So, I'm actually really excited about doing more community service. I was apart of Peer Helpers last year and felt that it was underutilized and that I could be doing more to help my community, which is one of the reasons why I quit. However, life got in the way. It's bad to say that I'm forced to do it but now that I am, I can finally get to what I've wanted to do. So, really, I'm excited and looking forward to the experiences I'll have.
Like I said in an earlier post ( I Think) I'm apart of students helping soldiers, well every year we do an event called WACO, it stands for Woodfield Area Community Organization (I'm Pretty sure) and every year they take underprivileged kids to a local wal mart where they get to pick out presents. I had been wanting to do it for years now and this past year I was able to. It was hands down one of the coolest things I've ever done at SHS.
They literally hand you a kid in a cart and send you off. The have little envelopes around their neck with their names and the things there families want. Since I speak spanish (and when I say 'I speak Spanish' I mean I can understand some of it) I decided to go into the bilingual like because most of these kids speak spanish. It was very nerve wracking waiting for a kid- what if you got one that cried the entire time? Or was super quiet? Or super out of control? When the kids got there is was mass chaos. There were hundreds of kids and hundreds of volunteers, in a matter of seconds these kids (who ranged from ages 3-6, I think, they were really young is my point) where taken off a bus into a store with hundreds of people they don't know, picked up and put into a cart and then handed off to a stranger, I'm sure it was overwhelming.
The little girl I got was named Isabel, she was roughly 4 and only spoke spanish. She was such a sweetheart. We shopped for about an hour, we got things for her mother, father and older sister. When we finished we got in line to get our gifts wrapped. It was a crazy long line and since I didn't know too much spanish it was sort of hard to ask her many questions, she was also very soft spoken so it was hard to hear. So she got this one pen that played under the sea when you pressed the button and so without thinking I started dancing (why not it's a good song) and she started to smile, especially when I started dancing with her. I'm sure I looked like an idiot to other people but I was having just as much fun as I was. After about 20 minutes of waiting in line (and dancing) we went with her to have pizza that was provided. It was kind of smushed to she had to sit on my lap, it was so cool how comfortable she was with me.
When she finally had to get back on the bus, I was really sad to see her go. Before she left she gave me a big hug and a little kiss on the cheek, it was the CUTEST thing ever!! I think that she really did have a good time and I felt like I had helped make a difference for her and her family.
Next year my brother will be entering SHS and students helping soldiers so he can do that again (he was with me and was just as affected by this little girl and helping make her christmas better) and I have already told him I'm coming back from college to do that again.
This story is just an example of why I'm so excited to do this community service, it's so easy to get lost in your little SHS bubble, it's nice to step out and help other people.
I did the Walmart gift shopping for impoverished kids too! It was so rewarding. At first like you I was scared that the kids would be hard to deal with and because of the fact I had never really worked so closely with impoverished people before. To see the smiles on the kids faces when they would see toys was amazing! The only part that bothered me was that some of the kids we brought to help out were only doing it to get hours for community service and that really bothered me. They weren't trying and missed a great chance to have a positive impact on others lives. I love that you want to do this assignment and I do too.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome experience! How did you get involved in that? I would like to tell my students about it next year. Remember that when you go to find these opportunites how much you loved it so that you'll say "I want to do it" not "I have to do it".
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