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An introction to community engagement
Reflecting on my service learning experience
Reflecting on my service learning experience
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Four our service learning location, our group had the opportunity to attend Freedom Fellowship through Highland Church Ministries. Freedom Fellowship provides a ‘Pray and Prayer’ service and a meal for dinner, every Wednesday to the community neighborhood. During our service learning at Freedom Fellowship, we served food to people who are in need due to different circumstances. There are diverse groups of people who attend the meal service every Wednesday at Freedom Fellowship. Through our service learning, I had the opportunity to meet Darla, the coordinator at Freedom Fellowship. Freedom Fellowship is also a non-profit, charitable organization and they provide the cooked meals through donations that are given to them and through donations
After volunteering three times with the social action committee and high school group from Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church in the previous years, the Houston Food Bank became very familiar both in regards of their history and how their volunteerism works. The Houston Food Bank is a non-profit organization that seeks donations of non-perishable food items to serve the low-income families in eighteen counties across Texas. However, during a recent trip to the food bank with the University of Houston-Downtown College of Business, the interactions with a larger group of classmates became more dynamic. Three main topics involving group work at the Houston Food Bank are service learning, community service, and volunteerism. Service learning
The lunch bell rung at full volume as the main doors flung open. I predicted that a herd of people will rush in like the water from a spill gate. But instead every person was a line; in fact it was a neat single filed line. Another thing I was astonished to see was to the fact that every single person I served to was superbly well mannered. It was the magical word of thank-you which left great remarks in my life and made my volunteering experience an enjoyable one. After the shift, I have come to realize that everything my family and friends have said about impoverished people was nothing but just a stereotype. In addition, I have self-discovered that volunteering is what I want to do on my spare time. The joy from making new friends, appreciated and making a difference in society was too meaningful to put in words. From then on, volunteering had become one of my most highly valued priorities. Whenever I have time to spare, I will go
Selecting to do my service learning at Harvest Hope Food Bank was a very impactful experience. This was so, because of the fact that I have never volunteered at a food bank until now. The organization was able to connect me with the required skills I will practice throughout my career as a professional social worker, therefore better preparing me for assisting clients who may be dependent on my services.
I selected the Beacon to complete my service learning assignment over two days. The Beacon, a nonprofit day center that provides services to Houston’s homeless, is located at 1212 Prairie and staff can be reached at (713) 220-9737. The Beacon’s website, www.chomhouston.org, provides comprehensive information on the history of The Beacon and the services they provide. Established in 2007 by Christ Cathedral Church, The Beacon is currently open to serve clients Friday through Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. However, starting in April, The Beacon will begin opening on Thursday to provide services five days a week (Chomhouston.org, 2014). My contact, Zachary Hubenak, is the kitchen Coordinator and informed me the population The Beacon serves has grown 10 fold since its inception. Hubenak, additionally ,told me The Beacon served 80 people on its inaugural day and serve over 700 now on a daily basis (personal communication, January 28, 2014). My first day of service saw the population hit almost 800 and no one was turned away.
This past summer, I acquired an internship at Baldwin and Lyons, an insurance company in Indianapolis. Every Wednesday during my internship, a couple of employees and I participate in a prodigious community service project, Meals on Wheels. Throughout the three months that I worked at Baldwin and Lyons, I got acquainted with some of the individuals whom we delivered to. These inspiring individuals were so grateful and appreciative that we took time out of our day to volunteer to do such a service. One elderly woman who we delivered to would sing to us as she came to the front door “good meals, good meals, good meals.”
I chose to do my service learning project at Feed My Starving Children. I chose this service learning project because I had prior knowledge and experience by doing it with my family and church. Feed My Starving Children has been a huge impact to those who have participated in this service experience because their mission is to pack meals that go to very hungry children around the world. Being from a single parent family, it is hard for us to not be concerned about where the money for food is coming from, yet we have food on our tables for everyday meals. Therefore, I can’t imagine what it is like for those who experience hunger.
