Community service has always been something I have been passionate about - ever since I was young. Community service enables students like myself to acquire skills and knowledge as well as provide a service to others that need it in some way. The feeling you get when you see how your community service is impacting others around you is incredible. Every time the people I help smile and thank me for all that I have done, it makes me want to keep coming back and do more. Community service allows me to enhance my knowledge, learn new skills, and participate in new experiences.
Volunteering has been a major part of my life ever since I started, back when I was in middle school. I started volunteering for my neighbor at her church with an event she has every summer called vacation bible school. The main focus was young kids between the ages of 4-12. I would help them with the arts and crafts portion of the event which meant I got to see all the children. It was so much fun helping them learn and watching them have fun. I knew from this point on I would participate with as much community service as I could. Since then, I participate in basketball camp, relay for life, the humane society, dance camp, tutoring, and various others around the community.
Recently, I participated in the quality of life sweep in the City of Utica (NY) with the interns at Indium Corporation as well as with city firemen, policemen, and other volunteers in the community. The mayor, Robert Palmieri, began the quality of life sweeps in 2012 to create a cleaner and safer place to live and work. The quality of life sweep takes place every Wednesday in different parts of Utica. This past Wednesday, all of the indium interns volunteered to help. We rode along the Boilermaker race route and stopped if we saw something like trash or weeds, and we cleaned it up. It was a lot of fun participating with the other interns. We worked together to clean up the city and we met a lot of nice civilians along the way. Everyone we saw in the city was thanking us for our help. I could tell that they all really appreciated what we were doing for their community. I honestly wish the interns could participate every Wednesday because we had a lot of fun working together to clean the city. I would definitely be happy to participate again.
Community service impacted my life so much that I decided to join a service sorority in college. The sorority I am in is called Kappa Delta Chi and our primary focus is on doing community service throughout Clarkson and the neighboring community. We created a local philanthropy called Roses of Relief in which we raise money to buy household items to donate to people in Potsdam who are living in poverty. We donate the items every month and, for the summer, we give out extra items so that it will last them until we return in the Fall. We also participate in events like pi day, relay for life, and up till dawn on Clarkson's campus. Because we need to buy supplies every month we hold at least 5 fundraisers per month to make sure we are able to supply the household items to impoverished people. I love being in a sorority where all of the girls have a common goal: to help others in the community. We are always doing something, whether it be on campus or off, to help the community. I am beyond grateful to be with a group of girls who are just as passionate about volunteering as I am.
I will continue to do community service because of the experiences it brings to me. Does anyone else have any thoughts or stories about the community service they have done? Please share it with a comment.
Until next time,
Lindsay