The Importance Of Giving Back To The Community

Community is defined as, “An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location”. Because there are various kinds of people in a community that also means there are many different situations those people could be in. It is important to give back to the community not only because it feels good but also to just help other people. I like going to the Boys & Girls Club because it gives me a positive place to go outside of school where I get to participate in fun activities and meet new people and give back to others.

I have done many things to give back to the community and the people in it. Something I like to think about is no matter how bad of a situation someone is in, there is always someone who has it worse. Even a person someone sees as equal to them, such as peers

could be in a way worse situation and it is important to help when needed. I have also been in Girl Scouts since I was 7. This past year for my Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award, my partner and I’s focus was to give back to our own community.
We knew that in our school specifically there were students who go to school hungry because their family couldn’t provide them with food. So, we decided to construct a food drive. We planned it out, set it up, promoted it at our school, and helped organize the food once we donated it. We donated all of the food that we raised to the Willard Food Pantry which provides for families of students in the school district. We also made two baby blanket quilts and donated them to Isabel’s House Crisis Nursery. Some other things I have done with Girl Scouts are trash walks, helping out with younger troops, volunteering to play bingo with elders at a nursing home, and planted a rain garden at a park near us.
Because I am only 15 years old, there aren’t a lot of things in my life that I can control. But, volunteering is something I can control. I can decide what I enjoy doing and find somewhere to help people out. At the food pantry Crosslines, I have done things like distributing food during the holidays to people over 60 years old, stocking shelves, and handing out commodities there. For my school softball team we volunteered at A Sporting Chance Pancake Breakfast. There we served people who paid for pancakes, the money went toward the special education system in my school district. Now, I want to volunteer at the Humane Society and I am hoping I can get involved with that by joining PAWS club, a club at my school where people make toys, volunteer, and donate money for animals.
The Boys & Girls Club is important to me because I have gone since I was six years old, this summer will be my ninth.

I volunteer with the youth there because if they see someone older than them taking an interest in helping other people they may want to help out also. It has helped me discover possible career options such as teaching or child care. At the Boys & Girls Club I have experienced more things than I would have if I didn’t attend. Every summer I meet new friends, make great memories, and volunteer. It also gives me somewhere to go so I can express myself outside of the people I go to school with every day during the school year. Many people I consider great friends and best friends I have met at the Boys & Girls Club.

A way that I define community is a group of people who work together to make a difference in the lives of others. By volunteering at places like Crosslines and other food pantry’s I feel like I do that. I also feel like I make a difference in the lives of others when I volunteer with youth at the Boys & Girls Club and with younger Girl Scout troops. I hope that I influence them to volunteer and give back to their community when they are

older.