So every year in my church we have this thing called God’s Love We Deliver on Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve morning. Basically you wake up early on thanksgiving and devote time on bringing food to those poor or with sickness who cannot afford a meal for thanksgiving or christmas. There’s three jobs you could do, you could either be a driver who drives around the neighborhood and actually delivers the food to the person. You could be a youth who gets the bags and carries the food for the person to the driver’s car, or you could just help put the food into the bags. I did the latter job this year. So Thanksgiving day since I’m apart of the youth ministry I was supposed to come at like 7 AM to help set up put the tables up and refreshments but I woke up late came around like 7:30ish so all I did was help put out refreshments for the drivers and others devoting their time to help out. After that was mass (church service) and after the service we waited a bit for the company who gives us the food to come. Once the company came we got everything ready the drivers got their cards (people who they have to deliver to) and the youth who came (mainly confirmation students who had to get community service done) were getting the bags ready for food to come into. So once that was all set it was mainly just putting food into the bags for the next hour or so. By 10ish we were done with the event everyone got food this time around (previous years we ran out of food to give to people). It was a success things got done really fast this year and it was good to help out those who don’t have a turkey for thanksgiving.
1) How did your community service work help the community?
We helped out those who couldn’t afford it for various reasons (health, poverty) to have food for Thanksgiving. We did something generous for people we didn’t even know.
2) How did it make you feel to give up your time and energy to others?
It felt good to know that I’m helping out those who’d have nothing this Thanksgiving. Those who would be starving or hungry on a holiday where you’re supposed to eat. We helped out those who are struggling to have food that day like most families would on Thanksgiving. It felt good, and I hear actually being in the car and delivering the food to them is a better experience from friends who went because you actually get to see the people we are spending our thanksgiving morning for.
3) How has your community service experience change your thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole?
Well one thing I’ve learned about community service over time is that the more people that are involved the quicker it gets done- this was something a lot of people were involved so it went by really fast. Every person counts when it comes to community service- everyone is a helping hand. The more service you do the more you are willing to help out more. There is a joy that comes when we donate our time and skills to others. So overall of the years I’ve done this and been a member of my church community I’ve really been opened up to a lot of things and I’m much happier in my esteem and what I can do for others. It’s easy to think “I don’t know these people, why should I waste my time and help others who will never help me out?” but when we get out of that “me, me, me” mindset I think that’s when we get happy because we find meaning in our lives through these activities… so this is something good to do I do enjoy waking up early and donating my time it’s important to me and it’s become apart of me.
