What does it mean to serve your community? Well, if I were to put it in the most simple terms, I would say that it is to give our time back to the community. How and where would we be able to do so? To be honest you can do anything anywhere for anyone. I would justify it being community service to hand a homeless person a $5 bill, but it wouldn’t be quite as satisfying as giving back in the form of time. This weekend my team and I went to this Church in Manhattan and served the homeless food. It was a very satisfying and joyful experience seeing the looks on their faces when we put food on their trays! As kids we would take food for granted and say “ewww salad and veggies” all the time, but acknowledged that there were people out there without food when we were growing up. We never saw this firsthand, so unconsciously we were still dismissive of the notion that people were hungry and would eat anything they got their hands on. While doing community service this weekend we saw how eagerly people stared at us while waiting on line as if we were some sort of saviors or something. And to some extent I did start feeling like I was there that day for a reason; I was there not to serve the community as a class requirement, but rather to bring joy and potentially life to an entire group of needy people! I wish everyone would just spend time every now and then to help other people out. They say that to solve your problems you have to help others solve theirs’! Well I feel as though this solved all my not-so-big-of-a-deal problems that I initially perceived to be huge. I’m looking forward to going back next weekend to help more people out!
3 thoughts on “Journal #2”
Comments are closed.
Your community service at the church sounds so rewarding! You are definitely right in saying that we take food for granted. It’s insane to think that people are so excited to see food on their trays when we are so used to it every day. I also like that you saw it as a fun experience rather than something you’re required to do for school. I’m glad you got to enjoy participating in such a wonderful program and I hope you have fun next weekend!
Jay, your testimony about your service at a church got me really excited! I definitely know first-hand how rewarding it can feel to help someone in need, such as serving meals to the hungry. There’s just this look in these people’s eyes that humbles us and makes us realize that not everyone is as blessed as we may think; but don’t you feel so productive and happy when you are able to change that look of despair into a look of gratitude and hope? And I 100% agree that we should give our time to the community. Money can help get the resources, but our actions can really change a life. I am so glad that you had a great experience volunteering at the organization. I would love to know more about it!
How do I like