I also recently volunteered at the Cleveland Food Bank by packing lunches for under privileged children and sorting non-perishable foods for those in need. Prior to participating in volunteer services for the day, we were required to watch a video that explains the purpose of the Cleveland Food Bank and why there is a need for continuous support. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank works to ensure that everyone in our communities has the nutritious food they need every day. The mission of the Cleveland Food Bank is to alleviate hunger by providing food and support to community organizations that feed the hungry. Many people depend on the support because of their financial situation, life changes, and possible mental or physical limitations. The Food Bank acts as a storage unit and distribution facility for smaller agencies and organizations such as schools, homeless shelters, churches, and day
I visited the House of Compassion which is facility in Marshalltown, IA. House of Compassion is a non-profit organization that opened twenty years ago. They are a place of hospitality for those that our hungry, homeless, or in need of medical assistance. The services they have include a supply closet, soup kitchen, emergency shelter, and a Medical Assistance Program. The supply closet enables them to supply personal hygiene products for families in need, diapers is a common need that is often forgotten by the public. The soup kitchen provides food for those that our hungry, and recently the House of Compassion as started a Garden of Compassion which they use to grow food to continue to feed and inform those that our in need. The Emergency Shelter is available for those that have no where to go. They have many beds for people to sleep in, and they are encouraged and supported while they are staying there. This is a common place for people to come in transition, in refuge, and most that come of a sense of hopelessness. Reversing this hopelessness is what the House of Compassion is hoping to do. They want to provide basic needs and help people back on their feet and experience again the hope that we have in Christ.
What connections do you make between your service-learning experiences and some of the themes addressed in class (justice, love, rights, responsibility, relationships, etc.)?
I volunteered at the Activity Center for my Service Learning project. My duties were to watch the kids who participated in the after school program, play with them and help them with their home homework. I really enjoyed interacting with the African-American people and culture. I learned many things from the African-American population I worked with. I learned how the Activity Center staff teaches the after school kids good manners and behavior. I mentioned in one of my service learning journals that the staff was very strict and treated the kids like prisoners, but I came to the realization that maybe that is how they teach the kids discipline. I had the opportunity to be around all the Activity Center kids and interact with them. They were kids just like any other kids. Of course they are kids and sometimes they did misbehave but overall they were really great kids. I noticed that most of the boys want to be more independent of them, but they were such sweet kids.
To celebrate this event and to help the ones in need Canadian office organize fundraising for Oakville`s “Fare Share Food Bank” and encourages it`s employees to contribute to a great cause by supporting the organization and donate food in special boxes, which are available in the lunch room.
Introduction A service learning experience is designed to enhance a student 's growth in personal and social development and to obtain an understanding of community involvement. For my service learning experience, I volunteered at Change Point Center. In this reflection paper, I will discuss in depth information about the services that Change Point provides, my goals while I was there,and what I ultimately learned from this experience. Information about this experience Change Point center is located in Hot Springs, Arkansas and is a non-profit organization. The role of the agency is to help women in crisis pregnancies as well as families that face crisis situations.
I attended Mary’s Kitchen on June 18, 2016 at 517 W Struck Ave, Orange, California 82867. I heard about this organization from one of my instructor who is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International. Mary’s Kitchen is a non-profit organization that helps less fortunate people in the Orange County. It is run by all volunteers as they provide compassionate care to others. The Sigma Theta Tau International has set up a Homeless Outreach Tent Clinic at Mary’s Kitchen. I visited the Homeless Outreach Tent Clinic. I had the opportunity to volunteer and meet a lot of nurses. We started at 9 in the morning and finished at 12 in the afternoon. I really enjoyed volunteering there as it made me more aware about poverty and the needs of homeless population.
How did a departmental faculty generated 12,000 hours of student community service in one semester? The following is a qualitative analysis of conversations with faculty members in a department that recently instituted a service learning requirement for all student majors. The campus is a large urban comprehensive university with a multi-ethnic student body. Approximately fifteen faculty members were interviewed for this study. While most of those interviewed included service learning components in their courses, interviews with faculty members who resisted or refused to incorporate service learning were conducted as well in order to understand varying faculty attitudes towards service learning.
I have in all my undergraduate study been told what to do as student. All the information, tasks and assignment were delivered and dictated by the teachers in charge of the subject or the modules, and as students I had to follow the instruction giving, however, since I came to Cardiff university to do my master degree on health care science, the attitudes of the teachers and the way the modules structured which was different form the way I used to and had influence (presage) in my view the way we teach our Operating Department Practitioners ODPs and students nurses coming to the operating theatre for their post qualification internal ship and hoping that I will introduce a change in order to assist new ODPs and nurses graduates in order to help them building their capabilities to work independently and safely, the aim of the internal ship period is to produce competent theatre practitioners in term of skills, knowledge, confidence and learning responsibility Quinn et al. (2007). Therefore a lot of effort must be utilised to help them in the transition period form students to qualified staff (Simelane et al.1997).