equality and to make his speech sound more effective. Out of the three rhetorical appeals I have found that Dr. King used ethos the most predominately followed by the second most effective, pathos, and how King is a convincing speaker to his audience.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written to address the public criticism he and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference received from eight clergymen. In his letter, King shows off his fiery emotion throughout his letter. However, King does not force his beliefs upon his readers. Rather, he hopes that his readers will see his perspective on the situation through an emotional appeal. If the readers are able to recognize the injustice and inequality suffered by the African American community, perhaps they can. The fourteenth and fifteenth paragraphs were a true testament to his passion and ambition for equal rights.
Growing up, my parents and other influential figures around me modelled the importance of community service through their continual volunteer work and dedication to improving the world around them. Whether it be participation in a well-attended project or persistent contribution to a helpful organization, those aforementioned individuals were formative in guiding me towards a path filled with opportunities for having an impact on my community.
People need to contribute time to important causes like community service, and volunteer work. On a few occasions, I volunteered at a food pantry, and it was a very humble, and valuable experience for me, an experience I will never forget. It was heart breaking to see all the people in need that are lacking the most essential things in life, like food. There were people waiting in line for about two hours before we even opened the door, just to obtain a number. I could hear people talking in line, while I was packaging the canned goods, and perishables. When the other volunteers opened the door, and started calling out numbers, then we proceeded to hand them their bag of food, they had this forever grateful look in their eyes. It was like the gratitude in their eyes pierced, and warmed my heart at the same time. It was a bitter sweet moment, and to hear it over, and over, was overwhelming. And on the other hand, there are other people in America, that the stress of their day is trying to choose the latest model IPHONE, or automobi...
From the various things I did to fulfill my required service hours, the most meaningful service I completed was through a program called Buddy Baseball. The Rockford park district in the summer organizes this program for the disabled children in the area so that they are able to participate in a sport. The park district runs this program to try and help the disabled children feel as though they have a more typical childhood. The kids have the opportunity to experience being on a team and playing with their friends without the aid of their parents, which the kids seldom get to experience. Because of this, I believe that this service best exemplifies the theme of the option for the poor and vulnerable.
For additional help in understanding his reasoning and thought processes, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson, can give one a sense of exactly why King had such a strong religious background. In fact, the first words of the writing state “Of course I was religious. I grew up in the church. My father was a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my great-grandfather was a preacher, my only brother is a preacher, my daddy’s brother is a preacher. So of course I didn’t have much choice” (Carson 1). Furthermore, this work is special because it combines hundreds of King’s writings in order to make a first person narrative of his life. The book skips no part of his life and includes his thoughts and feelings
... helped the community in numerous ways including developing children’s leadership, protecting the Purple Martin, and playing with toddlers. Developing children’s leadership is important to the community because these children are the future of America. These children will become teachers, government officials, lawyers, doctors among many careers. By helping build the Purple Martin House I am protecting the ecosystem which we all share. If we continue ignoring our ecosystem it will cause harm to all of us on the planet Earth. By volunteering in my church’s nursery I a help the community by taking care of people’s toddlers. All of this is considered community service because I am serving my community by doing all of the aforementioned activities. Also, I am making my community better doing these activities which proves further that what I did is community service.
After indulging into my service learning experience, I can say I have only further deepened my understanding what it is to serve. The pressing thought that have followed me through the semester is “why do I serve?” It has only made me want to serve for more selfless reasons than ever before. After discussing utilitarianism, I was deeply concerned into my own intentions realizing that in fact, sometimes I did go out and serve not for the sole purpose of helping others but to make myself feel good. This idea of selfless service is hard to comprehend because the act of doing in service in itself is predominately good. But the intentions that follow with it can also influence the experience. Once I had realized this and really attempted to focus
If we open our lives and give service to those less fortunate than ourselves, we allow our hearts to receive immeasurable happiness. When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. Making time to help people in need creates opportunities for us to develop new and lasting relationships. Serving our fellowmen allows the best in each of us to shine through and we can become examples to our children.
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.
To me, service is not just using up time, but feeling, a life lesson, or even life lessons in itself, like concepts learned only through hands-on experience. There is something so different, so unique that comes with giving back to one’s community. Maybe it is the satisfaction of helping those who may otherwise receive less help. Maybe it is seeing people from all around the world, smile with that same smile of appreciation and gratitude. Or perhaps it is knowing that I have a sensitivity to others that is only gained through serving, or knowing that giving back to the community has made my life richer and more meaningful. Whether it is any of those reasons, I know that community service has transformed me into a more open-minded and compassionate person with a bigger heart and a willingness to sacrifice for
In 2014, I traveled to New Orleans for a National Youth Gathering. Some 30,000 students and advisers donned orange t-shirts and fanned out across the city to serve. Our group was assigned the task of clearing roadsides and medians. We spent the day picking up trash and removing cat claw, an invasive and difficult weed. It was the kind of work most of us took for granted because it was something we would do at home. I remember being shocked at the number of people who stopped, rolled down their car windows, and said thank you. Regular yard work that seemed so insignificant to us made a big difference to them. We all had something to contribute and in turn were transformed by the experience; we gave our labor and the people of New Orleans showed us amazing hospitality. For me this reciprocal effect is the most transformational of community service. The more I give and serve, the more I find my life enriched by sharing with others.
Volunteering is important for numerous reasons, which can benefit both the community and the volunteer themselves. It is essential for everyone to have experience, in his or her life. Doing community service makes a tremendous difference in how it shapes a community for the better. Sometimes volunteering isn’t all about making the community better, it can also help gain one’s knowledge in a certain area. In one of my spring 2014 classes, I had to do community service when the class finished for the semester.
To serve completely in this way to me is practicing constant effort. It’s transforming. Anytime that any of us practice any kind of small act of kindness, even its small as holding the door for someone. Small acts of kindness can influence our choices. This is why any act of service, however small can never really be wasted. I believe if I had anything to service that was important is something that other people should have access to, no matter who you are. Another thing I’d provide to others is being
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