When I ask you to do a reflection I will provide some specific reflection questions to get your mind going, but as this is an informal blog you can pretty much formulate it however you want. I'll give you my example, but don't use this as too much of a guide, because I might be a little all over the place, but hopefully you can get a little something out of it.
Volunteer Perspectives
As someone who has been out of school for three years now, it is a bit easier for me to look back on my volunteer experiences. Some were long, some were one-time things, but I have pretty clear memories of most of them. Most times I went wanting to "make a difference" and if you truly do make a difference can be tough to measure. The differences I did see were usually about myself - learning new things, encountering a new culture, seeing how strong I am, being faced with fears, meeting new friends, being flooded with new emotions. I am a believer that you can achieve the most personal growth by being outside your community, by being outside of your comfort zone, and learning to thrive in that environment.
One real cool part about volunteering is that there are no preconceptions about you. You can be your true self, as crazy or as serious as you want, as loud or as quiet as you want, and no one with judge you for it. Lots of times you leave telling yourself that you are going to change your life- that you are going to fight injustice, that you are going to pray everyday, that your will give all you can to the organizations you worked with, that you will be committed to helping the poor, that you will never again take for granted all that you have been given - but those feeling usually don't transcend your volunteer experience unless you continue to volunteer.
OK, here are a few random volunteering stories.
- Once when returning from a spring break trip our car got pulled over by the state patrol and another car in our group pulled over to wait for us and we both got two tickets! So, when driving through Kentucky, don't drive in the left lane, and if your friend gets pulled over, keep driving.
- One day while working flood cleanup in New Orleans we got to work at a park. It was a great change of pace from being in flood-damaged houses. But, I forgot I was Wisconsin and it was March, so I got some terrible sun burn. Tip: Spring Breakers, don't forget sun screen.
- Being called Mr. Tony by clients that I was only a few years older than
- Learning about a year later that my first ever case at the homeless shelter for 18-21 years I worked at was shot and killed. This is real life.
- Questioning if I am doing any good
- realizing no matter how hard I work, how good of I job I did, it doesn't mean the people I work with will change, it doesn't mean the system will change.
- the sense of accomplishment when clients got houses and jobs
- laughing, lots of laughing
-quickly forming strong connections with fellow volunteers
-And one more thing. Just a few months ago I was applying for a job and just offhandedly mentioned that I had done spring break service trips and the people interviewing me told me to add that to my resume. Despite 2+ years of professional experience, my interviewers were very impressed with my limited volunteer work. So keep that in mind. Volunteering helps others, helps you grow, and helps you get jobs.
So I hope this provides you with a little understanding of what this blog will be. Hopefully besides a calendar and list of agencies, we can get lots of people sharing.
Lastly I just want to say, don't doubt yourselves. You have much to share. It's a fact that the places you serve at very rarely remember the projects you do, the leaves that you rake, the books that you read, but they do remember you. They remember the Carroll students that came to their classrooms, their boardrooms, their soccer fields. We are young people and don't have have much money or professional skills to give, but we do have ourselves. Let's give that.
Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment